The sounds the letters make

For a dyslexic child, the most valuable aid to reading and spelling is to learn the sounds the letters make. This allows your child to work out each word from the sound made by each individual letter: for example 'T - o - m' runs together to make 'Tom'. Most three-letter words can be worked out this way - log, bus, hit, rat, leg, and so on - if you learn the sounds. However, there are exceptions - the, are, was and others which have to be remembered on their own as a whole word.
Knowing the sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet is the first milestone for a dyslexic child, and can allow them to read sentences like: -
Tom and Liz hid a nut in a box.
Pam hit Ron on the leg and ran off.
Books which contain only these simple three-letter words can become stilted and boring for children to read. It is usual to include more exciting words in beginner reading books, like ice-cream, milk-shake, elephant, dinosaur, MacDonald's, airplane. Despite their length, these words are usually easy for children to read because of the associations they stimulate!
This leads children to be able to read more interesting sentences, like: -
Liz met Ann at MacDonald's and had a milk-shake.
When you are helping your child to learn these simple sounds, take examples of words they are very familiar with. For example, if your dog is called 'Rover', use 'r' is for Rover. (A suggested list of words follows at the end of this article, but please adapt it for your child's interests.) Remember to use the sound and not the name of the letter: -
'apple' begins with 'a'.
'burger' begins with 'b'.
'cat' begins with 'c'.
. . . and so on down to 'z'. ('x' is a difficult sound, like 'ks' at the end of 'box' and 'fox'.)
A game to play at this stage is 'I spy . . . , where you say: "I spy with my little eye something beginning with the sound w'". Explain that "I spy" means "I am looking at", and your child guesses 'window', washing', wallpaper' until the one you are thinking of is named. Give a clue by looking directly at the object if it is not guessed after ten seconds. Try to help your child to quickly guess the answer so that he or she experiences success, or they will not want to play again.
If your child is reading a book with you, the single sounds they have learned will sometimes help them with the first sound of a word. For example, the 't' at the start of 'television' helps them to guess, although they obviously cannot sound out all the letters. However, be sure to tell them the word very quickly if they have not guessed it within a second or two. Reading books is for pleasure, and you can easily kill this if you stop and make your child say the sounds of each letter. Many parents are unsure about this, and the Golden Rule when reading with your child is to tell them the words they do not know straight away. This will increase the enjoyment of the story for you both, and make your child want to read with you again. The words you tell your child will be repeated in the story anyway, or you can read the book again from the beginning another day, when your child will notice that he or she can read words that you had to tell them last time!
It's really important to separate reading for pleasure from sounding out words. You can write out the three-letter words with separate letters (copying the letters below) on little bits of card and keep them near the kitchen table. If your child can read ten of these each day, they deserve a little reward!
The skill that the child has to learn is to smoothly blend each letter into the next sound: 't-a' gradually slide together to become 'ta' (for example at the start of 'tap'). This is quite hard, and it helps if the letter sounds are said in a short, clipped way, saying the 't' sound as a brief sound, and trying not to lengthen it into 'tuh'.
Knowledge of the single sounds made by the 26 letters of the alphabet are the best tool you can give your child, and this will form the basis of their first successes at reading and spelling.
John Bradford.

The sounds of the letters

apple begins with a nut begins with n

burger begins with b octopus begins with o

cat begins with c penguin begins with p

dog begins with d queen begins with q

egg begins with e rabbit begins with r

fish begins with f sausage begins with s

gun begins with g tomato begins with t

house begins with h umbrella begins with u

insect begins with i video begins with v

jet begins with j window begins with w

kettle begins with k fox ends in x

lemon begins with l yo-yo begins with y

mouse begins with m zebra begins with z

Short words with simple sounds

bad lid sad sit sum

bed pup let hot pan

did mad pig mum pet

hop bet dog fan tin

up big hut jet cot

dad pop Pam hit bun

fed but ten lot ran

hid pad wig hum set

nod dig log man win

cup yes nut let not

had top can pin cap

met cut get rot yet

Using these sounds
There are many series of 'phonics' books available. It is best if you can look in your local bookstore with your child. There are also details of books on our website:
Dyslexia Parents Resource - Books and Software.
John Bradford
Revised 2005

Listen to the sounds of the letters:
a b
c d
e f
g h
i j
k l
m n
o p
q r
s t
u v
w x
y z

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