Phonological Skills Can Be an Underlying Cause of Difficulties With Fluent Word Reading

Difficulties with reading can stem from different underlying causes. Phonological skills, which involve hearing and manipulating sounds in spoken language (e.g. phonemes, syllables) are necessary for developing strong word reading skills. Phonological skills help children understand how letters and letter patterns work to represent language in print. Problems in developing phonological awareness can contribute to difficulties with fluent word reading, and, in turn, often cause problems with comprehension.

How Problems With Phonological Skills May Present

Difficulty with phonological skills might become evident in classroom observations or assessments, even before the start of formal schooling. Children might display difficulty with:

• noticing rhymes, alliteration, or repetition of sounds
• remembering how to pronounce new words or names; distinguishing difference(s) in similar sounding words
• clapping out syllables or separating a compound word
• identifying the first sound in a word or separating a word into its individual sounds
• adding, subtracting, or substituting single sounds within a word (Understood.org; Ehri et al., 2001)
• recognizing and producing the correct sound for phonics/spelling patterns, even after practicing with them
• decoding new words
• after sounding out a word correctly, blending those sounds back together to read the word
• remembering and automatically recognizing words, even after repeated opportunities to practice reading them (Kilpatrick, 2015)

Screening for Phonological Skills

Universal screening starting in Kindergarten should assess phonological skills, in order to identify children who are experiencing problems with phonological awareness and require instructional support to prevent future difficulties. For more information about universal screening and a list of Massachusetts-approved screening assessments, see Early Literacy Screening Assessments.

Underlying Causes of Difficulty With Phonological Skills

Possible root cause(s) of phonological difficulty include:

• lack of explicit instruction and practice in phonological and phonemic awareness
• a core problem in the phonological processing system of language (Moats & Tolman, 2019)

Phonological difficulties can be linked specifically to dyslexia. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge (International Dyslexia Association).

For more information about early identification and continued access to evidence-based instruction as it relates to dyslexia, see the Massachusetts Dyslexia Guidelines .

Preventing Problems With Phonological Skills

Many children who experience problems with phonological skills did not receive adequate instruction and opportunities to practice. These problems with phonological skills can be prevented with strong core instruction. Students with dyslexia, however, have a neurological difference which makes it harder for them to develop phonological awareness. Some of these students need much more deliberate instruction in phonological awareness and related phonics knowledge and additional support delivered through Tier 2 and/or 3.

Approaches to Intervention for Students Who Have Difficulty With Phonological Skills

Intervention is necessary when children do not make adequate progress with phonological skills even after receiving strong core instruction with opportunities to practice. Children with phonological difficulties benefit from intensive practice with phonological awareness; practice associating phonemes (sounds) to spelling patterns; and practice decoding words (Snowling, 2013).

• Planning Standards Aligned Instruction within a Multi-Tiered System of Support: Phonological Awareness , from the National Center on Intensive Intervention (Resource)
• Sample intervention lessons, from National Center on Intensive Intervention: Blending , Segmenting

Signs of dyslexia can be observed as early as the preschool years. Interventions can be effective in supporting students to read, and earlier intervention is more effective than waiting until 2nd or 3rd grade. Evidence showing that children with dyslexic difficulties can be helped by specific interventions underlines the need for timely action (Snowling, 2013).

• "The Dyslexia Paradox" ** and the role of early intervention for dyslexia, from Dr. Nadine Gaab on Reading Rockets

For Additional Information

• Components of the Core Literacy Block: Foundational Skills by grade level
• Skills for Early Reading: Phonological awareness
• Supporting students with dyslexia: Building the Foundation for Best Practices (International Dyslexia Association, 2019).
• Risk factors for reading: Reading Risk Indicators by Grade Level ** (Reading Rockets)
• IES Practice Guide Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
• Adams, M.J., Foorman, B.R., Lundberg, I., & Beeler, T. (1998). Phonemic awareness in young children: A classroom curriculum. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
• Blachman, B.A., Ball, E.W., Black, R., & Tangel, D.M. (2000). Road to the code: A phonological awareness program for young children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

Scientific Information About Phonological Difficulties

• Bus, A. G., & van Izendoorn, M. H. (1999). Phonological awareness and early reading: A meta-analysis of experimental training studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 403–414.
• National Institute for Literacy (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National early literacy panel .
• Wagner, R. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.
• Anthony, J.L., & Francis, D.J. (2005). Development of phonological awareness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(5), 255–259.

References

Ehri, L.C., Nunes, S. R., Willows, D., M., Schuster, B. V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 250–287.

Hammond, Z. (2013). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties (Essentials of psychological assessment). Boston: John Wiley and Sons

Moats. L.C.& Tolman, C. A. (2019). LETRS (3rd edition). Voyager Sopris Learning.

Steele, C. M. (2010). Issues of our time. Whistling Vivaldi: How stereotypes affect us and what we can do. W W Norton & Co.

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Last Updated: June 22, 2021