From Rhyming to Reading:
A Phonological Awareness and
Early Literacy Program
Cindy Daniels, M.A., CCC-SLP
Chris Scranton, M.A., CCC-SLP
Children’s Mercy Hospitals & Clinics
Kansas City, Missouri
www.childrensmercy.org
2010 KSHA Conference
October 1, 2010
Topics
 Role of speech-language pathologist in teaching literacy
 Literacy Research
 From Rhyming to Reading: A Phonological Awareness and
Early Literacy Program
Speech-Language Pathologists
and Literacy:
ASHA Position Statement 2001
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA)
position statement on literacy states:
Speech-Language Pathologists play a critical role in the
development of literacy for children and adolescents with
communication disorders.
Literacy Facts and
Speech-Language Pathologists
Literacy Facts:
Speech-Language Pathologists:
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Phonological awareness, reading and
writing are language based functions.
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are language specialists.
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Difficulty learning to read or write can
involve any of the components of
language: phonology, morphology,
syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
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understand the components of language:
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics
and pragmatics.
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Children with language impairments are
4-5 times more likely than normally
developing children to have reading
difficulties. (Catts et al, 2002)
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have the opportunity to provide early
identification and treatment.
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have experience in developing
individualized treatment programs.
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Reading instruction needs to be explicit
and systematic.
SLP’s Role in Literacy
(ASHA 2001)
 Prevention of reading disorders by fostering language
acquisition and emergent literacy
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Identification of children at risk for literacy problems
Assessment of reading and writing skills
Providing Intervention for reading and writing
Documenting Outcomes
Other roles: provide assistance to general education
teachers, parents and students; advocate for effective literacy
practices; advancing the knowledge base
Literacy Research
National Reading Panel (1997)
The best approach to reading instruction is one that incorporates
systematic and explicit instruction in the areas of:
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Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Literacy Research
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
supports the use of a multisensory approach to
teaching children to read.
Multisensory teaching: the use of visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic-tactile pathways simultaneously to enhance
memory and learning.
From Rhyming to Reading:
A Phonological Awareness and
Early Literacy Program
From Rhyming to Reading:
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began in 1999 and has taught over 1000 children
was developed by speech-language pathologists
is research and evidence based
introduces five key components of reading:
phonological awareness
phonics
fluency
comprehension
vocabulary
 uses a systematic, explicit multisensory approach
From Rhyming to Reading
Program Details
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Meets once a week for one hour
Consists of 4-5 children with one speech-language pathologist
Parent education with home activities provided
Children 4 years of age and not yet in first grade
Two Levels:
– Level One: 10 weeks, focuses on rhyming, segmentation, initial sound
recognition/production and letter sound correspondence
– Level Two: 7 weeks focuses on alliteration, initial/final sound
recognition/production, early decoding, syllable deletion and letter
sound correspondence
From Rhyming to Reading
A Retrospective Research Study
Purpose:
 Determine if From Rhyming to Reading is an effective program to teach
phonological awareness skills to young children.
Questions:
 Is From Rhyming to Reading an effective program to teach phonological
awareness skills across subjects with varying speech, language, and
learning history?
 Is From Rhyming to Reading an effective program to teach phonological
awareness skills across specific age groups?
 Which phonological awareness skills taught in From Rhyming to Reading
showed the greatest gains?
From Rhyming to Reading
A Retrospective Research Study
Subjects:
342
male: 68%
female: 32%
Subject History:
Ages:
4.0 to 4.11: 56%
Articulation disorder
Language disorder
5.0 to 6.11: 44%
Family Hx Learning Problems
Normal Development
Retrospective Study:
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Between January 1, 2001 to August 31, 2007
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History data collected by chart review and by caregiver report
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Outcome data collected from phonological awareness pre and post test
scores
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Data analyzed based on subject history, age group, and subtest progress
Is From Rhyming to Reading an effective program to teach
phonological awareness skills across subjects with varying
speech, language and learning history?
From Rhyming to Reading was effective in teaching phonological
awareness skills across all subject groups.
Is From Rhyming to Reading an effective program to teach
phonological awareness skills across specific age groups?
From Rhyming to Reading was effective in teaching
phonological awareness skills across age groups.
Which phonological awareness skills taught in
From Rhyming to Reading showed the greatest gains?
Greatest gains in
Level 1 in the
areas of:
 Rhyme Production
 Letter Sound
Correspondence
 Syllable
Segmentation
 Statistically
significant gains
in all subtests
Which phonological awareness skills taught in
From Rhyming to Reading showed the greatest gains?
Greatest gains in
Level 2 in the
areas of:
 Final Sound
Production
 Letter Sound
Correspondence
 Statistically
significant gains in
all subtests
From Rhyming to Reading
Summary of Retrospective Research Study
From Rhyming to Reading:
 was effective in teaching phonological awareness skills across subject
groups: typically developing children and children with reported history or
family history of articulation, language, or learning deficits.
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was effective in teaching phonological awareness skills across age groups.
 was effective in teaching all targeted phonological awareness skills with the
greatest gains in the areas of: rhyme production, letter sound
correspondence, syllable segmentation and final sound production.
 was effective in teaching phonological awareness skills to young children
with an average gain of 29 – 35% improvement in total test scores
following two months of instruction including a home program.
From Rhyming to Reading
Weekly Session Format
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Opening: welcome, rules, review of homework
Concept: phonological awareness skill
Sound: letter sound correspondence, writing
Movement: gross motor activity to reinforce weekly
concepts and letter sound correspondence
 Closing: review of lesson, homework, prize, parent
handout
From Rhyming to Reading:
Highlights
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Book Introduction
Rhyming
Segmentation
Initial/Final sounds
Alliteration
Letter sound correspondence
Writing
Book Introduction
Teach the parts of a book:
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Cover
Title
Author
Illustrator
Teach Language skills:
 Prior knowledge
 Prediction
 Vocabulary
Rhyming
Rhyming:
 words sound the same at the end.
 important to early literacy because it teaches the skill of isolating sounds in
words.
 requires understanding of the concepts same and different and beginning
and end.
Rhyming Hands:
 A multisensory technique for teaching rhyming:
“hold” the words in each hand (place palm up in front of body as you say
each word.) If the words rhyme, clap hands together. If the words do not
rhyme, don’t clap and shrug shoulders.
Rhyming:
Additional Information
 teach and practice rhyming by using real and nonsense words
 teach and practice rhyming by having children both detect and
produce rhymes
 read familiar rhyming books and leave off the ending word in
rhyming pair for the children to produce
 encourage families to play rhyming games in the car
Segmentation: Sentences
Sentence Segmentation:
 a sentence is the largest independent unit of grammar made up
of individual parts called words
 important to early literacy because it increases a child’s print
awareness
 make it multisensory by using hand motions while saying: “A
sentence is a short story made up of small parts called words
with a period on the end to tell us that the sentence is over.”
 components of a sentence
Segmentation: Syllables
Syllable Segmentation:
 a syllable is a word or part of a word that consists of an
uninterrupted expression of sound and includes at least one
vowel (Traub and Bloom, 2000)
 important to early literacy because syllable knowledge
prepares children for decoding
 make it multisensory by using an activity such as clapping
hands, pulling apart beads, or tapping beanbags to count
syllables
 syllable deletion activities should also be included to teach that
our language is made up of parts that can be manipulated
Segmentation: Sounds
Sound segmentation:
 words are made up of individual parts called sounds (phonemes)
 important to early literacy because the ability to identify individual sounds
within words is strongly correlated to the acquisition of spelling, reading
and writing (Gillingham and Stillman,1997)
 requires understanding of the concepts first (beginning), middle and last
(ending)
 start by teaching children to identify beginning and ending sounds: use all
senses (look, listen, and feel)
 when teaching early decoding skills, use a multisensory technique such as
“Sound and Scoop” to identify individual sounds in a word and then to
blend them together to form the word
Alliteration
 the repetition of the same initial sound in words
 important to early literacy because it reinforces the ability to
isolate individual sounds in words
 requires understanding of the concept of beginning/first
 may see difficulties in generating alliteration because it is a
language (vocabulary) task
Letter Sound Correspondence
Letter sound correspondence is the foundation of phonics skills.
Teach:
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concept of symbol/sound correspondence
name of letter
sound of letter
placement, manner, and voicing
name cue for letter
hand motion
voicing
letter formation
movement
Writing
 writing is making a symbol for a sound on paper
 important to early literacy because it reinforces letter sound
correspondence; introduces spelling; introduces perception of
where letters are placed on the lines of the paper
 requires understanding of concepts top, middle, bottom, left
and right
 when teaching letter writing use a multisensory technique such
as the “Tree Writing Paper”
From Rhyming to Reading
Session Closing
 Review concept and sound of the week
 Explain homework
 Give prize to reinforce sound of week
From Rhyming to Reading
Interactive DVD
 On screen navigation through 16 lesson plans
 Each lesson contains video clips of systematic, explicit,
multisensory techniques
 Material lists
 Printable materials: lesson plans, rule cards, sound cards,
pictures, parent handouts
 Available in 2011
Questions?
References
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American Speech Language Hearing Association (www.asha.org).
Catts, H., Fey, M., Tomblin, B., & Zhang, X. (2002). A Longitudinal Investigation of
Reading Outcomes in Children With Language Impairments. Journal of Speech and Hearing
Research, 45, 1142-1157.
Gillingham, A., Stillman, B. (1997). The Gillingham Manual: Remedial Training for
Students with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling, and Penmanship. Cambridge, MA:
Educators Publishing Service, Inc.
International Dyslexia Association (www.interdys.org).
Mleziva, M., Trebach, D. (2000). Phonological Awareness: The Missing Piece to Help Crack
the Reading Code. Eau Claire, WI: Otter Creek Institute.
National Reading Panel. (2000). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, NIH Pub. No. 00-4769.
Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming Dyslexia. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Traub, N., Bloom, F. (2000). Recipe for Reading. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing
Service, Inc.