Early Learner Reading Assessment

Building Strong Readers: The Importance of Phonemic and Phonological Awareness

Phonemic and phonological awareness are two important early skills that help guide your child’s reading journey. Phonological awareness means noticing and playing with the sounds of spoken words—like hearing rhymes, clapping out syllables, or recognizing that “bat” and “ball” start with the same sound. Phonemic awareness is a smaller part of that skill—it’s about hearing and working with the individual sounds (phonemes) that make up words. These sound skills help children make the connection between letters and the sounds they represent, which is the foundation for reading and spelling. When your child can blend sounds together (like /d/, /o/, /g/ to make dog) or take them apart, they’re building the brain pathways that make reading easier later on. Assessing these early sound skills gives parents and teachers valuable insight into how a child is developing and where extra practice might help. Simple, fun activities—like singing songs, reading rhyming books, and playing “I spy” with sounds—are powerful ways to build these abilities every day. By supporting phonemic and phonological awareness early, you’re giving your child a strong start on their path to becoming a confident reader.