Children who are able to segment and blend sounds will be able to apply this knowledge to spelling and reading more easily than those that have not yet mastered these skills. First, let’s define the two processes.  Phoneme segmentation is the process of breaking a word up into its individual sounds.  For example, saying the...Read More

Sound isolation is the ability to isolate a single sound from within a word.  Children usually master initial sound isolation in the middle of kindergarten, and final and medial sound isolation at the end of kindergarten or early first grade.  Phoneme (sound) isolation is a very important step in early literacy development. Kids that have...Read More

Rime or rhyme?  What’s the difference?  Rimes rhyme, but not all rhymes are rimes.  Easy peasy, right?  (See what I did there?) Rimes are word parts that refer to a specific spelling pattern, and rimes of the same word family will rhyme.  Rimes begin with a vowel sound and end before the next vowel sound. ...Read More