Is your child ready for phonics? Here’s a free and easy way to try it out!

A year ago, I came across the newly published book Phonics the R-igh-t Way for Children and Adults with Down Syndrome by Judy O’Halloran and Marilee Senior. My son with T21 was already a fluent reader, but I was interested to see if there were any ideas that might help the boys in our Down Syndrome co-op.

What the authors presented, among several great ideas, was a very unique and clever order of teaching the phonograms. Almost all other phonics programs teach the CVC (Consonant-vowel-consonant) words first, such as cat, pig, and dog. However, each of the vowels produce several different sounds. For example, think of the different sounds of A in the words apple, cake, and father.

Judy O’Halloran and Marilee Senior recommend teaching the seven phonograms that make one and only one sound first, to avoid early confusion and frustration. These phonograms are as follows: ay as in say, ai as in rain, ee as in bee, igh as in night, oa as in boat, oe as in toe, and eigh as in eight. Starting with these phonograms also helps a child get used to the idea that multiple letters can make one sound.

Very clever indeed!

Since the boys in our T21 co-op had spent 1.5 years learning to read sight words, they were ready to begin reading phonetically. So I made these workbooks for them to use in our co-op and to work on at home.

I designed these workbooks specifically for children with T21: they feature large fonts, colorful pictures, incremental steps, and lots of review. But I also kept in mind the moms who would be using them: extremely busy moms of large families who need an inexpensive (or FREE!) print and go method. Bonus: These workbooks are compatible with the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching reading.

I have made many homeschool resources throughout the years, but this one could very well be my favorite. So I’m super excited to share this one with you!

For each phonogram, there are 6 steps we use to help the student learn how to decode and spell with it.

First, we introduce the phonogram:

AY is a great phonogram to start sounding out words with because all AY words only have two sounds (as opposed to CVC words, which have three sounds to blend).

Then we begin with the steps.

Step 1 – See the Phonogram

In this step, students sort the phonogram into two piles: the targeted phonogram squares go in one pile and everything else goes in the trash pile.

 

Then, students find and circle the targeted phonogram in words:

Step 2 – Hear the Phonogram.

In this step, students sort picture cards according to sound. Words that have the sound of the targeted phonogram into one pile. Words that have a different sound go into the trash.

 

Step 3 – Sound it out and read

Sounding out words and blending sounds is where many children struggle with phonics. So first, we familiarize students with the words they will be sounding out using pictures. Then, we demonstrate how to sound out each word. Doing this sets our students up to succeed and minimizes the possibility of error and frustration. Do not hesitate to demonstrate sounding out all the words for your students. Keep demonstrating until they feel they are ready to try. Demonstrate, collaborate, then gradually fade your aid. Clear and succinct instructions for parents are included in the workbook.

Here’s a video of how you might demonstrate sounding out AY words:

 

Here’s are two videos of how you might collaborate with a student to sound out words:

 

One side note: In the famous words of Mrs. Brown, Teach, don’t Test. Don’t be afraid to give your students the answer, or sound out a word for them if they are having difficulty. As long as a student is engaged, he/she is learning. If you think that giving your student the answer or sounding out the word for him/her is “cheating”, keep in mind that it can’t be cheating since you’re not testing. You are teaching. And the first step in teaching is to make your students feel comfortable and confident. The moment you overwhelm or frustrate them, you are in danger of losing their engagement. So, give your students lots of time to watch you demonstrate and to process what you are asking of them. If they can’t sound out a word, do it for them. Eventually, if you are patient enough and when they are ready, they will recall the sound of the phonogram or blend the sounds together. The main goal is to keep your students engaged.

The next activity is sounding out words and matching them to their corresponding pictures. This builds reading comprehension and makes the work of sounding out words meaningful.

Here’s a video of my son matching pictures and words from book 3. He’s done this type of activity for perhaps a hundred words or more, so in this video this activity is easy for him. When you have a beginner, just start with three pictures and words only. Don’t hesitate to help your student sound out each word.

 

Once students can sound out the AY words easily, it’s time to practice reading them in the context of simple sentences:

For more practice, students do a read and paste activity.

 

Step 4: Build the Words and Spell

Spelling is an important part of learning to decode, and some children only really “get” decoding when they learn to spell. The first step in spelling a word is segmenting. For our kids with T21, we use movement and visuals to support segmenting.

Here’s a video of how to demonstrate segmenting a word.

 

Once students can segment the sounds of a word, we help them build it with the phonogram tiles:

 

Here a student segments without the dot board, but notice that he taps out the syllables with his fingers.

For children with T21, segmenting words into the phonograms that make up each word is an important activity that can improve their articulation.

Additional practice can be given with the Montessori Green Language Series cards:

 

Step 5 – Learn New Vocabulary

Reading involves two steps: decoding and comprehending. One reason I always use picture cards to support decoding is to drive home the fact that every word has a meaning. Decoding should never be a meaningless phonological activity, especially for our kids with T21. This is why I don’t recommend giving students long lists of words to decode when they are just learning to read. Decoding should almost always be accompanied with comprehension (by pairing words with pictures), especially during the early stages of learning to read. Rhyming activities are fun and useful, but apart from that, we need to help our kids understand every word they read.

Because of this, building vocabulary is an essential part of teaching reading. Children should be taught the meaning of every word they decode. For children with T21 and any child who has difficulty with auditory processing, using picture support is essential.

Step 6 – Write the Word

For our last step, we support the students in writing out the word. Writing the word builds connections in the brain that will help kids remember the word.

At this stage, many children with T21 may not yet be writing lower case. So, help students to trace the word, and then if they are able, to copy it. Any effort to trace or copy should be praised, regardless of how well the letters are formed.

If your child can’t trace the letters, I would give light hand-over-hand support. Learning to write letters involves muscle memory, and with gentle hand-over-hand support, you can help your student remember the order of strokes. There is a lot of repetition of letters in writing out or tracing these words. If a student traces pay, hay, jay, ray, bay, and day, he/she will have written out “ay” six times! This type of repetition develops muscle memory.

 

Finally, there are review worksheets and/or games.

And there you have First Steps with Phonics!

First Steps with Phonics Book 1 teaches words with phonograms AY and AI.

First Steps with Phonics Book 2 covers words with phonograms EE and EA.

First Steps with Phonics Book 3 covers words with phonograms OA and OE.

First Steps with Phonics Book 4 covers words with the phonogram EIGH.

 

Download First Steps with Phonics Book 1 here:

And stay tuned for the rest of the workbooks, which I will post on this blog in the coming months.

April 2025 Update:

Check out these additions to First Steps with Phonics, designed especially for children with visual impairments:

First Steps with Phonics Extra-large Blending Cards

First Steps with Phonics Decodable Readers

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