mastering phoneme substitution

advancing phonemic awareness skills through phoneme substitution

it’s well known that phonemic awareness is a critical skill for reading.  in the past we’ve viewed it as something that kindergarten and first grade teachers are responsible for teaching. however, our view of pa is evolving. now we realize that, although some of the easier skills like phoneme segmentation fluency (psf) are important in kindergarten and grade 1, there is more to it.

instead of stopping with psf, we must continue with instruction on more advanced skills. one of these is phoneme manipulation–one of the most important phonemic awareness skills.

rethinking phonemic awareness

the reason we’re rethinking phonemic awareness is because its role in skilled reading is deeper than previously realized; in fact it’s quite important for word learning.  advanced phonemic awareness enables readers to look at an unknown word and figure it out.  for example, when you know the word “make,” it’s possible to figure out sake—if you know how to manipulate that first sound.  figuring out unknown words while reading is important—because that’s what good readers do—they teach themselves new words.

so why is word learning so important?  having a large sight word bank is what differentiates the fluent from the dysfluent reader. fluent readers recognize a high percentage of words in text instantly and effortlessly by sight.  because they know so many words, they rarely have to decode an unfamiliar word.  strong readers build a large sight word bank by teaching themselves new words, and the number of words learned while reading far outnumbers the words students learn from explicit classroom instruction.

reading intervention programs teach phoneme manipulation skills

if a student reaches grades 2-4 without having developed strong phoneme manipulation skills—that is phoneme addition, deletion, and substitution – should they still be taught?

in his book, essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties, david kilpatrick, says that the most successful intervention curriculums involve teaching struggling students to manipulate phonemes is essential to equipping them to learn unfamiliar words.

looking for a great way to screen students on advanced phoneme substitution skills?

kilpatrick says that phonemic manipulation skills continue to develop through 4th grade and that most curricula and assessments stop monitoring phonemic awareness in 1st grade.  yet advanced phonemic awareness skills are essential for learning unfamiliar words. to ensure that your students in grades 1-4 have mastered this critical skill, 95 percent group is providing a complimentary phoneme substitution screener.

with this 1:1 assessment, students listen to directions and provide answers without seeing the printed words.  to show mastery, students need to score 4/5 on each of the 3 sections (beginning, ending, and medial sound substitution).

sophisticated phonemic manipulation skills matter far more than just helping kindergarten and first graders to tackle early reading demands.  that’s why we need to explicitly teach phoneme substitution to students who never showed mastery and then monitor acquisition.  watch your students become skilled readers as they master phoneme manipulation.

listen to dr. susan hall explain the importance of mastering phoneme substitution for all students.

be sure to turn on the volume at the bottom right side of the video screen if you are viewing dr. hall on a computer.

to play the video with sound,  click on the triangle in the center of the screen and then click on the white x that appears in the bottom right corner of the screen.

*kilpatrick, d. (2015). essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties (nj: wiley).