Phonological Awareness

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." —Dr. Seuss

Phonological awareness encompasses knowledge about letter names, letter sounds, syllables, words and rhyming skills. It is a complex progression that is not easily defined. Think nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss, and "The Name Game" (Heather, Heather, bo beather, banana-fana, fo-feather…) This understanding of how sounds and words interconnect in language has proven to be key for reading development. Building phonological awareness skills helps develop strong readers.

Your child may benefit from Phonological Awareness Therapy if he or she has difficulty:

• identifying or producing rhyming words (Do cat and hat rhyme?)
• labeling or matching letter names and sounds, e.g. "A" says "ah" or "ay"
• blending sounds to create words (/k/ + /at/ = cat)
• segmenting words into sounds, e.g. cat is /k/+/a/+/t/
• naming words that begin with a given sound, e.g. "Tell me a word that starts with /s/"