Help strong visual learners match sounds with phonics letter patterns by color coding. Use color-coded letters or letter cards to highlight common spelling patterns, such as the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern that nearly always has a short vowel in the center. If consonants are colored in white and vowels in blue, the pattern of white-blue-white letters will cue the student to use the short vowel sound when decoding. For some students, it's also useful to code different sounds with colors. For these learners, consider using a red color for a short vowel and a green color for a long vowel. Schwas (neutral vowels) and other difficult sounds can be coded with a third color to distinguish them from the regular vowel sounds.
Some students benefit from close attention to the movements made by the mouth, jaw and tongue during the production of various sounds. Use a mirror large enough for both student and teacher to use together. The teacher should produce the target sound and have the student imitate the sound, matching the facial movements until the sound is identical. Be sure to pair the verbalized sound with the alphabetic representation to cement the relationship between sounds and letters.
The sequencing of phonemes and syllables that is a part of phonics can be learned through kinesthetic techniques. Have the learner physically arrange letter cards or syllable cards while saying the matching sounds to form the word. Try having the student touch a finger for each sound in the word or syllable in the order that they appear, then blending them together while brushing the fingers one at a time. Another strategy is to teach finger spelling signs as letter sounds are being taught.
Often the best teaching strategies for learners with sensory issues are those that tap into multiple modalities during the same lesson. For example, writing letters as the sounds are voiced activates the auditory and kinesthetic channels. Writing the letters in sugar or sand as the sounds are voiced adds a tactile element that can make the sound-symbol combination even more memorable. Finding the most effective combination of strategies takes time, but will pay dividends in more efficient and effective learning.