P is for Phonics: Learning Skills How-Tos

Do you struggle to read unfamiliar words or medication names?  Do you find it hard to spell complicated words with ease?  Today's massive topic simplified is "P is for Phonics." Phonics basically teaches how to sound out words and is a critical part of learning to read.  Production of these sounds is a key aspect of speech.  The base unit of speech is called a phoneme when a sound is spoken but is called a phonogram when it is in the form of written letters that represent the sounds. These are the units that are combined to form words. The English language has 26 letters but 45 sounds and 70 phonograms to write those sounds because there are more letter combinations that make a single sound than there are letters.

Phonics programs exist to teach these letters/sounds.  For example, what sound does a 'c' make?  It could be a /s/ sound if followed by an 'e' , 'i', or 'y' or a 'k' sound if followed by an 'a', 'o' or 'u'.  'C' has two phonetic sounds to learn. Learning them is useful to help you tease apart or string together words.  This enables you to pronounce unfamiliar words or write words based on the sounds you hear.  So both speech and writing are improved by the use of phonics.

There are different approaches to phonics with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the learner.  Orton-Gillingham's approach is a well-known traditional approach. Spalding's 70 phonograms is part of the 'Writing Road to Reading' approach that is more complicated but it is the one that made a difference for my youngest son so I have an appreciation for it.. No matter which one you choose, practice is key.  

I can still hear my son practice 'ear' the 'ear' of early and 'two letter /f/ is ph'. Spalding method has you learn to say and write the sounds before they focus on reading them in texts whereas traditional methods typically start you reading much sooner.  For my son, this breakdown helped him.

In addition to phonics methodologies, there are numerous phonics resources that will support your child. Jolly Phonics provides an action to accompany each sound because using multiple senses helps the brain to process and remember the sound better.  For example, you swing a bat while saying /b/ and pretend to drum on a drum for /d/.  Phonics Tales is a series of books with each one focusing on one sound so you can practice the sound repeatedly while reading a fun story. Flashcards is another aid where you can pull out a card and try to label the letter/sound on the card correctly and see how many you have mastered.

Other ideas are as follows: 

Practice while reading a story.  For example, make a list of words you find that have the long A sound and see how many letter combinations create that sound.  For example, a, ape, aid, day, eight, aerial, straight, Those are seven phonograms for /a/.  

Choose a letter or sound and see how many things you can find around the house that begin (or end) with that sound. Make a written list to practice using the correct phonograms.

Clap out the sounds of words then put the sounds together and call out the word.

Slow down a word so that each sound is separate and see if someone can 'guess' the word as a whole. Maybe they can write out each sound they hear then read it back to the speaker as a whole.

Hold up a letter and see if you can order yourselves with others holding letters to make a word.

Try a tongue twister to focus on a specific sound.

Sing phonics songs for practice.  

Have fun  Whatever you do to learn phonics skills is a step in the right direction.  It benefits, reading, writing, listening and speaking skills!  However, above all, it should be a fun experience for you and for the child(ren) in your life!