Stopping Sound by Sound Reading: Part 1

Do you have or have you had a student that is a sound by sound reader?

You know.....the child that sounds out each letter of the word before blending (hopefully correctly) all of the sounds together to form a word?  I certainly do. I certainly have quite a few students who read this way.

You want to know something great??? I am about to help you STOP sound by sound reading and move your students to unitizing and whole word reading!!

I must admit I **used** to think this was a good  okay thing when students read sound by sound.  Sure it didn't sound the greatest....but at least they were able to say the letter sound correctly.  Also, if a student made a mistake,  I would be able to quickly identify which sound (beginning, medial, or final) the student struggled with.  I honestly was A-OK with sound by sound reading.......UNTIL....I heard Linda Farrell speak on how to stop sound by sound reading.

Side note: if you don't know who Linda Farrell is....you should research her and her work.  She is amazing! :) Make sure to check out her videos on Reading Rockets and her website Readsters!



Anyway.....the brain works SO MUCH HARDER when you read sound by sound, than if you unitize.

Let's take a simple CVC word and see exactly what the brain of a sound by sound reader does.

Step 1: see the whole word in print
Step 2: see the initial letter
Step 3: say the sound of the initial letter
Step 4: hear the sound of the initial letter
Step 5: hold the sound of the initial letter
Step 6: see the whole word
Step 7: see the medial letter
Step 8: say the medial letter sound
Step 9: hear the medial letter
Step 10: hold the sound of the medial letter
Step 11: see the whole word
Step 12: see the final letter
Step 13: say the sound of the final letter
Step 14: hear the sound of the final letter
Step 15: hold the sound of the final letter
Step 16: Take all of the held information, blend and say the word

WOW....look at how much work the brain of a sound by sound reader is doing!!  AND....that is a simple CVC word.  What about a word that is 4 sounds or 5??  Check out the graphic below to illustrate the steps.

It seriously was a light bulb moment for me when I saw that graphic. I had never realized how much extra the brain works when you say the sound of each letter before blending them all together.  As a comparison....check out the graphic below of a proficient reader.

A proficient reader is able to see the word in text, think of the word and say the word.  A proficient reader's phonological processor and orthographic processor are working efficiently and simultaneously....which is what we want all kids to achieve.

So the next logical question is how do we stop sound by sound reading?!?  According to Linda Farrell to stop sound by sound reading every intervention lesson must include three things: phonemic awareness, orthographic mapping and decoding.

I will explore each of these three components in upcoming posts....so stay tuned!

Part 1: what is a sound by sound reader
Part 2: Phonemic awareness
Part 3: orthographic mapping
Part 4: decoding