 Weaving the Reading Rope: Phonological Skills That Bridge Young Readers to Success Have you ever watched a child struggle to connect sounds to letters, wondering if there's a piece of the puzzle you're missing in your instruction? Or perhaps you've seen that magical moment when something "clicks" and suddenly they're blending sounds with newfound confidence? As educators standing at the crossroads of research and classroom practice, we carry a tremendous responsibility: building the foundation that will support our students' literacy journey for life. The Architecture of Reading: Understanding Scarborough's Reading Rope When I first encountered Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope model as a teacher, it transformed how I viewed my morning literacy block. This elegant visual metaphor reveals a profound truth about reading development: it's not a single skill but rather multiple strands woven together to create a strong reader. The Reading Rope consists of two primary sections that intertwine: Word Recognition Strands (the lower strands):
 The 3 Powerful P's More Than Just Similar SoundsToday, I want to zoom in on what I call the "foundation P's" within those word recognition strands – the trilogy of skills that often get confused yet form the cornerstone of early reading instruction: P1: Phonological Awareness - The Sound Architecture Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures in oral language – independent of meaning. It's about perceiving that language can be broken down into smaller units: Think of it as having "ear glasses" rather than "eye glasses" – allowing children to see with their ears how words are constructed of sounds. This awareness develops along a continuum from larger units to smaller units:
Classroom Connection: When your students play "I Spy Something that Rhymes with Hat" or tap out the syllables in their names, they're developing phonological awareness without a single letter in sight! P2: Phonemic Awareness - The Sound Building Blocks Phonemic awareness is actually a subset of phonological awareness, but it deserves its own spotlight because it's so crucial. This is the ability to focus specifically on the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words and manipulate them. Phonemic awareness involves:
P3: Phonics - Connecting Sounds to Symbols Here's where many of us might have conflated concepts in the past. Phonics is the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the written symbols (letters) that represent those sounds. It's the bridge between oral and written language. Effective phonics instruction teaches:
Notice the progression: Phonological awareness (hearing sounds) → Phonemic awareness (manipulating individual sounds) → Phonics (connecting those sounds to written symbols).  Building Your Classroom Practice: From Research to Reality
Knowing these distinctions is one thing; translating them into powerful classroom instruction is another. Here are evidence-based approaches that honor the complexity of the Reading Rope while making instruction accessible:Integrating the 3 Ps—Purpose, Preview, and Plan—into daily literacy activities creates a structured approach that enhances young children's early literacy development. These elements provide a framework that helps children engage more meaningfully with reading and writing activities while developing essential skills. Purpose: Establishing Clear Learning Objectives Incorporating purpose into daily literacy activities helps children understand why they're engaging with text and what they'll gain from the experience. In Read-Aloud Sessions When introducing a book to young children, clearly explain the purpose of reading it. For example, you might say, "Today we're reading this book about seasons to learn new words for describing weather changes." This helps children focus their attention on specific aspects of the text. In Writing Activities Before starting writing activities, discuss with children why they're writing—whether it's to make a grocery list, create a sign for dramatic play, or write a letter to a friend. Explaining that "We're making signs for our pretend store so customers know what things cost" gives meaning to the writing process. In Vocabulary Development When introducing new vocabulary during literacy activities, explain to parents and children the purpose of learning these words. For instance, "Learning these weather words will help us talk about what's happening outside and understand weather forecasts". Preview: Preparing for Successful Engagement Previewing helps children activate prior knowledge and prepare for what they'll encounter in a text or literacy activity. Book Exploration Before reading a story, guide children to examine the cover, look at illustrations, discuss the title, and make predictions about the content. This preview stage directly supports word recognition skills by priming children to notice particular letters, sounds, and words[6]. Prediction Charts Use prediction charts in reading to help students organize their thoughts before diving into a text. Have children record what they think might happen based on the cover or title, then revisit these predictions after reading. Visual Models Provide models of completed assignments or activities to give children a sense of what the final product might look like. For writing activities, show examples of letters, lists, or stories that other children have created. Plan: Developing Strategies for Success Planning helps children approach literacy tasks strategically rather than jumping in without thinking. Strategy Selection Before beginning a literacy activity, help children identify strategies they can use. For example, before reading, discuss strategies for handling unfamiliar words, such as looking at pictures for clues or sounding out the word. Creating Roadmaps For more complex literacy activities, have children create simple flowcharts or "roadmaps" that illustrate the process they will use. For a writing project, this might include steps like "think of idea," "draw picture," and "write words". Self-Monitoring Guidelines Provide explicit guidelines for how children can check their progress during literacy activities. For instance, "Every few minutes, stop and think: Am I following my plan? Do I need help?". Integrating the 3 Ps into Specific Literacy Activities Interactive Literacy Activities (ILAs) The 3 Ps framework aligns perfectly with the structure of Interactive Literacy Activities, which are designed for parents and children to engage in together: 1. Before the activity: Explain to parents the purpose and objectives, demonstrate each step, model the activity, and answer questions (Purpose and Preview)[1]. 2. During the activity: Support parents and children by re-explaining, modeling, or scaffolding as needed (Plan in action)[1]. 3. After the activity: Reflect on the learning experience and discuss thoughts about the activity (Evaluating the Plan). Small-Group Reading Activities Small-group instruction provides an ideal setting for implementing the 3 Ps: 1. Purpose: Begin by explaining why the group is focusing on a particular skill, such as phonics or vocabulary development. 2. Preview: Before reading, have students examine text features, make predictions, or activate prior knowledge related to the topic. 3. Plan: Guide students in selecting appropriate strategies for the reading task, such as using context clues for unfamiliar words or visualizing to improve comprehension. Vocabulary Development Activities Vocabulary skits and semantic mapping activities benefit from the 3 Ps approach: 1. Purpose: Explain why learning new vocabulary words is important for understanding stories and expressing ideas. 2. Preview: Introduce new words before reading by discussing their meanings and showing visual representations. 3. Plan: Help children develop strategies for remembering and using new words, such as creating actions to represent meanings or using the words in sentences. Print Awareness Activities Word walls and other print awareness activities can be enhanced through the 3 Ps: 1. Purpose: Explain that recognizing words quickly helps us become better readers. 2. Preview: Introduce new words by discussing their meanings and using them in context. 3. Plan: Establish a routine for reviewing words on the wall regularly and incorporating them into conversations and writing throughout the week. Creating a Literacy-Rich Environment with the 3 Ps A classroom that effectively integrates the 3 Ps into daily literacy activities will have: - Clear learning objectives posted or verbally shared for each literacy activity - Visible models and examples of completed work - Visual aids that help children preview texts and activities - Strategy charts that remind children of different approaches they can use - Reflection opportunities built into the daily schedule By consistently incorporating Purpose, Preview, and Plan into literacy activities, educators create a structured approach that helps young children develop essential reading and writing skills while fostering independence and metacognitive awareness. The 3 Ps framework supports the development of all five core components highlighted by the National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. This comprehensive approach ensures that children develop the full range of skills needed for reading proficiency while engaging in meaningful, play-based learning experiences. References:
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 Hitos del Desarrollo del Lenguaje por EdadEl desarrollo del lenguaje en los niños sigue una progresión natural que puede dividirse en varias etapas clave. A continuación, se resumen los principales hitos por edad:
Etapa Prelingüística (de 0 a 12 meses) La etapa prelingüística abarca desde el nacimiento hasta los 12 meses de edad y es fundamental para el desarrollo del lenguaje. Durante este período, los bebés experimentan importantes cambios en su capacidad comunicativa: Características principales
Etapa de "Una Palabra" (12 a 18 meses) La etapa de una palabra, también conocida como etapa holofrástica, generalmente ocurre entre los 12 y 18 meses de edad. Durante esta fase, los niños usan una sola palabra para expresar una variedad de significados y pensamientos.Características principales
Etapa de Combinación de Palabras (18 a 30 meses)La etapa de combinación de palabras, también conocida como lenguaje telegráfico, ocurre aproximadamente entre los 18 y 30 meses de edad. Durante este periodo, los niños desarrollan habilidades lingüísticas más avanzadas que les permiten expresar necesidades, deseos y observaciones mediante frases simples. A continuación, se detallan los principales hitos:Características Principales
Etapa Avanzada (30 meses en adelante) La etapa avanzada del desarrollo del lenguaje, que comienza alrededor de los 30 meses, se caracteriza por un rápido progreso en las habilidades lingüísticas del niño. Esta etapa se puede dividir en varios períodos: De 30 a 36 meses:
Para estimular el desarrollo del lenguaje en esta etapa:
Consejos Generales 🔹 Mantén contacto visual durante las interacciones 👀💬 El contacto visual es una herramienta poderosa para fortalecer la conexión emocional y facilitar la comunicación. Mirar a los ojos del niño/a mientras le hablas le ayuda a comprender mejor las expresiones faciales, los gestos y el significado de las palabras. Además, refuerza su atención y le enseña que la comunicación es un intercambio valioso. 🔹 Escucha activamente y responde con interés 🎧🗣️ Mostrar interés genuino por los intentos de comunicación del niño/a refuerza su confianza para expresarse. Responder con entusiasmo, repetir sus palabras y expandir sus frases son estrategias que le ayudan a enriquecer su vocabulario y mejorar su pronunciación. Es importante evitar corregir en exceso, ya que el aprendizaje del lenguaje se da de manera natural a través de la interacción. 🔹 Incorpora juegos y actividades lúdicas 🎭🧩 El juego es una de las formas más efectivas de aprender. Actividades como juegos de mímica, rompecabezas, clasificación de objetos y contar historias fomentan la comprensión del lenguaje y la creatividad. Es clave adaptar estas dinámicas a la edad e intereses del niño/a para que la experiencia sea placentera y motivadora. Estas estrategias contribuyen a crear un entorno lleno de estímulos lingüísticos, permitiendo que el niño/a desarrolle sus habilidades comunicativas de forma natural. Recordemos que cada pequeño/a tiene su propio ritmo de aprendizaje, y lo más importante es brindarle apoyo, paciencia y muchas oportunidades para expresarse. ¡Acompañemos a nuestros niños en esta hermosa aventura del lenguaje! Why talk when being a toddler? “Early language and communication skills are crucial for children’s success in school and beyond” “Children who develop strong language and communication skills are more likely to arrive at school ready to learn and are more likely to have higher levels of achievement” Gardner-Neblett, for the FPG study. The importance of communication Oral communication is an essential aspect for the integral development of the child. The development of thought, memory, imagination, the ability to learn, to know the environment around him, to learn to transform it as well as many other cognoscitive skills. The progressive characteristics of the development of verbal language in the different levels of age, are ascribed to the stages of integral development of the child, being closely associated with the following aspects: • The maturation process of the nervous system, both central (CNS) and peripheral, correlating its progressive changes with motor development in general and with the particular vocal apparatus. • To the cognitive development that includes from the perceptual discrimination of spoken language to the function of the processes of symbolization and thought. • And, to socio-emotional development, which is the result of the influence of the socio-cultural environment, child interactions and reciprocal influences And why are they so important? Because by developing language and communication skills children can develop different actions that improve their self-image and esteem, since they can understand others and can explain themselves, what make them feel motivated to communicate with others. Communication involves using words, body language, gestures, or facial expressions. Toddlers who develop conversation skills are more likely to succeed academically. Besides, they develop problem-solving skills that help them have higher stages of achievement. The interactions that children have with adults have an effect on how children broaden and analyze. Those interactions should start with the family, since parents and siblings talk with the child, and later, at school, with their teachers and classmates. As a result, at school Early Childhood teachers offer them multiple opportunities with interactions which support kid's improvement. It is important to underline the fact of language instruction in early stages of education: simple sentences, adapted to children’s level of comprehension and checking questions. These characteristics of adult-child communication will help children foster their increase and improvement in language interaction and conversation. In this process, adults should use nouns, adjectives, and actions that form part of the child's daily life. This undoubtedly contributes directly and effectively to the development of language, intelligence and other areas with which this learning will be carried out. Stages of Language Development According to the previous references and taking into account the contributions of different researchers, here we divided the development of the language in two main stages:
• Prelinguistic Stage • Linguistic Stage Each of these stages is marking the emergence of new properties and phonemic, syntactic and semantic qualities as the child grows, as we will describe below. • Prelinguistic Stage (preverbal stage - from 0 to 12 months of age) It is characterized by the expressions with mouth movements and sounds which in itself has hardly any communicative value, most of the sounds emitted are onomatopoeic. During this stage, which covers the first year of life, the communication that establishes the child his environment (family), especially and particularly with his mother, is emotional and gestural. As part of a proper language stimulation, the word should always accompany the gesture and activities of the mother with her baby. Lately, neuroscience and neurolinguistics have proved the importance of this preverbal stage, that has a relevant and transcendental value in the configuration of the bases of Linguistic development, since both vocal expressions (sounds or group of sounds of simple signification) and verbal expressions (sounds, group of sounds, isolated words, etc.) influence in a decisive way in the later development of the linguistic communication of the child. This stage comprises, in turn, substeps or stages with particular characteristics that are in agreement with the chronological sequence of the integral development of the child, which we describe: a) From birth to month and/or two months During this period the only expression that is heard of the baby is crying, which is the first sound manifestation purely mechanical or reflective and, as such, undifferentiated in tone, whatever the reason of its state. With crying, the baby puts into operation the speech apparatus, allowing him also oxygenation of the blood and the establishment of normal breathing. After this period, usually at the beginning of the second month, crying is no longer a phenomenon or a mechanical and undifferentiated manifestation, but the tone of the sound changes with the emotional content of pain, hunger or other discomfort; that is, the variation of the tonality is related to the state of well-being or discomfort of the baby. With the crying the baby manages to communicate his needs to the world around him and, as he realizes that thanks to crying his needs are satisfied, he will use it voluntarily, no longer being then a reflex or undifferentiated sound. That way the baby is communicating with its immediate surroundings, especially with master, understanding better and better what it communicates to him, although he is incapable of expressing it. b) From 3 to 4 months At the beginning of the third month the baby produces guttural sounds and vowels that last 15 to 20 seconds. It responds to Human sounds through smiling, cooing or murmuring. At this age the baby already distinguishes between the sounds: /pa/, /ma/, /ba/, /ga/. Their vocalizations can already show joy or other feelings. The baby knows how to distinguish, affectionate intonations, reacting with joy, surprise or fear to the tone of voice, especially of their parents. At three months appears the babbling, which consists of the emission of sounds through redoubled syllables like "ma ... ma" , "Ta ... ta" and others. In this way the child is progressing and increasing his vocalizations, which are already close to the word and, as such, are loaded with communicative intention with the mother. These varied vocal sounds and phonations close to the word that the child directs to the mother, must be attended to, understood, interpreted and answered by it in a repetitive way, stimulating and thus promoting its linguistic development. c) From 5 to 6 months The “babbling” (first attempt of communication) extends until the eighth or ninth month, progressing in the fifth and sixth month towards what is called "imitation of sounds". This begins in the form of self-limitations of the sounds produced by the child (circular reaction). Later it begins to repeat sounds that the adult or another child produces. In this age there are clearly discernible intonation structures in certain contexts in which it emphasizes and excites. The earliest vowel utterances are phonetic realizations that appear in the following order: • / a / and variants close to the phoneme / e /, although before they usually emit sounds similar to / oe / • Then the / or / and finally appears / i /, / u /. The sounds of the consonants appear later in the following order: • Labials: p (pa -b) m (ma-ma) b (ba-ba) • Dentales: d (da-da) t (ta-ta) • Velopalatales: g (ga-ga) j (ja-ja) In this way the child usually emits the first vowel and consonant elements, being an important progress with respect to the cries and different laryngeal sounds of the first months of life. As the child progresses, he will gradually replace gesture communication with verbal language. Here it is important to emphasize the utmost importance of maternal language directed to the child during the middle of the first year of life, in which not only it is convenient to increase vocalizations, gestures, smiles and other expressions within the home, but also verbal communication should be something common among adults and the child. d) From 7 to 10 months Bruner (1979) points out that between 7 and 10 months the child progressively shifts from the "modality of demand" to the modality of exchange and reciprocity in child-child interactions. The giving and receiving of objects pronouncing the name of each one, while looking at the mother and son face and looking at the object together, manages to multiply and enrich the linguistic and communicative capacity of the child, this "conversation" forming a training exercise for speech , As well as for his nascent socialization. At this age the child performs multiple spontaneous vocalizations, both vocalic and consonantal, and even syllables and diphthongs. These vocalizations next to the word, are those that will soon lead the child to utter his first words. Here the alternating vocalizations between mother and child will allow early access to language. e) From 11 to 12 months The 11-month-old baby has more than five words in his linguistic repertoire. In this age the child uses the same words as the adult, but does not attribute the same meaning to them. However, as it progresses in this process, the meanings that are attributed to the words are approaching the meanings attributed by the adult. In this way the child is forced to simplify adult language, without this meaning that he does not understand, but his expressive capacity is still very limited. However, according to some specialists, at 11 or 12 months the child usually articulates his first words "fingers" direct syllables: "mom", "dad", "poop", "tata", starting the next sentence or denominated linguistic or verbal, progressively sign language and "overcoming" the simplification of adult language as it increases his/her vocabulary. With regard to the appearance of the "first word", it should be clarified that this depends on the moment the parents identify him as such, since the units of meaning that the child uses correspond to segments of speech. The child of this age (a year) usually occupies the center of attention of the family, whose actions, thanks and occurrences are usually celebrated and applauded, reinforcing the behavior, which will be repeated over and over again. This is good because it helps the child feel and live their own identity. In addition, the mimic and verbal gesture exchange of his communications with the adult, accompanied by the "giving and taking" behavior, allows the greater development of language. • Linguistic Stagea) From 12 to 18 months Within his lexical repertoire he counts with 5 to 15 or 20 words, and each time he will demonstrate greater increase in his vocabulary by means of the inflections of his voice when he wants to identify something. Einsenson maintains that in this stage the true speech arises and it indicates that the child uses words to produce events or attract the attention of others. In some fairly advanced children, it is usually observed the use of some phrases with two words, mainly objects or actions, without ruling out in certain cases, also, the use of adjectives (qualifiers). However, before being able to make word-finger combinations, he will often continue to use a single word to refer to many objects. This semantic extension in childhood vocalizations will continue to accompany him for a long time. But as you increase your vocabulary and evolve your speech, you will progressively reduce this semantic extension. From 16 or 17 months to two years of age, you will increasingly make the use of spontaneous combinations of several words and phrases, increasing the flow of words in its expression. At 17 months the child increasingly extends his linguistic repertoire and begins to make combinations of two words. At this age, the identification and naming of objects, figures and different parts of one's body are highly recommended exercises for the development of the child's verbal language. b) From 18 to 24 months During this period, most children have a vocabulary greater than 50 words, going on to combine 2 to 3 words in a sentence, beginning with "syntactic" speech, that is, the child begins to articulate words in sentences and simple sentences. In their verbal expressions they use nouns (Names), verbs (actions) and qualifiers (adjectives and adverbs). Among these grammatical classes usually establish the following relationships: • Between two names/nouns: "Shoe dad" (possessor and object possessed) "soup chair" (fortuitous relationship) • Between name and verb: "Open door" (verb and object) "Papa eats" (subject and verb) • Between qualifiers and adjectives: "Beautiful doll" (qualifier plus name) "More game" (qualifier plus verb) "More beautiful" (qualifier plus qualifier) By the age of two, the child has a vocabulary of approximately 300 words. In their expressions, the use of the personal pronouns "I" and "You" and the possessive "My" and "Mine" are also observed. His phrases express intention and action: "he does what he says and says what he does". At this age the symbolic function in the child arises and the predominance of the intelligence-motorist gives rise to the representational intelligence. With the symbolic function the child has the ability to mentally represent things and evoke them without the need for them to be present. With the symbolic capacity, gestures and verbal expressions of the child begin to refer more and more frequently to more abstract realities, becoming more dominant In language. (Significant) symbols come to play a unique role in the development of the child afterwards, since these are the ones that will allow us to construct the codes on which the bases of the higher functions conform. Through these codes is that we access emotions, abstract realities, language and convert the implicit explicit. This symbolic ability allows the child to explore and increase their verbal language, expressing interest in hearing stories about themselves or their family, in Which vacapt the sense of the words and sentences of the stories that the parents give. Here you can find more information about the importance of language development at the age of two. c) From 2 to 3 years old There is a rapid increase in vocabulary, an increase that is much greater than what will occur later, reaching an average of 850 words and at three and a half years more than 1200 words (Smith, 1980). The child in his verbal expressions already employs auxiliary verbs "to have" and "to be" and gives a certain prevalence to the determined article. In the course of this age begins to use the propositions and the child already has a understandable language use, even for people outside the family, manifesting a mastery of the majority of the grammar of their mother tongue (syntax), so that the specialists pronounce him as the period of "syntactic competence". D) From 4 to 5 years old At the age of four, the child virtually dominates the grammar, but begins expressing and pointing out. The child begins to use the pronouns in the following order: I, You, He, She, We-you, You; With a vocabulary of 1,500 words and at five years, 2,300 words approximately. Among the 4 or 5, the child is usually already trained to answer questions related to the social behavior learned, since their language already extends beyond the immediate environment. This is due to the symbolic capacity of the child and, as such, can mentally evoke and represent things, actions and situations, transcending the reality and the present. This ability and the need to communicate, make possible a greater and rapid development of children's language, Also facilitating the development of intelligence. If you are interested in "More Than Baby Talk" with its 10 ways to promote language development, click on here. In summary, this is a brief description of the process of verbal language development that occurs in average children, such as evolutionary psychology, psycholinguistics and others describe it. In this process many factors intervene, all closely linked to the development of the child. It should be noted that the development of verbal expression is usually after the understanding of language, that is, the development of the capacity for comprehension is anticipated to that of the verbal expression. |
Francisco Usero-GonzálezClick here to edit. 
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