Phonemic Awareness: Is it really the #1 Skill Your Child Needs for Reading & Spelling Success?
- Alyssa Althouse
- Feb 18
- 3 min read
Short answer: Yes, kids must develop this early literacy skill to read and spell with greater ease and confidence! Think of it like a prerequisite skill for reading and spelling success.
What Is Phonemic Awareness, and Why Does It Matter?
Learning to read isn’t just about recognizing letters—it starts with being able to hear and manipulate the sounds inside words. That's why I make sure all of my students are sound masters, regardless of their age or grade level!
When we speak, we blend sounds together naturally. Say the word cat out loud. It sounds like one smooth unit, right? But to read and spell, people need to break it apart into its individual sounds: /k/ - /a/ - /t/.
For many children—especially those with learning differences like dyslexia or auditory processing challenges—this skill doesn’t come easily. Their brains need extra practice recognizing, manipulating sounds, and blending/"sticking" and breaking/ “unsticking” sounds. And for those who are struggling, this may be the missing link!
Why Weak Phonemic Awareness Leads to Reading & Spelling Struggles
Reading and writing require multiple parts of the brain to work together. One essential part is the phonological processor, which helps children recognize and work with sounds in words and interpret the sound structure of language. This system involves neural structures like Broca’s Area (speech production) and Heschl’s Gyrus (auditory processing).
Research shows phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of reading success. According to literacy expert Wiley Blevins, author of A Fresh Look at Phonics, emphasizes children who struggle with reading often have weak phonemic awareness skills. He explains that children who haven’t mastered phonemic awareness find it difficult to break down and manipulate the sounds within words. This makes decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) significantly harder.
In other words, if children haven’t been explicitly taught how to hear and work with sounds, reading and spelling words becomes a huge challenge. As children are working to crack the code of the English written system, kids who haven’t received the speech-to-print instruction needed to master this skill struggle to:
✅ Sound out unfamiliar words while reading and other reading difficulties
✅ Remember how to spell words correctly, spelling difficulties or inconsistency
✅ "Unstick" or "blend" adjacent consonants when reading CCVC (e.g. plug) or CVCC (e.g. damp) words
✅ Include a letter(s) for every sound when the spell (e.g. they spell sop for stop, leaving out the T)
✅ Decode and encode multi-syllable words
✅ Build confidence in reading and writing
A landmark study by the National Reading Panel (2000) found that phonemic awareness instruction significantly improves children’s reading and spelling abilities. The best part? Just a few minutes of structured practice and play per day can make a huge impact!
A Simple Trick to Improve Spelling Skills at Home
If your child struggles with spelling, try this quick 3-step phonemic awareness exercise:
1️⃣ Clap it out – Break the word into syllables if it is multisyllabic (e.g., sun-set).
2️⃣ Stretch the sounds – Say each sound slowly (s-u-n and s-e-t).
3️⃣ Match sounds to letters – Help your child write the letters that go with each sound.
By consistently practicing these steps, children strengthen the connection between hearing sounds and writing words, making spelling much easier!
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