Can anyone recommend a good phonics primer - for me?

I don't remember learning how to read. I just do it. I always did. I don't remember being taught. I certainly don't remember how I was taught. If I had to guess, I'd say it was via the sight word method, because phonics rules are definitely not my strong point.

So, yesterday Michael was playing with a Melissa and Doug toy I had gotten ages ago when he was first showing interest in both puzzles and letters. At the time he wasn't impressed, but when he rediscovered it yesterday he loved it and spent a good half hour working away mostly independently. He was frustrated because the "p" wouldn't fit into pig. That let to a discussion of how a lower case "b" is actually an upside-down, flipped over "p". We found two examples and demonstrated and he went happily on his way. Aside from one other brief interruption, which I will describe momentarily, he worked completely on his own until he proudly presented me with his final product.

Now, while Michael was working on the puzzles I was...hmm...I don't remember. I was doing some mystery task in the kitchen. I guarantee it wasn't cleaning though. Whatever I was doing, I was giving Michael about 3% of my attention when he wandered in to announce that "boat" and "cat" rhymed. I remember being slightly annoyed, in fact, because I knew that he knew those two words didn't rhyme. Then I looked down at the visual aid he had helpfully brought in and set up to show me.

Once he had my full attention, he stated in the tone of a question, "Cat and boat rhyme because they both end in -at." Well, then I was in trouble and regretting my lack of phonics theory knowledge. I did the best I could. I explained that while there was only one vowel in cat, there were two vowels using teamwork in boat. The "oa" combination sounds like "oh" while if "o" had been all on its own it would have sounded like "ah" making the word "bot". It ended up being a long, wordy, inelegant explanation. And, to be honest, I'm not even sure my explanation was correct. Even if it was lucky, and I happened to be correct this time, I'm not sure that phonics "rule" applies in every situation where "oa" appear together.

Why on earth does English spelling have to be so complicated? I think I'll just teach them phonetic transcription. Hmm... and then transcribe all their children's books into IPA... and their future schoolbooks... Ok, fine. That's no solution either. I guess I'll just have to teach myself phonics so that I can explain it to my four year old son. Can anyone recommend a good primer?

Speech Card Set Activity: What's Hiding?

Game: What's hiding?
Description: Set 3-5 cards out in front of children. Have children identify each word. Hide one card. Have children identify the missing card. Repeat.
Object: Child who has the most cards at the end of the game wins.
Materials: One piece of paper and a free card set.
Setup: Fold paper into thirds. Unfold and set upright to form barrier between yourself and children. Lay 3-5 cards in front of the barrier facing the children.

Directions:

1. Tell children (for example), "Fan, food, and feet came out to play. Say, "Hi fan!" Say, "Hi food!" Say, "Hi feet!"
2. Wait for children to produce target words in imitation, threes, phrases, sentences, etc.
3. Say, "Now, one of the cards is going to hide from you. Close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to. (Hide one of the cards behind the barrier.) Now open your eyes and tell me who went hiding."
4. The child who identifies the missing card first and pronounces it correctly gets to keep the card.
5. Set out a new group of cards and repeat. The child with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Why I Made My Speech Cards

When I finally pulled my head out of the sand and acknowledged that Ava's speech was delayed I needed to decide how to best help her. At the age of two, Childhood Apraxia of Speech is not officially diagnosed, but Ava had many of the red flags for a motor-speech planning disorder. I did not have a lot of professional experience with very young children whose speech were as delayed as Ava's so I began to research. I decided to spend approximately $200 to invest in the Kaufman Kit - Level 1 (read my Kaufman Kit review). It is one of the most commonly used therapy resources for working with children with severe speech delays with a motor-speech component (CAS).

I had high hopes for the kit and waited anxiously for it to arrive. When it came, I was frustrated by the manual's brevity. I felt like I wanted more explanation, theory, advice and instruction for the cost of the kit, but I worked through that. What most frustrated me was how little of the kit I was able to use with Ava. Her speech level was so low that I was able to use only two sections of the kit (VC and CV). On top of that, she wasn't able to make several of the vowel and consonant sounds yet so I was left with about 10 cards to work with from my $200 dollar investment. (Ironically, six months later when I pulled the kit back out to try it again I realized that most of the kit was then too easy for her.)

I was a speech-pathologist. My only client was my daughter. Trust me. I knew exactly which sounds were in her inventory and which were not. I knew what she needed to work on next, and the Kaufman kit was not giving that to me. I needed more CV and VC words (and eventually CVC) that included the sounds she could make with a wide variety of vowels. First I tried commercial sets. I ordered several articulation card sets with simple consonants (/p/, /m/, /t/). Again, I ended up with a lot of words I couldn't use. Children who need to drill /p/, /b/, and /m/ aren't going to be able to start with multi-syllable words. They don't need consonant blends in those words. They don't need a lot of /l/, /sh/, /ch/, /s/, and /th/ thrown into the words. Again, I was forced to eliminate most of the words in the card sets leaving me with only 3-5 words to work with. I didn't want to plan an entire therapy session with 3-5 words day after day. Not only was it boring, but it didn't allow for the phonemic variety necessary. There are 14 vowels. 3-5 words weren't combining my targeted consonant with enough vowels.

So I started to make my own sets. I spent hours at it. But it was immediately obvious to me that they were working. I was able to drill with real words. I was able to drill with picture cards she found engaging. I was able to drill with words that combined my targeted consonant with different vowels so that her motor-planning system could learn the different coarticulation patterns involved when you change the vowel.

On top of that, aside from time, they were free. (Hmm. Technically they aren't free for me. I pay to be able to use the images, but that was worth it to me.) If they get colored on, or crumpled, or spilled on, I can simply print another set. If I want to share them with her therapist, grandparents, or another parent, I can simply print additional sets. If I want to cut some in half to make puzzles, if I want to play go fish with them, if I want to turn them into fish for a fishing game, I just print more. I like having my own printable sets. I like that they are small and easy for my hands and the hands of children to hold.

I've stopped spending money on articulation materials that aren't meeting our needs. When I have a new target with Ava I invest several hours and make a new card set that addresses our needs perfectly. I see the sets as a hybrid of the traditional articulation approach (targeting specific consonant phonemes) and a motor-speech planning approach (combining targeted consonants with a wide variety of vowel contexts, simple syllable shapes, mastering words with less complex motor planning before moving on to words with more complex motor planning, etc.). Once I spent the hours necessary to make each set, I wanted to share them. I sincerely hope that other parents and other SLPs would also find them to be useful. I hope they you help other children learn to talk.