When decoding words, it is important to stretch out the sounds so that you can clearly hear each phoneme in the word. If students say the sounds slowly and then blend them back together, they may be able to decode unfamiliar words. Using this approach, students will begin to increase their phonics skills and recognize that each letter has a sound independent of another.

Students with learning disabilities can sometimes demonstrate impulsive behaviors in academics. Often times, students are unable to select an appropriate strategy, or rather, misuse a strategy. Elongating sounds is a strategy that does not require additional tools and manipulatives. Students simply look at the letters provided and stretch out the sounds as they are reading. This helps students review letter-sound correspondence, as well as segmenting and blending strategies.

To generalize the skills across settings, people, and content areas, students can try to segment and blend words on both electronic and written sources. Students may access magazines, non-fiction/fiction books, the newspaper, and digital sources. Apart from this, students may practice elongating sounds to read directions to a game, food items on a menu, and street signs outside. It is important that students can apply this strategy across the curriculum and in their daily lives.