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5/8/2006

 How to Plan Phonemic Awareness Therapy
Dee M. Lance, University of Central Arkansas & Lea Helen Evans, Mississippi University for Women


Introduction:

The value of phonemic awareness activities such as teaching sound identification, sound segmentation and rhyming are well accepted by speech-language pathologists and educators. We professionals and colleagues understand the critical role exposure to phonemic awareness tasks plays in the development of early reading skills. Although there is an understanding of the value of teaching phonemic awareness, there is often a mismatch between what we know, and what we are comfortable enough to actually do. The purpose of this article is to discuss how to plan phonemic awareness therapy to help clients get the most from their treatment.

When planning phonemic awareness therapy, two core factors should be considered:
  • Implicit and explicit phonemic awareness.
  • Phonological make-up of the targets words used.
Implicit vs. Explicit Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness can be defined as the sensitivity to or the knowledge of the sound system of a language at either an implicit or explicit level (Lance, Swanson, & Peterson, 1997). The types of tasks used to target phonemic awareness include:
  1. Rhyming— Rhyme identification is considered an implicit level of phonemic awareness. For this task, children identify and generate words that rhyme. As they become more skilled they generate additional words that rhyme. Generation of rhyming words effectively moves phonemic awareness from an implicit to an explicit level.

  2. Alliteration— Alliteration identification is considered an implicit level of phonemic awareness. For this task, children identify words that begin with the same sound. After this skill develops, children generate additional words beginning with the same sound. As with the generation of rhyming words, generation of words that have alliteration indicates an explicit understanding of the concept.

    a.Categorization—This broader term encompasses not only the identification of beginning sounds, but also middle and ending sounds (vowel and consonants).

  3. Blending— Blending is typically considered an explicit task and is also referred to as a task of synthesis (Lance et al., 1997). For this task, children are presented with individual phonemic sound components which make up a word, and then the child combines the sounds to form the word. For example, /k/-/e/-/t/ is blended to produce “Kate.”

  4. Segmentation— Segmentation is an explicit task and is also referred to as a task of analysis (Lance et al., 1997). For this task, children are presented with a word and asked to break it into its individual sounds. For example, the word “Kate” is broken down into its individual sounds /k/-/e/-/t/.

  5. Elision— This task is considered to be the most difficult of the explicit phonemic awareness tasks. For this task, children are presented with a word and asked to say the word with one of its sounds deleted. For example, “Say the word smoke without the /m/” (Rosner & Simon, 1971).
In typically developing children, the implicit level of phonemic awareness emerges during preschool years. This awareness consists of abilities such as identification of rhyming words or words that begin with the same sound. Explicit phonological awareness, such as sound elision, requires segmental knowledge of the sound system and is expressed by the ability to manipulate the sound system. Explicit phonological awareness (or knowledge) generally emerges with the onset of reading and spelling instruction. An understanding of the implicit or explicit nature of the phonemic awareness task is important for planning treatment. For example, if the client cannot identify words that rhyme or cannot indicate that two words begin with the same sound, then it would be better for therapy to begin at the implicit level of phonemic awareness. Conversely, if a child can identify words that rhyme, incorporating tasks like blending and segmenting, in addition to rhyme generation and categorization, would be a reasonable treatment plan.

Phonological Make-Up of Targets Words

The academic education and clinical knowledge acquired by the speech, language pathologists (SLPs) through their undergraduate, graduate and fellowship training, with respect to phonetics and phonology, uniquely prepares SLPs to target early reading skills. It is this knowledge that must be tapped when selecting target words for phonemic awareness therapy. Although one can increase complexity by moving down the list of phonemic awareness tasks, another way to increase complexity within the task, is by adjusting the phonological properties of target words. As such, some core aspects of phonology must be reviewed. Therefore, we will briefly review syllable structure and distinctive features of phonemes.

Syllable structure impacts the ease with which children manipulate the sounds within the syllable. Onset and rime are two components of syllable structure. The onset consists of all the consonants in a syllable before the vowel. For example, the onset for the word /hap/ (i.e., hop) is /h/. For the word /stap/ (i.e., stop) the onset is /st/. The rime of a word is the vowel and the final consonant(s) of a syllable. For example, the rime in the word /hap/ is /ap/ and the rime in the word /staps/ it is /aps/. Rimes are made up of a vowel and the final consonant or consonants which is called the coda.

An appreciation of the complexities of syllable structure can impact target word selection. For example, it is easiest for children to rhyme monosyllabic sounds with a consonant-vowel-consonant (i.e., CVC) structure. As children become more facile with phonemic awareness skills, the SLP should increase the complexity of the stimuli. The more complex the syllable structure of a word, the harder it is to manipulate sounds within that word. For example, a monosyllabic word like “straight” (i.e., /streIt/) has an onset with three consonants. It is difficult for children to isolate more than one consonant sound per onset. The same is true for syllables who have rimes with more than one consonant in their codas.

Another issue concerning phonology is sonorancy of the consonants within a word. The more sonorant a consonant, the more its acoustic properties are vowel-like. Consonants classified as semi-vowels (i.e., liquids, nasals, and glides) are more difficult to manipulate in words than are obstruents (i.e., stop-plosives and fricatives). Semi-vowels tend to “stick” to the sounds around them. Figure 1 demonstrates an example of a hierarchy of word difficulty based on syllable structure and phonological composition.

Figure 1. A Description of Word Difficulty Based on Syllable Structure



Of course, the above does not represent an exhaustive analysis of all possible phonological combinations. Rather, the above is an example of stimuli progressing from easiest (soap) to hardest (tricked) and their phonological structure. When selecting target words for phonemic awareness training, the phonological structure and related attributes can make the difference between success or failure.

Children’s Books:

As the purpose of phonemic awareness therapy is to teach early reading skills, it is important to include children’s literature in phonemic awareness therapy sessions. There are two ways to include texts. One way is to center your session around a literature-based theme. The second is to use decodable texts to foster generalization of the sound-symbol association skills.

When working with children developing phonemic awareness skills, we recommend books as the cornerstone of the session. Yopp (1995) suggested three criteria for the selection of books for this purpose:
  1. Play with language should be apparent throughout the text. Language play helps children focus on words and how they can be manipulated. Books that use alliteration, assonance and rhyme are useful. In particular, My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck, is an excellent book with appropriate and educational word play evident throughout the text.

  2. The vocabulary and story lines of the book should be age appropriate. Generally, picture books are appropriate for children from preschool through 4th grade. Aster Aardvark’s Alphabet Adventures by Steven Kellogg is recommended but the vocabulary is somewhat advanced and may therefore, be inappropriate for some of the children we serve.

  3. The text should have explicit enough phonemic awareness patterns, allowing for further language play. Down by the Bay by Raffi is an excellent example because it supports the creation of additional rhymes as a sing-a-long book and is available on CD.
Once an appropriate book is selected to foster development of phonemic awareness, a therapy session can be built around the book’s theme. For example, My Monster Mama Loves Me So might be chosen mid-autumn, perhaps around Halloween. The session would start by reading the book with the children in the therapy group. The children would engage in activities using target words from the book, or related to the book.

Regardless of the specific text selected, it is important to use active reading techniques when reading to children. Active reading techniques include asking prediction and comprehension questions. For language-impaired children to benefit from joint reading activities interaction among the reader, the listener and the text is key.

With older children, one might incorporate direct reading activities within the therapy session. Including “decodable texts” not only emphasizes the importance of reading, but reinforces the sound-symbol association as the foundation of decoding success. Decodable texts are generally viewed as books that provide multiple opportunities to read words that have regular links between the grapheme and the pronunciation (Jenkins, Vadastm, Oettibm, & Sanders, 2003). In order to help select appropriate texts, Baker (2002) developed the following set of three questions:
  1. Is the text decodable via multiple cueing systems/reading strategies?

  2. Does this storyline make sense, or is it made up of repetitive word patterns with little or no meaning?

  3. Does the text support the reader’s use of the targeted reading strategies?
By reflecting on these questions (above) we choose books children are better able to decode and enjoy. For example, one series of books is titled “Now I'm Reading: Amazing Animals” by Nora Gaydos. This is a six-level series that starts at pre-primer reading level and proceeds to intermediate reading level. Every book at each level comes with instructions for its use with reading comprehension questions and details the phonics rules being addressed. Many other multiple-book sets of decodable texts and easy readers are available in the collections of the school and local libraries.

Conclusions:

Planning a phonemic awareness session can be fun and effective with due appreciation for the factors outlined above. Target word selection is important, and selection of target words can make or break a session. Recognition, preparation and exploration of implicit and explicit tasks helps children navigate and learn requisite skills associated with phonemic awareness. Consideration of the phonological properties of the chosen words are important and impact the therapeutic session. Finally, the use of children’s literature and/or decodable texts in therapy is important and can help children bridge the gap between decoding and reading.

References:

Baker, T. (2002). Strategic planning: Recognizing Patterns for reading instruction. Primary Voices K - 6, 10(4), 16 – 22.

Jenkins, J. R., Vadasy, P. F., Peyton, J. A., & Sanders, E. A. (2003). Decodable texts—Where to find it. The Reading Teacher, 57(2), 185-189.

Lance, D. M., Swanson, L. A., & Peterson, H. A. (1997). A validity study of an implicit phonological awareness paradigm. Journal of Speech, Language, Hearing Research, 40, 1002-1010.

Rosner, J., & Simon, D. P. (1971). The auditory analysis test: An initial report. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 4(7), 384-92.

Yopp, H. K. (1995). Read aloud books for developing phonemic awareness. The Reading Teacher, 48(6), 538-543.
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