Many children struggle when reading words with adjacent consonants. These are words that have two consonants side by side within a word, e.g. f l a g.
The leap from three-sound words (e.g. h a t) to four-sound words (e.g. l i m p) is very difficult for many beginner and struggling readers. The step to five-sound words (e.g. p r i n t) is even greater. Being able to decode, retain and blend four or five sounds in a word is much more difficult than three, so many children need a lot of practice of this skill.
It is imperative that children can do this before they launch into learning the complex English phonic code. This means that, as children learn new graphemes, they can concentrate on learning the new sound/letter representations without having to struggle with blending at the same time.
Phonic Books has just launched card games that develop the skill of reading adjacent consonants.
Reblogged this on The Echo Chamber.