You may have already played the Sound Switch game and had a little bit of fun yourself in seeing how many switches you can make in a minute. Whether your child was a champion switcher or found the activity challenging, this skill is an important stepping stone to reading. It teaches something called phonological awareness.
Before your child can read, they must master the ability to hear sounds within words. In fact, developing phonological awareness begins before kids even start school. And oddly enough, this is a skill that is often overlooked in early reading.
Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds, syllables, and words in language. The word “phonological” comes from the Greek root “phon” which refers to “sounds and voice”. This is a foundational literacy skill that predicts later reading success and is one of the 5 Components of Reading.
Children that are proficient in phonological awareness have a good starting point for learning to string sounds together, as in reading, and breaking sounds apart, as in spelling. Here’s what phonological awareness includes:
Research tells us there is a strong connection between proficiency in phonological awareness and dyslexia. So, how can you ensure your child is getting enough phonological awareness practice?
One way is through assessment. At Sprout, we assess a child’s ability to rhyme, recognize the first sounds in words, and even blend and manipulate sounds to make words -- like in the Sound Switch game. This is a comprehensive look at phonemic and phonological processing or simply, the way your brain processes sounds.
What can you do at home to help build those early reading skills? Why not play with the sounds and words? This can be incorporated into your child’s everyday routine, like rhyming words and chanting songs during a car, bus, or train ride.
Chanting a nursery rhyme like Hickory Dickory Dock, or listening for alliteration in Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers, can be fun ways to get some phonological awareness practice! And while you’re at it … why not clap out how many syllables are in the word “basketball”? Bas-ket-ball!
When you are reading that favorite rhyming bedtime story, see if your child can fill in the rhyming word when you leave it out. Or maybe take apart a one-syllable word into onset and rime. Take advantage of that downtime and build those early phonological awareness skills!
Wanting to boost your child's reading skills and get ahead of the game? Our comprehensive program pairs your child with a Literacy Specialist and a research-based app that focuses on this skill and the other building blocks of literacy. The program combines a fun game-based skill development app with our award-winning EarlyBird Assessment, dedicated support from a Literacy Specialist, and additional resources to help parents support their children.
