Pyramid of Potential


Dyslexia: An overview of Phonemic Awareness



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November 19, 2015
Hi All!


One of the major issues with having Dyslexia is problems with "phonemic awareness". This term is bounced around a lot and you may be curious as to just what it is. 

Next week: Help! My student doesn't know the short vowel sounds!


We just finished putting together a new product. We are proud to announce that our product Dyslexia: Recognizing, Screening and Treating is now available as a download. To celebrate the release of our new product, we decided to put it on sale this month of November. Save 10% during the whole month. To find out what is included in this new product and more information on Dyslexia, Click Here

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Thank you so much! Kathy
New Product on Sale for November:
We just released a new product yesterday and to make the announcement
 even better, we put it on sale for the month of November.

Dyslexia: Recognizing, Screening and Treating

This is the best place to start treating Dyslexia. Everything you will need in a downloadable form.


To find out more information on Dyslexia: Recognizing, Screening and Treating; Click Here
Offer Expires 11/30/2015. 
Dyslexia: An overview of Phonemic Awareness
Explanation
Phonemes are sounds of the English language. Each of the 27 letters  has one or more phonemes, and some phonemes come from more than one letter. For example, the s in its and is are different sounds; the sound of the s in is sounds like a zzzz. The letter a has many sounds: and, fate, father, and around all sound different.
 
Some of the phonemes that are made up of more than one letter include sh, oa (goat), igh (high), etc. An excellent book that I read years ago on this is Why Our Children can't Read and What We Can Do About It by Diane McGuiness. You can find it at  http://www.amazon.com/Children-Cant-Read-What-About/dp/0684853566.
 
Teaching using Phonemes
 
Segmenting
There are only 44 sounds in the English language, a manageable number. So, one of the easiest means of teaching reading is to teach using phonemes. The first step is to play with sounds without using letters. You can have fun teaching the sounds by playing games like I Spy With My Little Eye... something that begins with the sound ssss. Use a limited number of objects to play this with, or cards with pictures like Spot It! Make sure the student knows this is a guessing game, so that if a wrong answer is given, there is no penalty.
 
Once the student knows about sounds, see if she can identify both sounds in a two sound word like if. This skill is called segmenting. Practice until the student gets all two sound words correct and then challenge with 3 sound words. Once this is mastered, continue to add one more sound at a time.
 
Blending
Blending is the ability to put sounds together to make a word, an auditory activity. This is different than decoding which requires looking at words; but decoding requires the ability to blend as well.
 
To start, gather pictures of a dog, a cat, and a mouse, and show them to the student, identifying the target words. You ask the student to guess what word you are saying when you say the word really slowly. Then say "d" "oooooooo" "g", is it dog, or cat or mouse? Most children will guess the dog. If not, remove the picture of the animal that was incorrectly guessed, and repeat the same game with only two cards. Play this game with lots of cards and lots of short words until the student is proficient at guessing words based on the sounds.
 
The next step is to take away the cards and repeat the process starting with two sound words and progressing to 5 sound words.
 
Phoneme Substitution
This will help a child who hasn't yet mastered rhyming. This skill requires mastery of segmenting and blending. Put out three differently colored blocks. Let's say you put out a red one on the left and a blue one on the right, as the student sees them. The third one, green, is off to the side. Tell them that they represent the sounds in the word if. Ask what sound each of the blocks represents. Red is i and blue is f. Next, you say that the green is the sound n. Replace the blue block with the green one. Ask what the two sounds are and what word it makes. The student should understand that the new word is in.
 
Using the same three blocks you can go through a progression of words, replacing the blocks one at a time. Work through a progression like: if, in, on, an, at, as, is. Once two sound words are mastered, work on three, four and finally five.
 
A rhyming progression would be cat, sat, mat, bat.
 
Phoneme Deletion
Using the colored blocks to start, delete sounds out of words. Put out three blocks. Say that they represent the sounds in the word cat. Ask what word is left if you take away the "k" sound? The student should reply at. Say that most of the time, the final word will be a nonsense word. Play with words, saying what is fly without the f? What is sit without the s? When the student is ready, you can stop using the blocks and just do this orally.
 
Resources
 
These lessons are similar to the ones found in the programs below. I wrote Dyslexia: Recognizing, Screening and Treatment which is on sale this month. There is even more information on this page. One of our Brain Advancement Coaches, a Dyslexia teacher, said that the phonemic awareness section is the best she has seen!
 
Other programs include:
  • Phonographix and the book Reading Reflex by McGuinness
  • ABeCeDarian 
  • Sound Reading Solutions
  • Lindamood Bell LiPS
Computer programs:
  • Hear Builder
  • Earobics
  • Fast ForWord
 
Next week: Help! My student doesn't know the short vowel sounds!

Contact Us
Kathy Johnson, MS Ed
kjohnson@pyramidofpotential.com

Bob Johnson
bobjohnson@pyramidofpotential.com

Pyramid of Potential
245 Washington St #3369
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 260-3937

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Kathy Johnson, M Ed describes the Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex, and how it impacts learning if retained after infancy.

Where's Kathy?

It is now time to set up your professional development at your school - Kathy is available for many dates this Fall! Call now to secure YOUR date!
 
Below are the upcoming workshops that Kathy Johnson is giving. If she is not coming to your area, why not hire her for your next professional development?
   
  Kathy Johnson Photo 2010


Thursday, November 19, 2015 in Austin, TX
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Friday, November 20, 2015 in Houston, TX
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Monday, December 14 2015 in Cherry Hill, NJ 
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 in Bensalem, PA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 in King of Prussia, PA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Thursday, January 21 2015 in Boise, ID 
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Friday, January 22, 2015 in Salt Lake City, UT
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Monday, January 25, 2015 in Tucson, AZ
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Tuesday, January 26, 2015 in Phoenix, AZ
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Wednesday, January 27, 2015 in Scottsdale, AZ
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Monday, February 22, 2015 in San Jose, CA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Tuesday, February 23, 2015 in Palo Alto, CA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Wednesday, February 24, 2015 in San Francisco, CA
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Wednesday, March 9, 2015 in Northbrook, IL
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Thursday, March 10, 2015 in Schaumburg, IL
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 
Friday, March 11, 2015 in Oak Lawn, IL
Speaker: KATHY JOHNSON, MS ED
Early Registration: $199.99 

If you aren't near any of these on-site professional development conferences, consider the following:
 
Dyslexia, Dyscalculia & Dysgraphia: An Integrated Approach  Price: $169.99  Author: Kathy Johnson, MS Ed.  Format: DVD