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Language ability is the first step to literacy

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Language ability is the first step to literacy

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Baby Navigator - What every parent needs to know about early learning.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving "bye bye" are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act, and move.

Click on the age of your child to see the milestones:

"Learn the Signs. Act Early." materials are not a substitute for standardized, validated developmental screening tools.

Special acknowledgments to the subject matter experts and others who contributed to the review of data and selection of developmental milestones, especially Paul H. Lipkin, MD, Michelle M. Macias, MD, Julie F. Pajek, PhD, Judith S. Shaw, EdD, MPH, RN, Karnesha Slaughter, MPH, Jane K. Squires, PhD, Toni M. Whitaker, MD, Lisa D. Wiggins, PhD, and Jennifer M. Zubler, MD.
Sincere gratitude to Natalia Benza, MD and José O. Rodríguez, MD, MBA for their thoughtful review of the Spanish-language translation of these milestones.

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“learn the signs. act early.” milestones

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Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age. Track your child's milestones and talk with your child's doctor at every visit about the milestones your child has reached

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Find your child's age below and learn about her speech, language, and hearing development.

Birth to One Year

One to Two Years

Two to Three Years

Three to Four Years

Four to Five Years

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speech; language; hearing; development; developmental milestones; chart; milestones; listening

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How Does Your Child Hear and Talk? Speech, Language, and Hearing Developmental Milestones From Birth to 5 Years

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Your child starts communicating with you long before he says his first word. Learn more about what your child should do in his first 5 years and how you can help.

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The Hanen Centre has developed a variety of programs for parents and educators to help them assume a primary role in promoting the social, language and literacy skills of young children.

Hanen's research-based, group-oriented programs teach participants practical strategies for encouraging children's learning naturally in the context of everyday activities.

Click on the links below to read more about Hanen Programs®:

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Hanen Programs for Parents and Early Childhood Educators

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The Hanen Centre has developed a variety of programs for parents and educators to help them assume a primary role in promoting the social, language and literacy skills of young children. Hanen's research-based, group-oriented programs teach participants practical strategies for encouraging children's learning naturally in the context of everyday activities.

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Preschool activities which aid in sub skills of reading!

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Preschool activities which aid in sub skills of reading!

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Free. We love free, especially during COVID-19. Our Building Blocks for Literacy online course for educators and parents is offered for a limited time at no cost thanks to the generosity of H. Sinclair Sherrill, co-founder of Boon Philanthropy. Register today and share with anyone who cares about helping children be ready to read when they enter kindergarten! https://sterncenter.org/profe…/building-blocks-for-literacy/

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What is Building Blocks for Literacy?

Building Blocks for Literacy® is a robust professional learning program for early care and education professionals to help ensure that our youngest learners are prepared for literacy success when they enter kindergarten. More than 3,500 early childhood educators have completed this course over the past 22 years, and we're thrilled to offer Building Blocks for Literacy online at no cost during the COVID-19 crisis thanks to the generosity of H. Sinclair Sherrill, co-founder of Boon Philanthropy. Register today, save $50, and earn 1 undergraduate credit from Champlain College!

Watch the trailer featuring course highlights:
Click here to register "

"I have taken the Building blocks for Literacy 6-hour training at the Bishop Marshall School in Morrisville. This class has changed my way of teaching my children. I have seen a huge improvement in my children's speech and language development within the first week of starting the program. My parents' feedback has been amazing. The children are using the techniques and language skills at home too. My children are using their new language skills throughout their day." Gail Leblanc, CDA, registered home day care provider

Building Blocks for Literacy® provides professional learning in the following areas:

Early Literacy Research

Language Development

Executive Function Development

Shared Book Reading (emphasizing vocabulary development)

Phonological Awareness

Speech-to-Print (including alphabet knowledge)

The National Research Council and the 2009 National Early Literacy Panel concluded that the three most important elements to promote early literacy skills in children are shared book reading, phonological awareness, and speech-to-print connections. Participants in Building Blocks for Literacy learn developmentally appropriate, evidence-based, play-based, fun activities that will ensure that children enter kindergarten primed for literacy success.

Activity Guides

Promote children's early reading success with our Activity Guide! (available in English & Spanish)

Preparing All Children to Read

Reading is essential for learning and living success.

Early Intervention is Effective

Prevention studies in reading (and behavior) commonly show that 70-90% of at-risk children (bottom 20% of all children) in K-2 can learn to read in the average range with effective instruction.

- Fletcher, Lyon, et al, 2007

What We Know About Reading and the Brain

Of 50 children having trouble learning to read in kindergarten, 44 of them will still be having trouble in third grade. - National Scientific Council, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2007)

One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade fail to graduate from high school on time. - Hernandez, 2012

Of low-income fourth graders, 68% cannot read at the proficient level. - National Assessment Educational Progress, 2000

A majority of reading problems can be prevented in preschool and the early grades. - National Research Council, 1998

Why BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY®?

Meets National Child Development Associate® (CDA) credential for Physical and Intellectual Development

Counts towards NAEYC and NAFCC Accreditations

Aligns with the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework

Outreach Map

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LITERACY® has provided training opportunities in the states highlighted in green.

Together, we can prepare every child to read.
Be a reading hero - Let's go!
If you'd like to offer a Building Blocks for Literacy® training in your area, simply give us a call at 802-878-2332 or complete the form below.

If you have questions or would like to discuss your potential support of a Building Blocks for Literacy® training, please contact our Professional Learning team.

Maybe you're ready to demonstrate your support today. A financial contribution will help purchase the supplies and materials needed to make a difference for an early care and education center near you!

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Building Blocks for Literacy® is a robust professional learning program for early care and education professionals to help ensure that our youngest learners are prepared for literacy success when they enter kindergarten.

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Preschool instructional and support materials that are being created as part of the Project Ready research project.

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Project Ready! | School of Education | myMount

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(DSM5), language disorder and dyslexia are both ‘neurodevelopmental disorders’ meaning that they are likely to be heritable, emerge early in development and persist across the life-span. It is therefore important to provide intervention, which will reduce their impact – it isn’t the case that children will ‘grow out’ of them.

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(DSM5), language disorder and dyslexia are both ‘neurodevelopmental disorders’ meaning that they are likely to be heritable, emerge early in development and persist across the life-span. It is therefore important to provide intervention, which will reduce their impact – it isn’t the case that children will ‘grow out’ of them.

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Dyslexia and developmental language disorder: same or different?

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Professor Maggie Snowling looks at how we understand the definition, development and relationship between dyslexia and developmental language disorder (DLD).

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Choosing words to teach* late talkers is hard - for both parents and speech pathologists! But there's some great research out there to guide decision-making, if you know where to look.

As a Hanen-certified speech pathologist, I've just completed a very practical seminar on word choice for late talkers presented by Cindy Earle, the Program Director for Hanen's Target Word program.

For the benefit of parents and others caring for late-talking children, I thought I'd share my key takeaways:

1. What do we mean by a "late talker"?

The research definition of a "late talker" is a child aged between 18 and 30 months who:

Hanen's clinical definition is much the same, but includes children who have fewer than 100 words. I prefer this definition because it captures more children who might be at risk and who might benefit from early intervention.

2. Why does late-talking matter? Should we be concerned about it?

To answer the second question first: yes.

We know that roughly half of late talkers "catch up" to their peers by the time they go to school. But, unfortunately, we don't yet know which ones! For the "other half", the late onset of language is a good predictor of long-term language problems - particularly with syntax, vocabulary, and verbal memory (Rice, 2008; Rescorla, 2009).

We discuss known red flags for language delays here.

4. Predictors of change/improvement

This was my first big takeaway from Cindy's talk. Drawing on studies by Olswang and colleagues (1998) and Wetherby (2000), Earle identified the following factors as "predictors of change" for late talkers' language development:

quietness/noisiness;

consonant repertoire (i.e. how many consonants the child can say);

pretend play skills;

comprehension;

gestures;

imitation;

the kinds of words the child uses (if any);

social skills; and

time.

5. Getting specific about language goals for late talkers

"Talking" is of course the main goal for parents and carers of late talkers. But teaching children random words without a plan or goal is not the way to do it. Knowing about the above "predictors of change" allows us to get more specific about what might help the child get there ASAP, based on where they are at at the time of assessment:

noisiness, e.g. the child will vocalise with each turn;

imitation, e.g. the child will copy single words;

single words, e.g. the child will use single words spontaneously; or

combinations e.g. the child will combine words.

6. So, here's what I think about when choosing words for a late talker

At the outset of therapy, I like to discuss and agree 10-15 target words with the families of late talkers I work with. To come up with the list, we consider the following six factors:

(a) Does the child understand the word?

There's no point trying to teach a child to say a word he or she doesn't understand.

(b) Does the word start with a sound the child can say?

The technical term for this is " ". We know that children are more likely to experiment with words that start with a sound in their existing repertoire of speech sounds. That's why getting a speech sound sample is so important when we assess late talking children, even if they are only in phonology babbling and not saying any 'true words'.

(c) Is the word motivating for the child to say (not just understand)

Some kids are very interested in a favourite bedtime toy, pet, TV character, etc. To maximise motivation for talking, I always try to include words that refer to the child's "favourite things in the world" - even - eek! - if it involves the motion picture Frozen. (Let It Go, David!)

(d) Can we use gestures to supplement the word?

Gesture science can get a bit technical and jargon-laden: I plan to tackle this important topic in a future blog post (or two!). But, for the purposes of this article, we know that certain gesture-speech combinations help some late talkers to combine words (McEachern & Haynes, 2004).

If we're trying to help a late talker combine words, teaching him/her gestures that supplement (rather than just echo) his/her words can help. For example, teaching a child to point at things and to say applicable words like "go" or "fast" or "big", can provide children with a bridge to developing multi-word utterances (e.g. "car go", "fast dog", "big tree").

(e) Verbs, verbs, verbs

We've covered this point before. But it bears repeating:

In English, you need at least one verb (action word) to make a complete sentence (e.g. "go" or "fish swim"). So teaching children the names of things and people (e.g. "mama", "car") and positions (e.g. "up") is not enough. If we want to help late talkers combine words into sentences, we MUST include verbs.

For this reason, I always choose at least four "all purpose" verbs in my initial word list for late talkers: e.g. go, do, play, make, come, get. The fancy name for this practice is "verb-focused intervention" (e.g. Hadley & Olsen, 2005).

(f) Words that occur throughout the day

Just like with verbs, we don't want to spend our time on words that won't come up a lot during the day. One trick is to look for things that the child loves to do a lot of during the day. This varies from child to child. Observe the child doing it, then come up with words that will give you plenty of time to use them several times a day.

Correct word choice is very important when helping a late talker. Early intervention is the best strategy.

If you're the parent or carer of a late talker - or potential late talker - we recommend you get in touch with a certified practising speech pathologist for a chat and, if warranted, to organise a language assessment.

Related articles:

Key source : Earle. C. (2015). Choosing Initial Vocabulary Targets for Children who are Late Talkers. A Hanen e-Seminar. Hanen Centre. (Attended by the writer on 13-17 July 2015.)

* For you fellow Chomsky/ Pinker fans out there, please note that I'm using the word "teach" loosely here - I could have said "naturalistic indirect language stimulation based on principles of interactive communication" to make the point that we don't actually teach language to children: we just help them help themselves. But life's too short!

Image: http://bit.ly/1JsaZWB

Banter Speech & Language

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Late talkers: how I choose which words to work on first

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Choosing words to teach* late talkers is hard - for both parents and speech pathologists! But there's some great research out there to guide decision-making, if you know where to look. As a Hanen-certified speech pathologist, I've just completed a very practical seminar on word choice for late talkers presented by Cindy Earle, the Program Director for Hanen's Target Word program.

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See Hear Speak Podcast By Tiffany Hogan Interesting conversations with people who care about reading, language, and speech in the developing child

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See Hear Speak Podcast By Tiffany Hogan Interesting conversations with people who care about reading, language, and speech in the developing child

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Episode 15: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) with Dorothy Bishop by SeeHearSpeak Podcast

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Episode 15: Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) with Dorothy Bishop by SeeHearSpeak Podcast

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Developmental Language Disorder with Dorothy Bishop: History, Advocacy, Terminology, Co-morbidities and so much more!

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Early Literacy: The Importance of Oral Language

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Early Literacy: The Importance of Oral Language

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Early Literacy: The Importance of Oral Language

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Indicators of Individual Growth and Development for Infants and Toddlers (IGDIs) are a set of measures designed and validated for use by early childhood practitioners and interventionists for the purpose of monitoring children's growth and progress.

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Indicators of Individual Growth and Development for Infants and Toddlers (IGDIs) are a set of measures designed and validated for use by early childhood practitioners and interventionists for the purpose of monitoring children's growth and progress.

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Infants and Toddlers (birth to three): The Official IGDI Home Page for Infants and Toddlers

http://www.igdi.ku.edu/

This web site is dedicated to assessing the results of early intervention and early childhood special education services provided young children birth through age 3. Indicators of Individual Growth and Development for Infants and Toddlers (IGDIs) are a set of measures designed and validated for use by early childhood practitioners and interventionists for the purpose of monitoring children's growth and progress. Unlike standardized tests that are administered infrequently, IGDIs are designed to be used repeatedly by practitioners in order to estimate each child's "rate of growth" over time. The distinctive benefit of this approach is that the information can be used to directly inform intervention design, implementation, and modification at reasonable levels of training, time, and cost.

Preschool (three to five): Get it Got it Go!

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/projects/ggg/default.html

Through the comprehensive web-based system, you can learn how to use preschool measurements, download the assessment tools, and manage scores for the children you assess. Upon registration, you will also have full access to free online management tools. You will be able to manage and monitor a child's progress at any location that Internet access is available to you, as well as generate graphical reports on each child's progress at any point in time.

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dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills

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University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning

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http://www.igdi.ku.edu/ This web site is dedicated to assessing the results of early intervention and early childhood special education services provided young children birth through age 3. Indicators of Individual Growth and Development for Infants and Toddlers (IGDIs) are a set of measures designed and validated for use by early childhood practitioners and interventionists for the purpose of monitoring children's growth and progress.

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Pre-CTOPPP provides assessment of all three areas of phonological processing: phonological sensitivity, phonological memory, and phonological access. In the area of phonological sensitivity, the test was constructed according to the developmental progression of phonological sensitivity

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Pre-CTOPPP provides assessment of all three areas of phonological processing: phonological sensitivity, phonological memory, and phonological access. In the area of phonological sensitivity, the test was constructed according to the developmental progression of phonological sensitivity

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PreSchool Comprehensive Test of Phonological and Print Processing

The Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological & Print Processing (©2002) was developed and is copyrighted by Christopher J. Lonigan, Richard K. Wagner, Joseph K. Torgesen, & Carol A. Rashotte at Florida State University

Prepublication versions of the subtest are available below. Do not use or reproduce this test without written permission of the authors (contact lonigan@psy.fsu.edu).

Description of Pre-CTOPPP: The Pre-CTOPPP was designed as a downward extension of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1999). The PreCTOPPP was designed for use with children from 3 through 5 years of age. Like the CTOPP, the Pre-CTOPPP provides assessment of all three areas of phonological processing: phonological sensitivity, phonological memory, and phonological access. In the area of phonological sensitivity, the test was constructed according to the developmental progression of phonological sensitivity (i.e., from word sensitivity to phoneme sensitivity), and both recognition (multiple choice) and expressive formats are used. Phonological sensitivity is assessed by the Blending, Elision, and Initial Sound Matching subtests. Phonological memory is assessed by the Word Span and NonWord Repetition subtests. Phonological access is assessed by the Rapid Naming subtests. In addition to the phonological processing subtests, the Pre-CTOPPP includes a Print Awareness subtest (described below) and a Reading Vocabulary subtest, designed to assess children's knowledge of words they are most likely to encounter in text during beginning reading instruction. Initial psychometric data ( see data) for the Pre-CTOPPP is good.

The Pre-CTOPPP includes a measure of reading Vocabulary (not currently available on this site). In addition, a Spanish language version of the Pre-CTOPPP's phonological processing and print awareness subtests has been developed and validated in a moderate size sample of preschool-age children.

Download Links for Pre-CTOPPP Subtests
Use the Links in the table below to download copies of the subtests. Note that the files for the color stimuli are and should not be downloaded over a dial-in connection.
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Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological & Print Processing

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PreSchool Comprehensive Test of Phonological and Print Processing The Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological & Print Processing (©2002) was developed and is copyrighted by Christopher J. Lonigan, Richard K. Wagner, Joseph K. Torgesen, & Carol A. Rashotte at Florida State University Prepublication versions of the subtest are available below.

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Communication in Babies and Toddlers: Milestones, Delays, and Screening

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Communication in Babies and Toddlers: Milestones, Delays, and Screening

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Communication in Babies and Toddlers: Milestones, Delays, and Screening

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Did you know that a baby's brain is developing the most rapidly during the first two years of life? These early years offer a critical window of opportunity, like no other time, to launch language early and get a jump start on school success. Learn the milestones that develop from 1-24 months.

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Is your child in elementary school? Use this guide to learn about your child's speech and language development.

Children develop at their own rate. The skills listed are what most children can do by the end of that grade.

Speech-language pathologists, or SLPs, work with children who have speech and language problems.

To find an SLP near you, visit ProFind.

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Your Child's Communication Development: Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade

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Is your child in elementary school? Use this guide to learn about your child's speech and language development.

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Recommendations for Identifying Students Prone to Reading Challenges & Dyslexia

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Skills to Screen for in Kindergarten

Predictive of Dyslexia

Sound/Symbol Correspondance

In kindergarten, letter-sound knowledge is the most robust predictor of reading ability (McBride-Chang, 1999; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte 1994). Letter-sound knowledge is at the intersection of phonology and written language because it reﬂects the knowledge of letter names, the sounds they make, and their visual representations. However, the skill has several predictive limitations, it reaches a predictive ceiling in late kindergarten (Schatschneider et al., 2004), and letter-sound knowledge is thought to be strongly inﬂuenced by environmental factors, such as home literacy, and thus may reﬂect lack of experience rather than a cognitive deﬁcit (Senechal & LeFevre, 2002).

Phonological Awareness

Poor phonological awareness for the sound structure of spoken words is a reliable early indicator of dyslexia risk. Phonological skills such as rhyming, blending and segmenting tasks correlate with reading outcomes in later grades (Scarborough, Dobrich & Hager, 1991).

Family History

Due to the hereditary nature of dyslexia, family history is considered a strong risk factors (see review in Gaab & Ozernov-Palchik, 2016). Familial studies suggest that dyslexia occurs in up to 68% of identical twins and up to 40-60% of individuals who have a ﬁrst-degree relative with dyslexia (See Resources for more information). Assessments should include questions regarding a family's known history of dyslexia, struggles with reading or academic failure.

Rapid Automatized Naming

Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) refers to the automaticity with which the names of a set of serially presented symbols such as objects, colors, letters, or numbers can be retrieved. RAN parallels the cognitive demands of ﬂuent reading, and is a strong early predictor of later reading ﬂuency (Schatschneider, Fletcher, Francis, Carlson, & Foorman, 2004). The predictive power of RAN also varies depending on what stimuli are used (e.g., numbers, pictures, or letters), with colors and objects being stronger predictors in earlier grades (Norton & Wolf, 2012).

Predictive of Comprehension Challenges

Oral Language Ability

Slow language development as indicated by delayed onset of talking, short mean length of utterances, lower complexity of syllables produced, and poor receptive or expressive vocabulary, has been associated with poor literacy outcomes (Flax, Realpe-Bonilla, Roesler, Choudhury &Benasich, 2009; Lyytinen, Eklund, Lyytinen, 2005). An important distinction has been made between receptive and expressive language development. While most late-talkers with typical receptive language will develop typical literacy skills, children with language delay in both expressive and receptive realms are more likely to experience persistent language and reading difﬁculties (Rescorla & Roberts, 2002; Scarborough, & Dobrich, 1990).

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Skills to Screen for in Kindergarten Predictive of Dyslexia Sound/Symbol Correspondance In kindergarten, letter-sound knowledge is the most robust predictor of reading ability (McBride-Chang, 1999; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte 1994). Letter-sound knowledge is at the intersection of phonology and written language because it reﬂects the knowledge of letter names, the sounds they make, and their visual representations.

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Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children 1998

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Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children 1998

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Screening for Reading Difficulties in Young Children

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Although reading is an essential part of our daily lives, it is a relatively new ability that our species developed roughly five thousand years ago. Researchers like Dr. Wolf emphasize that the act of reading is vastly complex, and requires that we engage many different parts of the brain because no single area within the brain is responsible for reading.

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Episode 17: The Evolutionary Roots of the Reading Brain

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44 Phonemes Free video resource for teachers. When teaching students to read, modeling the correct letter sounds is critical. Learn how to pronounce the 44 phonemes in the English alphabet. Find more free language and literacy resources to include in your lesson plans at www.readrightfromthestart.org

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A Literacy How Mentor models gestures for the short vowel sounds-- /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ --while students follow along

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Four minute overview of the 44 sounds in spoken Australian English, including the spellings used for each

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What are the 44 sounds of Australian English?

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forty-seven letters and letter combinations are embedded into colorful pictures that show students what to do with their mouths when making the letter sounds

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Addressing Multiple Targets

The Lively Letters™ program addresses multiple targets, simultaneously training students in the critical skills of:

* phonemic awareness
* phonics
* speech production

Oral Kinesthetics and Mnemonics

The oral kinesthetic (mouth cues) feature of the Lively Letters™ Program helps set it apart from other multi-sensory programs, as students are taught what to do with their mouths in order to produce the sounds.

This is done in a fun and engaging way as students are introduced to meaningful letter characters that are strategically embedded right into the letters.

Errorless Responding

Lively Letters™ uses proven strategies for errorless responding to prevent sequencing errors and impulsive guessing for those with rapid naming problems.

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Lively Letters | Reading with TLC | Reading with TLC

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The Lively Letters™ program addresses multiple targets, simultaneously training students in the critical skills of: * phonemic awareness * phonics * speech production The oral kinesthetic (mouth cues) feature of the Lively Letters™ Program helps set it apart from other multi-sensory programs, as students are taught what to do with their mouths in order to produce the sounds.

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The Importance of Letter Recognition

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Early Literacy: The Importance of Letter Recognition

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How do you recognize the sounds of spoken language? How do we take apart the words that we speak? Learn more about this skill and tips to improve phonological awareness in kids.

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How do you recognize the sounds of spoken language? How do we take apart the words that we speak? Learn more about this skill and tips to improve phonological awareness in kids.

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An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awarenessThe ability to recongize that spoken words are made up of individual sound parts. involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. 

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An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awarenessThe ability to recongize that spoken words are made up of individual sound parts. involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. 

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An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. An example of phonological awareness is hearing in your mind the word created by replacing the first sound in "fish" with the first sound in "day," to make the word, "dish".
Phonological awareness is a foundation for understanding the alphabetic principle and reading success.
It is not a coincidence that the individual sounds in words map onto the letters of the alphabet. This mapping is a key part of the role phonological awareness plays in learning to read. However, being able to identify the sounds in words is not as easy as it seems. Many students enter kindergarten already knowing a lot about how the sounds in words map onto letters, but some students do not. For example, students with dyslexia often have more difficulty hearing the sounds in words and mapping them onto letters than other students. For students with dyslexia high-quality instruction and intervention to develop phonological awareness skills is critical.

Learning to identify the sounds in words through instruction happens best when the sounds are explicitly connected to the letters they represent. This mapping is the essence of the alphabetic principle. When this mapping is well developed, it allows readers to accurately read, or decode, about 70% of the single-syllable words they will encounter in text. In addition, when readers encounter a word in print for the first time, and understand the alphabetic principle, the odds are very good they will read the word correctly.

There are several ways to effectively teach phonological awareness to prepare early readers:

TEACH STUDENTS TO RECOGNIZE AND MANIPULATE THE SOUNDS OF SPEECH

Teachers should show and teach students how to break down units of speech into smaller units. For example, an excellent instructional sequence that helps students learn to hear the sounds of speech involves progressing from easier activities to those that are more difficult. Teachers can show students how to identify

words within sentences,

syllables within words,

the first and last sounds within words (onset and rime, respectively),

and finally, all of the individual sounds in a word (phonemes).

TEACH STUDENTS LETTER-SOUND RELATIONS

Teachers should demonstrate and teach students letter-sound relations they will first encounter in print, such as consonants and short vowels.

Teach these letter-sounds in the context of words where letters represent their most common sound (e.g., teaching "a" in "bat" vs. "was").

More complex letter-sound relations should be taught next, such as consonant blends , consonant digraphs , and other predictable but more complex patterns (e.g., vowel digraphs such as "oa" in "boat"; words with long vowels and a silent e, such as in the word, "like").

A STRONG INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE MIGHT LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

The teacher says the name of the letter and introduces the symbol for the letter (show the letter "b").

Then, the teacher gives students a picture that represents the sound (e.g., a "bat") with a brief backstory as an anchor or memory aid.

Finally, students can practice demonstrating their letter-sound understanding by identifying the sound and writing the letter in various contexts.

Good early literacy instruction also provides opportunities for students to review recently taught letter-sound relations over time, so that students can better remember and more fluently identify and produce them.

TEACH STUDENTS TO MANIPULATE LETTER-SOUNDS IN PRINT USING WORD-BUILDING ACTIVITIES

Teachers should also encourage students to connect their knowledge of how to manipulate sounds in spoken language with their knowledge of letter-sound relations.

Students can be taught to apply their knowledge of sounds to form words in print through an activity that uses letters on tiles or magnets that are easily manipulated to build or change words.

After practicing with the teacher, students can work and practice on their own or with a partner, adding and substituting sounds and building harder words, such as those with a silent e.

This type of activity helps students understand how to spell and read words using their awareness of the sounds in language and the letter-sound relations they have been taught.

Infographic

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Suggested Citation

Baker, S.K., Beattie, T., Nelson, N.J., & Turtura, J. (2018). How We Learn to Read: The Critical Role of Phonological Awareness. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from http://improvingliteracy.org.

References

Foorman, B., Beyler, N., Borradaile, K., Coyne, M., Denton, C. A., Dimino, J., Furgeson, J., Hayes, L., Henke, J., Justice, L., Keating, B., Lewis, W., Sattar, S., Streke, A., Wagner, R., & Wissel, S. (2016). Foundational skills to support reading for understanding in kindergarten through 3rd grade (NCEE 2016-4008). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov.

Smith, S.B., Simmons, D.C., & Kame'enui, E.J. (1998). Phonological awareness: Instructional and curricular basics and implications. In E.J. Kame'enui & D.C. Simmons (Eds.), What reading research tells us about children with diverse learning needs: Bases and basics (pp. 129-140). Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Abstract

Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. This skill is a foundation for understanding the alphabetic principle and reading success. There are several ways to effectively teach phonological awareness to prepare early readers, including: 1) teaching students to recognize and manipulate the sounds of speech, 2) teaching students letter-sound relations, and 3) teaching students to manipulate letter-sounds in print using word-building activities.

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How We Learn to Read: The Critical Role of Phonological Awareness

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An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words.

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This toolkit helps teachers and families understand what the alphabetic principle and phonics are and how to support a child's development of these important reading skills.

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This toolkit helps teachers and families understand what the alphabetic principle and phonics are and how to support a child's development of these important reading skills.

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Are you giving your students the instruction they need to become successful readers?
Can you provide remediation based on results from early screening for Dyslexia?

Educators find out how with our Phonological Awareness curriculum for classrooms and reading intervention.

"Phonological Awareness, the ability to detect or manipulate the sounds in words, has been identified as a key early literacy skill and precursor to reading." - U.S. Department of Education

Parents, please ask us about individual tutoring, which is now available online.

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Are you giving your students the instruction they need to become successful readers? Can you provide remediation based on results from early screening for Dyslexia? Educators find out how with our Phonological Awareness curriculum for classrooms and reading intervention.

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OFFER ENDS APRIL 10th. The above is a suggested price. Name your price below. Our bundled package includes every existing phonics books series - Short Vowels, Consonant Digraphs, Consonant Blends, Silent e and long vowels. There are over 40 books total.

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Even though mother's issues are not front page news,
they touch us all personally, some more than others, and
I believe passionately in the power of grassroots engagement.
- Joan Blades

The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon
folks get to paying more attention to the organization
than to what they're organized for.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder

If children can't learn the way we teach, then
we have to teach the way they learn.
- Robert Buck

In dyslexia, there's not a knowledge gap but rather an action gap.

- Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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Even though mother's issues are not front page news, they touch us all personally, some more than others, andI believe passionately in the power of grassroots engagement.- Joan Blades The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for.

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What It Does

Our research shows that every child needs different amounts of different types of literacy instruction when learning to read. Home Literacy Coach balances the amount and type of instruction to ensure a customized plan for each child.

Home Literacy Coach breaks down literacy activities into four areas.

Adult and Child Phonics, Spelling and Fluency

These activities help students decode letters and sounds into speech to "crack the code" of reading.

Activities include: Teaching students the recommended activities, identifying sounds and letters, sounding out words, and spelling.

Independent Practice: Phonics, Spelling and Fluency

Student should spend time practicing these skills independently.

Activities include: Completing the recommended activities after adult instruction, matching letters and sounds, playing word games or practicing spelling.

Adult and Child Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Writing

These activities help students understand the content of what is being read and build their language, vocabulary, writing and comprehension skills.

Activites include: Teaching students the recommended activities, reading to students, discussing the meaning of new words and summarizing books they read.

Independent Practice: Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Writing

Student should spend time practicing these skills independently.

Activities include: Completing the recommended activities after adult instruction, reading books either aloud or on their own, illustrating stories they've read, writing, or summarizing stories.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our research shows that every child needs different amounts of different types of literacy instruction when learning to read. Home Literacy Coach balances the amount and type of instruction to ensure a customized plan for each child. Home Literacy Coach breaks down literacy activities into four areas.

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A love of reading starts with a solid foundation A love of reading starts with a solid foundation The Heggerty Way NEW! Bridge to Reading...

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Owl Babies Interactive Story Read - START Read 1

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Homeschool Reading and Spelling Curriculum, Programs | Home School Language Arts Materials

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Discover one of the top resources for teaching reading and spelling. All About Learning Press offers homeschooling curriculum that will have your kids learning effectively with multisensory lessons. Get started today!

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Parents: No one cares more than you do about your child's success. This Guide will enable you to teach your child at home or to monitor your child's progress in school, to make sure his reading and writing skills are progressing as they should. Whether or not your child is dyslexic, these principles ensure success.

Teachers: This Guide describes the best practices and covers what you need to know to teach reading and writing skills in preschool, kindergarten, and in the primary grades.

This Guide describes many of the ideas originally developed by Anna Gillingham, working in partnership with a physician, Samuel Torrey Orton. Together they described a way of teaching that enable dyslexic children to succeed -- now known as the Orton-Gillingham Approach.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Sounds & Symbols

Chapter 3: Motor Component

Chapter 4: Closed Syllables

Chapter 5: Digraphs & Blends

Chapter 6: Silent-e Syllables

Chapter 8: R-Controlled Syllables

Chapter 9: Consonants with Two Sounds

Chapter 10: Syllable Division

Chapter 11: Oral Reading practice

Chapter 12: Tackling Spelling

Chapter 13: Paragraph Writing: Exposition

Chapter 14: The Final Stable Syllable

Chapter 16: Grammar & Sentence Structure

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About the Author
Diana Hanbury King is a master teacher with over half a century of experience.

On Saturday June 11, 2016, at their 25th anniversary, the National Teachers Hall of Fame awarded Diana Hanbury King the "Lifetime Achievement Award."

Diana was the second educator to ever receive this award. At the NTHF ceremony, the attendees began calling her the Einstein of Education!

NTHF asked Pete Wright to present the Award to Diana. Why? Because in the early 1950's, for two years, every day, after school, an hour a day, she taught Pete how to read.

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During this crisis, schools are closed, and families like yours are having to find new ways to keep learning at home. We know it's not easy, and we're here to help.

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Have a question? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

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Powered by the Atlanta Speech School and the Cox Campus. Our goal is to meet the needs of families by providing free online preschool lessons and learning experiences, so your child can learn and grow in the safest possible environment - your home.

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Online for grades 2 - 4

This follow-up to Read, Write & Type demystifies spelling and teaches children to recognize frequently repeated patterns in words. Includes 20 catchy songs to remember spelling rules!

Please note: You must use either Edge, FireFox 48, 49 or 50, Chrome latest version or Safari 9 or 10 to view this demo.

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Online for grades 2 - 4 This follow-up to Read, Write & Type demystifies spelling and teaches children to recognize frequently repeated patterns in words. Includes 20 catchy songs to remember spelling rules! Please note: You must use either Edge, FireFox 48, 49 or 50, Chrome latest version or Safari 9 or 10 to view this demo.

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Online therapy is an exciting, engaging way for students to reach their speech and occupational therapy goals! Students are paired with a highly qualified online therapist, who connects with them live through TinyEYE's specialized online therapy platform.

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Online therapy is an exciting, engaging way for students to reach their speech and occupational therapy goals! Students are paired with a highly qualified online therapist, who connects with them live through TinyEYE's specialized online therapy platform.

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