phonics

Auditory Processing Disorders.

Jj is for Jottings 137.  Auditory Processing Disorders.

Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders.  There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting disorders.  There is even disagreement as to whether it should be “auditory processing disorders” or “central auditory processing disorders.”  I’ve decided to go with the thinking that “central” implies problems only at the brain level and consequently limits the definition.

Picture of woman reading "Aa is for Alpacas" book to a group of children, with baby alpacas in the background, and the caption: "Auditory processing disorders - attempting to prevent them is a good policy."

Auditory processing disorders – attempting to prevent them is a good policy.

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Nonsense Words.

Jj is for Jottings 125.  Nonsense Words.

Nonsense words are letter sequences which follow regular phonetic rules and are pronounceable, but which have no meaning.  Examples are ‘bof’, ‘zim’, ‘chog’.  They can also be called nonwords or pseudowords.  There are stages in children’s development where nonsense words may play a part.  These are: babbling, early reading, rhyming, and if they require assistance for speech sound development (speech therapy).   All children babble, but children may not encounter nonsense words when learning to read or to rhyme.  And many will not need speech therapy, or have access to it if they do.

Photo of dog with a fan behind him, with the caption: Atticus is a FAN of nonsense words.

Atticus is a FAN of nonsense words.

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Strategies for Listening to Sounds in Words.

Jj is for Jottings 106.  Strategies to Encourage Listening to Sounds in Words.

 

In the previous article I said that I would discuss general strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words, rather than visualising them.  As I said, I have found no hard and fast rules, but these types of activities are helpful.

Picture of a cat coming towards us on a roof with the caption: Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.

Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.

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Phonics: Visualising versus Listening.

Jj is for Jottings 105.  Phonics: Visualising Versus Listening.

 

We have another major problem with phonics: visualising versus listening, in addition to the problems created when children don’t know their sound letter links,  This is a problem I encounter frequently when working with children, but I have never heard anybody else mention it in those terms.  I am referring to the fact that children often use their visual modality when they need to be using their auditory modality. Continue reading →

Sound-Letter Links and Less Regular Words.

Jj is for Jottings 104.  Sound-Letter Links and Less Regular Words.

 

Once children know their sound-letter links thoroughly, they are then able to sound out any 100% regular word.  These could be real words or nonsense words of any length, as long as one letter equals one sound (with the basic exceptions here).  But what of sound-letter links and words which are less regular?

Photo of adult reading a print book to 2 children and 2 alpacas, with caption: Learning the basics before moving on to sound-letter links and less regular words. Baby alpacas like to learn their sound-letter links, too, it seems. (From the Border Mail, 2014. Photo by Tara Goonan.)

Learning the basics before moving on to sound-letter links and less regular words. Baby alpacas like to learn their sound-letter links, too, it seems. (From the Border Mail, 2014. Photo by Tara Goonan.)

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Vowel Shapes.

Jj is for Jottings 101.  Vowel Shapes.

 

When I say “vowel shapes”, I am referring to the shape made by the mouth when saying a particular vowel.  We have talked earlier about discriminating between vowels and vowel discrimination activities, but I didn’t mention vowel shapes because we were talking about auditory discrimination.  The visual aspects were not necessary in that context.

VOWEL SHAPES ARE NOT SET IN CONCRETE.

In point of fact, there are no hard and fast vowel shapes, but there are general trends which are useful to know about. Continue reading →

Reading-Aloud Games.

Jj is for Jottings 97.  Reading-Aloud Games.

Following on from interactive reading with children, here are some ideas for “reading-aloud games” which you can play with children while reading stories with them.  The idea is to be spontaneous, just playfully engaging in banter whilst actually providing wonderful learning opportunities as a bonus.  It may sound strange, saying to be spontaneous and then making suggestions as to what to do.  But it is helpful to see the types of games you can play and, once you have the idea, you can invent your own activities in the moment. Continue reading →

Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics.

Jj is for Jottings 94.  Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.

Picture of the book "Aa is for Alpacas" on a pot-bellied stove, with the caption: Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.

Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.

You may have heard the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics” and wondered what they mean and whether they are different terms for the same thing.  Let’s sort this out right now.

PHONICS.

This is sound-letter links – i.e. learning which sound is made by each letter of the alphabet, and other sounds which are made by combining 2 or more letters.  Children develop the concept that there are consistent relationships between letter symbols and sounds.  This book is a great way to learn sound-letter links.  But you need to make sure you are saying sounds rather than letter names.  You can find this on the video. Continue reading →

Auditory Discrimination of Vowel Sounds.

Jj is for Jottings 83.  Auditory Discrimination of Vowel Sounds.

Photo of Droofus, the bearded dragon, not practising auditory discrimination of vowels sounds - she's looking at April shaking off all the dust in "Aa is for Alpacas".

Droofus, the bearded dragon, is not practising auditory discrimination of vowel sounds – she’s looking at April shaking off all the dust in “Aa is for Alpacas”.

Auditory discrimination of vowel sounds, especially some short vowels, can be quite difficult for some children.  Very common confusions are between /a/ and /u/; and between /i/ and /e/.  When you consider that there is only one short vowel sound left – /o/ – that’s quite some confusion going on!  Of course, not all children confuse both pairs, many just confuse one pair or the other. Continue reading →

Analysing Consonant Sounds: 5 Activities.

Jj is for Jottings 82.  Analysing Consonant Sounds: 5 Activities.

 

In the previous post on analysing sounds, I said I’d give some activities for analysing sounds – in this case consonant sounds at the beginnings and ends of words.  You can use the activities for sounds at the beginning of words, and then repeat for the end consonants.  Remember that, in these early stages, the words need to be very simple – CV (consonant-vowel) eg. “toe”or CVC, eg. “bit”.  When choosing words, remember that one letter doesn’t always equal one sound.  Click on that phrase if you need further information on that – it’s very important.  I have divided the 5 activities for analysing consonant sounds into two areas – Listening and Producing. Continue reading →