I started noticing this tendency with my son in 4th grade. He’d learned to read at an appropriate time, but I started to notice his comprehension slipping, so I started having him read aloud to me again. I realized then that he was skipping simple words, just like your daughter, and that he’d frequently skip a whole line of text. I initially thought he was rushing, because he also had great decoding skills and could read and understand big words. However, there was a huge disparity between his auditory learning and what he gleaned from books in general, so I knew something was up with him.
I had him checked out by our eye doctor, who recommended vision therapy, which we are just beginning. For my son, the inability to focus on things (convergence insufficiency) is to blame; his eyes would have a great deal of trouble working together to keep focus, thus skipping words and lines of text. We’re seeing some results even with the initial therapy and the reading glasses he was prescribed, and I’m looking forward to seeing how a whole course of therapy benefits him.
Perhaps something to consider with your daughter? Not all eye doctors believe this is a real issue, by the way – if you feel it might be, you may have to search around a bit for help diagnosing and treating it.
Blessings,
Aimee