Questions phonemic awareness and phonologic awareness

Q: What is phonemic awareness? How can I help my child develop phonologic awareness? What activities can I do with my child to develop phonemic awareness? Why is phonemic awareness or phonologic awareness important to reading success? Can I help my child improve their phonemic awareness?   

A: Phonemic awareness is understanding that words are made up of sounds and being able to hear, recognize and manipulate these sounds. Phonemic awareness is critical to reading success.  The National Reading Panel found that “phonemic awareness training exerted strong and significant effects on reading and spelling development” and “Children of varying abilities improved their phonemic awareness and their reading skills as a function of phonemic awareness training”.  For more information read the articles:

• Phonemic Awareness Explained: What Phonemic Awareness Is, Why Phonemic Awareness is important and Linking Phonemic Awareness to Print
• Fun Activities to Help Your Child Develop Phonemic Awareness
• More Activities to Directly Develop Phonemic Awareness Skills  

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These questions were answered by Miscese Gagen a mother with a passion for teaching children to read proficiently by using effective methods. She is also a successful reading tutor and author of the reading instructional programs Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons. The purpose of this article is to empower parents and teachers with information on teaching children how to read. We CAN improve reading proficiency, one student at a time!  More information is located at www.righttrackreading.com ~  Copyright 2004-2013 Miscese R. Gagen