How Phonological Awareness Develops

Age three to five years

• Children can hear rhymes.
mail, pail, sail

• Children can hear alliteration.
fee, fie, fo, fum

Age five to six years

• Children can segment words they hear into chunks called syllables.
din-o-saur

• Children can segment words they hear into chunks called onsets and rimes.
/b/oat, /g/oat; /d/ock, /l/ock

• Children can identify different sounds at the beginnings of words.
rock, sock

• Children can identify different sounds at the ends of words.
stem, step

• Children can hear different sounds in the middle of words.
dig, dog

Age six to seven years

• Children can hear, segment, and say phonemes in a word separately.

• Children can hear, delete, and move phonemes in a word.


What do you think of the information above? Are you surprised at the ages children acquire new skills?

Tomorrow: different ways you can promote phonological awareness.