Help your child read faster with phonological awareness!

You know that reading is an important – essential – skill for your child. It’s one of the main ways children take in information at school as they grow older.

So you may invest in story time or going to the library - which is great!

But there are also a few activities for making your child a stronger and faster reader that are less well-known.

These activities are very different from memorizing sight words, or rereading books. They are well-known to speech-language pathologists, reading specialists, and other education professionals. And they can be quick, easy, and fun.

They are activities that increase your child’s phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness is an important predictor of reading achievement, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It is the ability to identify, and move around, sounds and syllables in a variety of ways.

In fact, phonological awareness is so important that it is a part of the common core standards for kindergarten and first grade.

Think about it – when your child is reading the sounds in “cat” as “kuh – ah – tuh”, she is identifying the sounds each letter makes. This is phonological awareness skill. When she puts together “kuh ah tuh” she is putting the sounds together. This is a phonological skill. And when she is reading the two syllables in “ta – ble” together, she is blending syllables. This is another phonological awareness skill.

So how do you increase phonological awareness? Here are three fun activities.

1. Practicing rhyming words

Rhyming is an important phonological awareness activity. To “teach” this, start with having a child identify rhymes. For example – in “Humpty Dumpty”, “fall” rhymes with “wall.” Point out to your child how the words sound the same. Then repeat them a few times.

Then progress to having your child identify whether words rhyme or not. “Does rain rhyme with pain? Yes!” or “Does rain rhyme with road? No!”

Last, but not least, prompt your child to make rhymes. For example – “What rhymes with ball?”

Rhymes are crucial because when a child is making rhymes, they are actually going through a pretty complex process. They are identifying the initial consonant sound (the “onset”, for example, “r” in “rain”), and the rest of the word (the “ryme”, for example the “ain” in “rain”). Then they are substituting a different the consonant / onset (say, “m” in “main”), and blending it with the initial “ryme” or rest of the word. So, m + ain = main.

2. Clapping out syllables

Being able to identify and blend syllables in a word shows whether or not a child is able to break words into components to read them. It is also a component in the Kindergarten common core standards.

Having the kids clap or jump during every syllable is a great place to begin.

For example, “let’s jump to princess.” PRINCESS = PRIN (JUMP) CESS (JUMP).

And, try it the other way round. (JUMP) PRIN (JUMP) CESS. What word does that make? Princess!

3. Bringing out the whiteboard and the magnetic alphabet

You can try to spell out different words, and the help your child sound them out. For example – CAT = kuh ah tuh. This is identifying the sound that each letter makes – an important phonological awareness skill. You can even take this skill further by asking your child – “what other words start with kuh?” and spelling the words out.

You can also do the reverse. Say kuh – ah – tuh – makes what? Cat! To work on blending.

You can work on eliminating sounds. For example C-A-T. Take away T and you have… “kuh – ah” – or “ca.”

And finally, you can work on substituting vowels. Change A to U and you get… C-U-T. Kuh – Uh – Tuh. Cut.

Children find whiteboards and magnets inherently fun. But you can make this activity a game by involving other kids your child’s age. Make it a challenge. Who can come up with the answer first? Keep track of points. Or, do one question for every turn of Candyland.

So there you have it! Three simple games that have nothing to do with books, but that have a great impact on pre-literacy. They might be a bit of extra time, on top of the usual bedtime story. But the benefits for your child once “blending”, “decoding,” etc. are well worth the effort.

Happy Talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.