PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS SKILLS: A GUIDELINE FOR PARE

Written By: Elissa Murnick M.S. CCC-SLP Certified Speech Language Pathologist, Director Murnick Speech & Language Associates

The definition of Phonological Awareness is “The ability to attend to the phonological or sound structure of language as distinct from its meaning”.  In order to learn to read, there are certain “readiness” skills that a child needs to acquire beforehand. Preschool and Kindergarten teachers as well as Speech Language Pathologists often work on these skills in the classroom but parents can also practice these at home.  Children with Speech and/or Language Delay/Disorders often have difficulties acquiring Phonological Awareness skills and need to be formally taught these skills and provided with multiple opportunities for practicing them.  Speech Pathologists often do “whole group” lessons in Kindergarten classrooms or “pull-out” lessons for children who are struggling in these areas. Strengthening these skills will help lay the foundation for a child to learn to read independently. A Speech Language Pathologist can also formally assess a child’s Phonological Awareness skills using the Phonological Awareness Test-2nd Edition (PAT-2).

Below are a list of Phonological Awareness skills and some ways that parents can help target them:

· Letter/Sound Identification: Identifying the corresponding sound to a letter (i.e. f=/f/)

· Rhyme Identification: Identifying whether a pair of words rhyme (i.e. fun/fan vs. fun/run)

· Rhyme Production: Producing a word that rhymes with another word (i.e. car=star)

For more Phonological Awareness Skills, please visit Phonological Awareness Skills on my website.

Below is a list of suggested activities parents can do to help their child improve Phonological Awareness Skills:

Word Segmentation:  

· Count words in sentences.  Have your child come up with a short sentence to describe something that he/she recently did.  (i.e. “I had pizza yesterday.”)  Clap the words and count them.  Make the sentence longer and count again.  (“I had pizza yesterday and it was really good”)

Rhyme Recognition and Production:  

· Play a rhyming “I Spy” game with your child.  You say “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with … [slanket].”  The child looks around and sees a “blanket.”   This activity can be done on the go (i.e car ride, doctors office, restaurant)

Syllable Segmentation and Blending:  

· As you’re putting groceries into the shopping cart, clap the syllables in the word name for individual items.  (i.e. “How many times did we clap?”       

For more suggestions for parents, please visit Phonological Awareness Skills on my website.

 Recommended book list:

· Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

· Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton

· Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton

For more recommended books, please visit Phonological Awareness Skills on my website.

Elissa Murnick is a licensed, certified Speech Language Pathologist and the owner of Murnick Speech & Language Associates in Fairfield, CT. She has worked for almost 15 years with children of all ages with a wide range of speech and language disorders in a public and private school setting as well as private practice. To find out more information on services provided or to schedule an evaluation, visit  www.murnickspeechandlanguage.com