Learning letter sounds is a long but vital learning journey for children. Here’s what you can do to get the journey started if your child is struggling:
What can I do?
- Practise finding items that start with the same sound (e.g. Draw a “K” in the middle of the page and then find pictures or draw things around it that start with “K”. You could even make these into an alphabet book).
- Talk about sounds and letters as you are reading. “Oh look, a turtle. That starts with a ‘t’ sound! And I can see they have drawn the letter “T”.
- Make up some flash cards and ask your child to tell you the sound the letter makes. You can go through a couple at a time, repeating them during the day to help your child memorise the sounds.
- Make flash cards of the letters. Choose a sound/letter and stick it in a place where your child passes regularly. Get your child to say ‘hello’ to the sound/letter every time they pass it to help them remember the sound.
- Play ‘I Spy’ getting your child to find an item that starts with a specific sound. You could extend this to then see if they can find as many things as possible that start with that sound.
Why is it important?
- Letter sound correspondence is a foundational skill to learn reading and spelling.
- If children only memorise whole words, they will only be able to recognise words familiar to them. Once they learn to sound out, they can attempt any word, including words that are new to them.
- Consolidating this skill so it is in long term memory is needed before they can move on and become fluent readers and spellers.
Need a little extra support? We can help. Start the conversation with a Kid Sense Speech Therapist by calling 1800 Kid Sense (1800 543 736)
