This Science of Reading for Parents guide will help you build strong reading routines that will help your child grow into a courageously confident reader!
The journey to literacy begins long before a child starts school. Understanding the foundational concepts of phonemic awareness and phonics is essential to fostering your child's reading abilities. In this post, we'll dive into these critical components and provide practical tips to help your child develop strong reading skills.
What is Phonemic Awareness and Phonics?
Research highlights that alphabet knowledge primarily consists of two components: phonemic awareness and phonics. Phonemic awareness refers to the understanding of how sounds are used in words, while phonics involves the letter correspondence and patterns used to read and spell words.
When a student struggles to decode a word, it hinders the reading process. For instance, words like "cat" and "cake" reveal the intricacies of spelling and sound patterns. Understanding the representation of sounds, such as the hard 'C'
sound in "cat" and the vowel consonant silent 'E' pattern in "cake," is crucial.
Early Language Acquisition
Studies show that language learning begins as early as the womb. Research by Christine Moon, a psychology professor, indicates that newborns respond differently to vowel sounds from their native language compared to foreign languages. This early recognition highlights the importance of speaking to your baby to foster early learning.
Developing Reading Skills
As your child begins preschool or kindergarten, they start to associate sounds with symbols. Despite the alphabet containing 26 letters, the English language incorporates 44 unique phonemes. These phonemes are categorized into consonants and vowels, each with distinct sounds (short and long).
Understanding these sound patterns is fundamental. Consonants like 'C' and 'G' can have hard and soft sounds based on their position and the vowels around them. Additionally, sound patterns like digraphs (e.g., /sh/ and /th/), trigraphs (e.g., /tch/), and quadgraphs (e.g., /eigh/) add complexity to spelling and pronunciation.
Science of Reading for Parents: Key Strategies You Can Use Today!
For children struggling with reading, especially those with dyslexia, matching letter sounds to written symbols can be challenging. However, there are many ways you can support your child:
Engage in Conversations: Regularly talking to your child strengthens their phonemic awareness.
Play Word Games: Games like rhyming and word association build sound pattern recognition.
Utilize Magnetic Letters: Use refrigerator letter tiles to practice differentiating consonants and vowels and forming sound patterns like digraphs and trigraphs.
Interactive Activities: On long road trips, play word games that involve spotting spelling patterns in road signs.
Conclusion
Building your child's reading skills requires understanding the mechanics of phonemic awareness and phonics. With consistent practice and engagement, you can help your child navigate the complexities of language and develop strong reading abilities.
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Want to know more about the Science of Reading for Parents? Click the links below to explore more articles and resources.
Elsayed, R., Ringstaff, C., Flynn, K. (2019). White Paper on Audiobooks and Reading Achievement. San Francisco: WestEd
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