Phonics resources

[Anonymous]

We just got the results of a full neuropsych for our rising K DS. Inconclusive on ADHD and ASD but he has a developmental language disorder. We live in a fairly rural area with long waitlists for services so the psychologist we do some stuff on our own this summer as we get on waitlists for an SLP. He has trouble remembering the words for things and has slow processing speed and she said we should focus on phonics at home. Are there any recourses (books, videos, games etc) you have used for this type of kid with success? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Meant to say the psychologist suggested.

[Anonymous]

We used the MCP Practice Phonics Readers (they are out of print and can be found on Amazon and ebay) and the Bob books.

The MCP Practice Phonics Readers are great but can be hard to find at a reasonable price. There are three series, it doesn't matter which one you do. Set 1 is short vowels, Set 2 is long vowels, and the sets after that are digraphs, etc. We just used Set 1 and 2 and then my kids were reading fluently.

[Anonymous]

Does he read at all yet?
Can he follow auditory instructions?

[Anonymous]

Do you want a full program you can do each day and will continue to do after he starts school, or are you not really serious and just looking for phonics toys and computer programs until school starts?

[Anonymous]

At that age I wouldn’t focus on phonics, but instead on phonemic awareness. Then you can introduce phonics in a few months. Basically kid needs to learn to deconstruct the stream of speech into component sounds. Kids with dyslexia have a core deficit in this area. It can be really fun to do, so not a huge lift. Start by identifying words in a sentence or phrase. Then work on syllables - play with them. Tap it out, dance, hop. Then start pulling apart sounds in a word. Not letters, but sounds. Hat has 3 sounds, but eight has 2. Don’t even look at letters yet. Then start playing with the sounds - have kid replace first sound with another sound. All of this can be play. If you look up phoneme awareness and the name Kilptrick you’ll find good material.

Then phonics, which is the explicit teaching of how each of those speech sounds is represented with a symbol and linking them together. But you need to be able to really hear the sounds first, and a kid with phonemic deficits needs a lot of extra practice. Lots. They should do phonics in K and 1st, but most schools aren’t laying the groundwork with phonemic awareness first.

[Anonymous]

Developing readers academy is great! Fun videos and little exercises. Very focused on SN kids.