Phonological Awareness

Fun With Phonemes: Helping Your Child Hear the Sounds within Words

By this point, your child has been talking for quite some time, communicating with you about wants, needs, and interests. He is now reaching a point where he is capable of phonemic and phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear phonemes, the individual sounds in spoken words. Phonemes may consist of single letters or blends (e.g. "fl" in "flat"). Phonological awareness has to do with understanding the units of spoken language, such as words, syllables, and rhymes. This means that your child can now do things like tell you what the first or last sound in a word is. He can also figure out how many syllables are in a word and find a rhyme to a word you give him. Practice these skills with him throughout the day by asking what sound different words start with, how many syllables a word has, or if he can think of rhyming words.

Has your child achieved the following Phonological Awareness developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all of the skill(s) he has already mastered to date.