What blending actually asks of a child
To read cat, a child must say /k/, hold it, say /a/, hold both, say /t/, then merge three separate sounds into one word — all inside a few seconds. It is a working-memory task as much as a reading one. When a child says '/k/ /a/ /t/ … dog', they have not failed at reading. They have run out of memory.
Start with two sounds, not three
Nearly every blending problem is a two-sound problem that was skipped. Spend a week on at, in, up, on, am before going near three-letter words. Two sounds is enough to teach the merge; three adds memory load on top of a skill that is not yet there.
Say the sounds cleanly
Say /b/, not 'buh'. That extra vowel is the most common reason blending fails: 'buh-a-tuh' cannot be merged into bat by anyone. Stop sounds (b, d, k, p, t) should be as short and clipped as you can make them.
The sweep
Point to each letter as your child says its sound, then sweep your finger smoothly under the whole word as they say it fast. The physical sweep is what converts three separate sounds into one continuous word — it gives the merge a shape the child can copy.
If they still cannot merge
Try continuous blending: choose words starting with a sound you can hold — m, s, f, l, n, r — and stretch it into the next without stopping. mmmaaannn for man. With no silence between the sounds there is nothing to hold in memory, and many stuck children get it immediately.
