Practice Makes Perfect

Focusing upon the literacy needs of my student, we warmed up with his favorite pre-school to Kindergarten transition app. With this app, the student practiced the alphabet song and his letters followed by a practice of identifying the missing number.

Following this brief warm-up period, transitioning the child's focus from "play" on the iPad to working hard on the iPad we began high frequency word practice.  The student had been utilizing the Sight Cards app which was highly effective for his severe reading deficit.  I discovered this last week that the sight cards app has a new feature with the update; quiz mode! 




With quiz mode, the game still speaks aloud the sight word however it asks the child to identify the sight word from a selection of four sight cards.  The child then has to correctly select the spoken high frequency word. The software is very developmentally appropriate as it kindly redirects the student when he/she is incorrect and gives great positive reinforcement when the child selects the correct word.  



This new feature allowed me greater insight into the student's knowledge base of the high frequency words.  Before I appreciated the practice the app provided however was unsure of the true gain by the student.  Now I can easily hear and see which words the child is gaining into their memory.