Some students have difficulty with Flying Fish in Reading Level 1. This is because at the margin, it challenges the student’s ability to recognize and hold a word in working memory for longer periods, processing each new word and waiting for a match. This is a major goal of the exercise, to expand your child’s capacity to retain words in working memory as well as expand your child’s vocabulary through word recognition.
There are two possible reasons your child might have difficulty:
- Lack of concentration or working memory difficulties holding the first word while other words go by. The best approach here is to repeat the word silently, after hearing it, then wait for the match.
- Some of the words may be unfamiliar. If this is the case, please print out this Flying Fish word list and review it with our child before the next session.
Flying Fish is a great test of working memory and selective attention, and as such it presents problems for many of our students. So your child should not be discouraged. Just know, it is wonderful cognitive brain food!