English is more difficult to read than other European languages because it is not predictable. It takes longer for children reading English to become fluent readers, mainly due to the fact that the English orthography has been influenced by so many different languages.
It is recommended that grapheme picture cards are used for learning sounds to help the dyslexic learner remember the phoneme (but this also helps many other learners, so is good general practice). These cards should have the grapheme (in printed form) on the front and a picture on the reverse as a visual clue, which will help the learner to retain the grapheme/phoneme correspondence for quick recall. Examples of these cards and and helpful advice can be found on https://www.nessy.com/uk/. I often use Nessy to reinforce spelling. Schools or individuals can subscribe to Nessy to play games and learn reading and spelling rules, but there are also many free videos to watch on Youtube which are helpful and I have shown these links where appropriate.
Children should not be guessing words when reading, but always using their decoding skills until they are fluent readers and words have been orthographically mapped in the brain. Therefore when beginning to read, children should have decodable books which contain graphemes that they have learned. Do not ask a child to look at a picture to work out what a word might be as this is not helping them to use their decoding skills and will encourage them to guess at other words. Children can practise their decoding skills by reading non-words and ensuring they can decode these as well, especially if they have got into a habit of guessing words. A good game is Treasure or Bin whereby words from the child’s reading level (i.e. only using known graphemes) are written down on pieces of paper/card and also some pseudo words using the same digraphs etc. The child needs to correctly decode the word and then place into the correct place depending whether the word is a real word which goes in the treasure or a pseudo word which goes in the bin. This game can be played on the computer by going on the site Phonics Play free resources https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources and there is a choice of three games ‘Dragons Den’, ‘Buried Treasure’ or ‘Picnic on Pluto’.
If a child is constantly guessing words, by either using the first letter of the word to guess the word, looking at the shape of the word or using the context of the sentence to say a word that fits the sentence, then there are some useful games to play whilst reading to encourage them to decode all words instead. First, check that the child has automaticity with the grapheme/phoneme correspondence and is actually able to decode words with known graphemes. If there are gaps in their learning, ensure that these graphemes are taught first. If, however they are confident with their grapheme/phoneme skills and they are able to blend these graphemes easily when they don’t rush with their reading (check with the game Treasure or Bin above) then the following game is useful to play whilst reading a text to remind them to decode instead of guessing words. I have two pots, with treasure (counters) – one pot for the child and another pot for me. If the child guesses a word whilst reading, instead of reading it accurately or decoding it, then I can ‘steal’ a piece of their treasure. However, if they then read the sentence accurately I have to give some ‘treasure’ back to them. At first, I just remind them each time, pointing to the word that was guessed and saying ‘Oh you said …… which wasn’t the correct word, can you decode it instead of guessing and read that sentence again for me please’ and I take a piece of treasure. When they decode that word or read it accurately then they have their treasure returned. As they read more sentences without any guessing, I give them another piece of my treasure. Slowly you do not have to say anything, just reach for the treasure when they read a word incorrectly because they have guessed it and they will notice that you are about to take the treasure and quickly correct themselves so they always end up with the most treasure. It is a bit of fun, which the children seem to enjoy, but it is suprising how quickly the learner ensures they are decoding instead of guessing unknown words. 🙂 If the learner is not ready for the ‘Treasure’ game then the game in the video below ‘The Snowman Game’ would be best to play first.
Syllables
See more information explaining about syllables in the Phonological Awareness section.
Syllables can be open or closed. An example of an open syllable is ‘no’. In this word the vowel is the last letter, making it an open syllable with the vowel making a long, strong sound /ō/ sound. If we add the letter ‘t’ to the word ‘no’ then it becomes ‘not’, because it is then a closed syllable as there is a consonant after the vowel. When the syllable is closed, the vowel makes a short, weak /ŏ/ sound. Note the difference in the vowel sounds in the words he/hem, so/sob, hi/him.
When reading new words of more than one syllable, then learners need to know how to split the word into syllables to read it. The generalisation is to find the first vowel, then hop over the next consonant if there are two consonants together to split those consonants up e.g. rab/bit, kid/nap, res/cue. These words are known as vc/cv words as the syllables are split between the two consonants. The first syllable in these words is closed, which makes the vowel sound a short, weak sound which helps pronunciation. If there is only one consonant after the vowel, then the usual place to split the word into syllables is after the vowel, which will then be an open syllable and so the vowel will make a long, strong vowel sound e.g. su/per, ti/ger, hu/man, ba/con, these words are known as v/cv words.
There are some words that are an exception to the generalisation and are split into syllables at c/vc instead of cv/c. By splitting the word after the consonant, the first syllable is closed and so the vowel makes a short, weak sound e.g. com/ic, cab/in, hab/it, lem/on, mel/on, rob/in. If coming across a new word, the best strategy for the reader is to split the word cv/c but if it does not make sense, then try the c/vc split. Gradually the reader should have a list of words that follow the c/vc split instead of the usual cv/c.
When reading, the learnehttps://youtu.be/8NYeMoz9pjIr needs to be aware of prefixes and suffixes as they are separate syllables when splitting the word up. The reader can leave the prefix and suffixes to add to the word after they have worked out how to say the base/root word. See the Nessy you tube video below for splitting words into syllables to read.
If a learner is struggling to read multisyllabic words, they need to identify the vowels, then split the word into syllables imbetween the next two consonants e.g. ad/jec/tive or if there is only one consonant try the split before the consonant e.g. su/per/hu/man. If the word does not sound correct when split before the single consonant, try to pronounce it with split after the consonant e.g. com/ic/al. Keep digraphs together, be aware of prefixes and suffixes and remember open syllables say a long vowel sound and closed syllables a short, weak vowel sound.
The Suffix ‘ed’
The suffix ‘ed’ can make three different sounds /t/, /d/ and /id/. The new reader has to work out which sound the letters ‘ed’ are making after the root word in order to say the word correctly. Below are some ways to help work out how to pronounce the suffix. To be able to understand these ways, you will need to be able to identify voiced and unvoiced sounds, so if you are unsure, look at the page headed ‘alphabet’ and look under the features of vowels and consonants. The unvoiced consonants in the alphabet are c, f, k, p, s and t and therefore the rest of the consonants are all voiced.
The suffix ‘ed’ is pronounced /id/ when the consonant before (it at the end of the root word) is a ‘d’ or ‘t’ e.g. added, batted.
The suffix ‘ed’ makes a /t/ sound (which is an unvoiced phoneme) when it follows an unvoiced consonant except for ‘t’ e.g. hopped, huffed, kicked, missed.
Finally, the suffix ‘ed’ makes a /d/ sound (which is a voiced phoneme itself) when it follows a voiced consonant, apart from the letter ‘d’ e.g. begged, robbed, yelled.
So to sum up, the rule is that after an unvoiced phoneme, the ‘ed’ is pronounced /t/, after a voiced phoneme, the ‘ed’ is pronounced /d/ unless the final letter of the root word is a ‘t’ or a ‘d’, in which case the ‘ed’ is pronounced /id/.
Reading for Meaning
Comprehension and vocabulary need to be taught hand in hand with reading, to ensure that children are understanding what they are reading and saying and expanding their vocabulary. Have a language rich environment, modelling how to talk, listen, responding and expanding vocabulary so the learner will understand more words they encounter in reading.
Learn to love reading..
Ensure children learn to love reading, use their interests. As they learn to love reading, they will want to progress as quickly as they can.
Help your child learn to read, write and spell 