To achieve full automaticity in each stage of the continuum, a reader must show fluency across six skill layers.
Source: Six Layers of Phonemic Awareness - Really Great Reading Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01, 2020, from https://www.reallygreatreading.com/content/six-layers-phonemic-awareness-really-great-reading-blog
Six Skill Layers: These skill levels are order from the simplest to the most complex skill:
| Word, Syllable, or Phoneme Isolation** ** for some stages |
Word: The ability to hear and isolate individual words in a sentence and within compound words. Syllable: The ability to count syllables in a word. Phoneme: The ability to hear and isolate a sound at the beginning of a word, middle of a word, and/or end of a word. |
|---|---|
| Blend | The ability to put together words to form compound words, or blend together syllables, onsets and rimes, or phonemes to make new words. |
| Segment | The ability to break apart compound words into individual words, or segment words by syllables, onsets and rimes, or individual phonemes. |
| Add | The ability to add to a given word to form a compound word, or add onto syllables, onsets or rimes, or phonemes to make new words. |
| Delete | The ability to take away a word from a compound word, or to remove syllables, onsets or rimes, or phonemes to make new words. |
| Substitute | The ability to change words within compound words to form new words, or rearrange syllables, onsets or rimes, or phonemes to make new words. |
