The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness)
It is necessary that students understand the spoken language before they try to understand the written language. They need to hear sounds and understand the role they play in spoken words. It is sequential, starting with spoken words >syllables >onsets and rimes >sounds within words.
Video from Reading Rockets - how one teacher helps a struggling reader.
Florida Center for Reading Research - Phonemic Awareness learning centers ( Part 1: Rhyme & Alliteration, Part 2 : Sentence Segmentation, Syllables, Onsets and Rime, Part 3 : Phonemes) |