What would you do for students struggling to blend two phonemes?

When a student is struggling with blending, you really need to consider where, or what, the problem is. It could be one of two things:

a. Blending (phonemic awareness). Does the student have difficulty with ORAL blending?

b. Knowing Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences (GPCs) to automaticity. Is the skill of recognising GPCs is taking up too much space in working memory to allow for blending?

When students are not blending well in general, continue to revise phonemic awareness through lesson review, phonics warm ups and as lesson breaks or games.

Teachers should also use continuous consonants as the first phoneme to begin blending with, as these are easier to blend and hold. e.g. /m/ mmmm and /s/ sssssss

If there continues to be issues, you may consider using a phonological awareness screening assessment e.g. The PAST Test.

 

Relevant Related Content

Fab 5 Phonological and Phonemic Awareness modules:

https://www.training247.com.au/modules/phonemic-awareness

https://www.training247.com.au/modules/phonological-awareness

Explicit Instruction Part 2 module:

https://www.training247.com.au/modules/phonics-8-explicit-instruction-part-2