The ability to recognize that words are combinations of separate segments of sounds is essential for the development of spelling skills, especially for complex words. The focus of activities is identification of syllable segments. Useful activities include clapping the number of syllables in a student's name, or using pictures or objects to do the same. Silent sorting of pictures or objects according to the number of syllables in the name is also helpful.
Auditory discrimination draws the student's attention to the differences between words and focuses on identification of sounds and sound segments, and linking them to the orthographic form. Usually activities begin with listening to environmental sounds in the classroom or outside and using games, such as sound lotto or guessing the names of musical instruments according to their sounds. Auditory discrimination tasks also introduce sound-letter correspondence using sound dice, drawing and tracing activities relating to specific sounds or identifying sounds from plastic or magnetic letters taken from a surprise bag.
After auditory discrimination activities have been completed to introduce an awareness of different sounds in isolation, work can begin on identification of sounds and sound segments within words. Using pictures or objects, students are encouraged identify the initial sounds of the object names, move onto the final sounds and then identify initial, medial and final sounds. Activities include choosing from two possible sounds, then increasing the number of choices, odd-one-out games and linking the written to the spoken forms.
Using basic language such as "What word sounds like ...," students are introduced to the concept of rhyme. Use both real objects and pictures to draw comparisons. Start with a simple choice from two items and then increase the number of choices from which the student can choose. Odd-one-out, singing songs and reciting poetry, rhyming word generation (Think of a word that rhymes with cat, for instance) and rhyme cards can all be useful activities. It is important to keep rhyming skill activities separate from sound-based activities because the two concepts are often easily confused by students.
Activities focus on joining words and segments to form new words. It has been found that it is easier to initially blend segments of words than individual sounds and this is therefore a common starting point. Blending cards (such as c + at to form cat, m + at for mat), jigsaw puzzles that use word segmentation and word wheels or ladders have all been used successfully.