Phonological awareness
Hearing and manipulating the sounds inside spoken words — rhyme, syllables, the individual sounds in "cat". It is an oral skill, and it is the strongest early predictor of how easily a child will learn to read.
Why phonological awareness matters.
This is testable long before reading starts, which makes it one of the few genuinely useful early warnings available to a parent. A four-year-old who cannot hear rhyme is telling you something worth acting on now, cheaply, rather than in Year 2 after two years of falling behind.
It is also trainable, and the training is short, structured and dull. Fifteen focused minutes a day beats an hour of reading practice at a level that is already failing.
Questions that get a real answer
- Can my child hear rhyme, and clap syllables?
- Is the reading programme phonics-based and structured?
- How often, and who is checking it is working?
Ask these of anyone, including us. What you are listening for is not the right answer — it is whether the answer is specific enough to be wrong.
Terms that usually turn up alongside it.
Pragmatic language
The social use of language — turn-taking, staying on topic, reading tone, knowing how much background a
GlossaryPrompt dependence
When a child will only perform a skill once an adult signals. The skill is present; what is missing is
GlossaryReceptive language
What a child understands, as distinct from what they can say. Usually ahead of expression, sometimes well
Send it to us and we'll translate it.
Any report, from any provider, including ones we have nothing to do with. We will tell you in plain English what it says, what it recommends, and which parts are actually supported by the evidence in it. No charge, and it does not make you a client.