Several research studies linking early phonemic awareness to the prevention of later reading difficulties strongly suggest that phoneme segmentation and blending, rather than rhyming and alliteration abilities, are the key aspects of phonemic awareness that are related to the prevention of difficulties. Yet there is a persistent belief among many…

In Experiment 1, it was found that 5-year-old new school entrants taught by a synthetic phonics method had better reading, spelling and phonemic awareness than two groups taught analytic phonics. The synthetic phonics children were the only ones that could read by analogy, and they also showed better reading of irregular words and nonwords. For…

Two studies--one quasi-experimental and one randomized experiment--were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of supplemental instruction in structural analysis and oral reading practice for second- and third-grade students with below-average word reading skills. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraeducators in single- and…

A study explored the effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness (PA) training with and without beginning decoding components for 25 kindergartners with disabilities in inclusive schools. Students with special needs participating in PA with beginning decoding instruction did better than those just receiving PA and controls. (Contains…

A program to teach young children about phonological structure was evaluated with 64 experimental group and 62 control group preschoolers in Australia. Results support the efficacy of the program and the principle that phonological awareness and letter knowledge are necessary but not sufficient for acquisition of the alphabetic principle. (SLD)