Stephanie Downey Toledo is a bilingual speech language pathologist in New York City as well as a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has collaborated with the LEADERS project on this module series and others.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear/identify the individual sounds that make up words and then manipulate them. Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of later reading development which is why it is an essential part of speech therapy, at risk services as well as a support in the general education classroom. English Language Learners (ELLs) face special challenges acquiring language and phonemic awareness simultaneously that should be considered in supporting ELL reading development. This module also presents related research and evidence based strategies that can be used to support development of phonemic/ phonological awareness.
