Phonological skills

Phonological skills

Phonological skills involve being able to hear that words are made up of smaller sounds and playing with those individual sounds.  For preschool children, it involves identifying rhyming words, counting syllables, and identifying words with either the same or different start or end sounds. Phonological skills progress from noticing to doing. After children can recognise rhyming words, they start to come up with rhymes on their own. Once they can identify the number of syllables in a word, they begin to break words apart into syllables or single sounds by listening rather than clapping.  Phonological awareness is made up of a group of skills. The most sophisticated—and last to develop—is called phonemic awareness. This skill enables children to tune in to phonemes (the individual sounds in a word).  Phonemic awareness includes the ability to separate a word into the sounds that make it up and blend single sounds into words. It also involves the ability to add, subtract, or substitute new sounds in words.

Ideas to promote phonological skills

• Sing nursery rhymes and songs - these help children to become aware of the rhythm, sound and patterns of language.  Nursery rhymes are helpful for children at different stages of their development - older children they may be able to identify rhyming words or strings, while younger children will benefit from the vocabulary development. 

• Miss of the end of rhymes for your child to complete, e.g. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great...?"

• When that gets too easy for them, make it harder! "Humpty Dumpty sat in a tree, Humpty Dumpty had a cup of ...?"

• Play rhyming games such as "I Spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with fox" (box).

• Play an alphabet game – A, A, A what begins with A and hunt for items which match the sound.

• Challenge your child to change the beginning sound in a word, or the end.  For example, from cat to fat to sat, or cat to can to cap.

• Use rhythm sticks and shakers to develop an awareness of the rhythm of the words.

• Clap out the syllables in different words. Start with their name – Pa/Me/La

• Clap syllables to familiar words and rhymes – start with simple rhymes, such as Jack and Jill or Humpty Dumpty.

• Read books which include rhyme, encourage your child to join in with the rhyming section or predict the next word.

• Point out words which start with the same sound when reading with your child – can they think of another example?