Free guide
Why won’t these words stick?
Whether your child struggles with the same word every single time, or knows it on Monday and loses it by Thursday — there’s a reason.
And it isn’t carelessness. It isn’t laziness. And it isn’t because they aren’t trying hard enough.
Find out what’s really going on — and what you can do differently — in this free guide from a Certified Dyslexia Therapist and Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist.
Confirm your email and the guide will arrive right away. After that, I’ll send occasional notes about reading. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
What’s going on
If they knew it yesterday, where did it go?
Maybe your child struggles over the same words again and again — said, was, what — and it never seems to get any easier.
Or maybe they read the word perfectly on Monday, and by Thursday it’s gone.
And you know they knew it.
You were sitting right there when they read it.
So what happened?
Many struggling readers do have real processing and memory difficulties. That matters. It can mean they need far more practice and repetition than other children.
But that’s not the whole story.
Because when we ask children to memorize words in a way their brains aren’t designed to store them, more memorizing isn’t necessarily going to fix the problem.
We need to change how we’re teaching the words.
In the free guide, you’ll learn:
- What’s happening when your child knows a word one day and loses it the next
- Why knowing the reason behind a strange spelling can make a word easier to remember
- Why drilling words with flashcards often doesn’t solve the problem
- Six simple, parent-friendly strategies you can use at home
- How to practice in about five minutes a day, with nothing extra to buy
Why this site exists
Most parents knew long before someone listened.
Almost every parent I work with tells me some version of the same story.
They knew something wasn’t right.
And they were told to wait.
He’s a boy. She’ll catch up. Let’s give it another year.
So they waited. Because the people they trusted told them to.
And by the time that year was up, their child had learned something too:
Reading is the thing I’m bad at.
That’s the part nobody warns you about. Because once a child has decided they can’t read, they’ll start avoiding the very thing that could help them get better at it.
I know that side of this story because I lived it too.
Who’s writing this
I was a parent at the kitchen table first.
I’m April. Today, I’m a dyslexia therapist.
But I came to this work as a mom.
I was the parent sitting at the kitchen table with a smart child who struggled with the same words every single time he saw them. I was the one looking for answers and being told to wait.
And now I work with children on both sides of it — the ones who get stuck on the same word every time, and the ones who know it today and can’t find it tomorrow.
I’ve been on both sides of that table now, and it’s shaped the way I teach.
Because the children who come to me aren’t just struggling with reading. They’re exhausted — and the last thing they want is more practice at something that’s already hard.
They’ve already been sitting in school all day, often working twice as hard as the children around them just to keep up. By the time they get to my table, they’re worn out.
And they still have to practice.
There’s no magic way around that part. Reading takes repetition — working with words on the page again and again.
So I’ve spent years figuring out how to get that practice in without making a tired child dread one more thing.
Sometimes it’s a game. Sometimes it’s a ridiculous story. Sometimes they have to get out of their chair and act something out.
The skills we’re practicing haven’t changed. It just doesn’t feel like more work.
That’s what I tell parents when they ask how I get their kids to do that much reading practice without complaining.
Make it fun. Make it quick. Make it evidence-based.
That’s what makes it stick.
In the guide, I’ll show you how to teach sight words the way a struggling reader needs to learn them — and make the practice something they’re actually willing to do.
April
April Coggins, M.S.
Certified Dyslexia Therapist · Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist
Bright Minds Tutoring