How to Improve Beginning Reading Skills - Reading vs. Guessing

[thenightbeforechristmas]

How do you help a child to slow down with her reading and read the words rather than guess? Sometimes my daughter will try to guess a word rather than read it. For example, if the sentence is "The pot is hot," she might say "The pan is hot." Or if the word is "cot," she will say "cat" because "cat" is a more familiar word to her. How do I encourage her to slow down and read the words? She knows her letter sounds well but would rather guess so she doesn't have to sound it out.

Unrelated:

What do the abbreviations "DD," "DS," and so forth mean when people refer to their children? Where did that start?

[CelticaDea]

(DD = dear daughter, DS = dear son; not sure where it started but it's a pretty common internet forum abbreviation, DH = dear husband)

[CherryBlossomMJ]

DC = dear/darling child or children

[CelticaDea]

I'm not a reading expert ( my daughter has challenges with reading-dyslexic) but I simply tell her, wait, read the sounds that are there. Sometimes, I need to cover up each sound and only give one at a time to help her focus on the sounds that are actually written. I also sometimes have her see only one word at a time. Sometimes I can get her to move the cover herself but usually it's me. When she points to each word as she goes she's usually better or at least catches herself saying the wrong sounds.

Other than continually reinforcing this, I don't know if there is anything else to do. I've read that lots of practice without visual or context cues helps to reduce some of the guessing.

We're still in the early levels, though, so some of this might not be as appropriate for a more advanced student.