Pre-Reading and Phonological Awareness Support

When learning to read, a child needs to master a wide variety of skills. As a preschooler or in kindergarten, many children will learn to recognize letters, recite the alphabet, learn what sound each letter makes, and how to write letters.

Along with learning about printed letters, a child learning to read needs to develop phonological awareness skills. These include the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate words in sentences, syllables in words, and sounds in words. A child learns to recognize and make rhymes.  A child needs to be able to divide words into sounds, substitute sounds in words, and blend sounds together to make words, to become a stronger reader in the future.

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Phonological awareness therapy involves books and games designed to help children hear sounds and patterns in the words around them. Children and families usually love these activities and can show great progress in their pre-reading skills in a short amount of time. Children usually begin understanding of some phonological awareness skills as early as 4 years of age.