Jump to content

Menu

Having trouble with diagraphs


Momma4
 Share

Recommended Posts

My 6 yr old son is working his way through Phonics Pathways and it has been going well. However we seem to have a hit a wall as he's really struggling to remember the diagraphs 'ch, tch, sh, sk and th'. I've been over that whole section twice over 2 weeks but it's just not sticking. He tends to guess a lot too. It's funny as he seems to remember much better if the diagraph is in the middle of the word, for example 'duchy' but if it's at the beginning or end he gets really confused maybe 80% of the time.

 

What can I do to help him? Is this indicative of anything.

 

TIA

XXX

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 6 yr old son is working his way through Phonics Pathways and it has been going well. However we seem to have a hit a wall as he's really struggling to remember the diagraphs 'ch, tch, sh, sk and th'. I've been over that whole section twice over 2 weeks but it's just not sticking. He tends to guess a lot too. It's funny as he seems to remember much better if the diagraph is in the middle of the word, for example 'duchy' but if it's at the beginning or end he gets really confused maybe 80% of the time.

 

What can I do to help him? Is this indicative of anything.

 

TIA

XXX

 

Digraphs can be tricky. I don't know how Phonics Pathways teaches but i would recommend that you teach one at a time until he masters each one and then add the next. i would separate ch and sh because those are the ones that are most confused. 

 

Some ideas:

use salt tray or crayon and paper and have the child "write" the letter and say the sounds

use flashcards and have him give you sound and a word;

you give him the sound and he gives you the letters and a word

practice nonsense words with the particular digraph you are working (work beginning and end words before you get to two syllable middle words)

 

Basically, take 20 minutes (maybe less) a day and practice only the rule you are working on and see if that helps. 

 

Good luck. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not allowed to post the Barton rules for these, but if you know someone who uses Barton they have great rules to help with this sort of trouble. One thing I can say is make sure he is pronouncing them correctly. That is usually the main problem with digraphs. Tch is also only ever used after short vowels. Sometimes if you over pronounce the word he may hear the difference.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...