Since hearing the larger chunks of words is easier than hearing discrete sounds, students are first taught to manipulate syllables in words. In these activities, students are asked to repeat words and omit or add syllables orally.
Explicit Instruction
If you are intervening to support your students' ability to manipulate syllables in words, you should start by explicitly teaching the skill. This sounds like:
Activity A: Syllable Deletion
Tell the student a word (either compound or multisyllabic word) and then ask him to repeat it. Then, tell the student to repeat that word without a certain word part, or syllable, "Now, I'm going to say a word and ask you to take out a whole part. Say understand." "Understand." "Now, say understand without saying der." "Un__stand."
Syllable Deletion in Action
Watch this clip to see how to execute Syllable Deletion. Notice how the teacher has the student say the word first before prompting him to delete a syllable. This strategy ensures that the student can say the word correctly first.
Think about the following scenario, which takes place after a teacher has explicitly taught a lesson about how to manipulate syllables in a word:
Teacher: "Say happy."
Student: "Happy."
Teacher: "Now say happy without the ha."
Student: "Happy."
When you are planning your lessons, you should anticipate that your student will make errors throughout the activity. Here is a series of prompts that you can use to respond to errors. Keep in mind that all students are different, and students respond differently to different types of feedback.
| Level of Support | Description of Scaffold | Script |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest scaffold | Try again! Allows student multiple opportunities to practice new skill. You are trying to determine if the student needed another time to practice to get correct answer or if you need to reteach this skill. | "Let's have you try that again." |
| Medium scaffold | Provide resources. Allows the student to use resources to figure out the answer (including helpful supports such as a visual cue or a prompt).
|
"Which syllable is the "ha" in happy?" "That's right, the first." "Now, see if you can say just the second syllable." |
| Highest scaffold | Model, Lead, Test, Retest. Model for the student using this gradual release correction procedure adopted from Carnine, D.W., Silbert, J., Kame'enui, E. J. & Tarver, S. G. (2004). Direct instruction reading (4th Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. | 1. Teacher says the correct answer. "ppy." 2. Teacher models: "My turn. Happy without the "ha" (Signal.) "Ppy" 3. Teacher leads: "Let's do it together. Happy without the "ha" (Signal.) "Ppy"(Teacher responds with the students.) 4. Teacher tests: "Your turn. Happy without the "ha" (Signal.) "Ppy" |
If your student struggles to meet your objective, there are various techniques that you might try to adjust the activity to your student's needs.
| Activity | Description of strategy | Script |
|---|---|---|
| Syllable Deletion | Shorten it! Give students shorter words to manipulate (two syllables rather than three) or have students take off prefixes or affixes such that when they take the syllable off, it is still a word they recognize | "Say getting without 'ing.' Get." |
| Focus on the end! Ask students to manipulate syllables or sounds at the end of the word if they aren't able to manipulate syllables or sounds at the beginning or middle. This is an easier task. | "Ok, let's try taking off an ending syllable. Say target without the 'get.' Tar." |