Phonological awareness in speech therapy: an SLP's plan

School SLPs see the children most likely to struggle with phonological awareness. A student who fronts /k/ to /t/ or drops the /s/ from "spoon" is often also unsure what sounds are in the words they hear. ASHA's guidance on speech sound disorders notes that children with these disorders, especially phonological ones, are at higher risk for later reading and spelling problems.^[1]

That overlap is why phonological awareness belongs in many speech plans. ASHA describes a role for SLPs in written language, including the sound skills that support reading and spelling.^[2] This page shows how to build it into sessions without turning speech time into a second reading class. For the general teaching sequence, see the pillar on phonemic awareness interventions. For how the terms differ, see phonological awareness vs phonemic awareness.

What to check before you start

• Speech sound profile. List the student's error patterns: fronting, stopping, cluster reduction, final consonant deletion. These tell you which sounds to use in awareness tasks.
• Phonological awareness probe. Give 10 items each for rhyme judgment, first sound isolation, blending and segmenting. The phonological awareness assessment template has a ready form.
• Letter knowledge. Ask the teacher which letter sounds the student knows, so you can use them.
• The reading teacher's plan. Find out what the class or intervention group is teaching this month. Your work should support it, not run a separate sequence.

Step-by-step: building awareness into speech sessions

Step 1: Use the target sound in awareness tasks

If the target is /k/, use /k/ words for first sound isolation, blending and segmenting. "What's the first sound in cup?" "Blend /k/ /a/ /t/." The student hears and thinks about the sound before trying to say it. Many SLPs find this improves production too, because the student has a clearer idea of the target.

Step 2: Contrast the error and the target with letters

For a student who fronts, use pairs like key and tea, cape and tape, cold and told. Put a letter card under each picture: k and t. "Point to key. What sound does it start with? Which letter?" Then have the student say the word. This is minimal pair therapy with a letter link added.

Step 3: Segment and spell words with clusters

For cluster reduction, use Elkonin boxes. "Spoon has 4 sounds. Push a token for each." The student sees the /s/ box before trying to say it. Move to letter tiles when the student knows the letters.

Step 4: Accept responses that do not depend on speech

When a student cannot yet say the target, use pointing, picture choice or tile placement as the response. A student who points to "key" when you blend /k/ /ē/ has shown blending. Writing the response mode into the goal keeps speech errors from hiding awareness skills.

Step 5: Score intent, then score speech separately

If a student segments "cup" as "/t/ /u/ /p/," they segmented correctly; they produced /k/ as /t/. Score segmenting as correct and note the production error on your speech data. Two clear columns prevent double-penalizing the same error.

Step 6: Share data with the reading teacher

Send a short weekly note: the skill, the score, the words used. Ask for the same in return. Shared data also helps the team decide which provider leads which skill, so the student does not get two conflicting methods.

Worked example: Nora, kindergarten

Nora is a fictional kindergartner with a speech and language IEP. She fronts velars (/k/ to /t/, /g/ to /d/) and reduces /s/ clusters. In conversation, she produces /k/ correctly in 2 of 20 target words. On awareness probes she isolates first sounds in 3 of 10 words and segments CVC words in 1 of 10. She knows 9 letter sounds, including k, t, s and p.

Her SLP sees her twice a week for 30 minutes in a group of 2. About 8 minutes of each session goes to awareness tasks using /k/ and /s/ cluster words. The SLP probes both skills every other Monday.

By December, Nora segments with tokens and is starting letter tiles with her classroom intervention teacher, who now leads the segmenting goal. Her SLP keeps first sound isolation in speech sessions as a warm-up and focuses the remaining time on /k/ in phrases.

Two of Nora's goals, written in October:

1. "Given 10 spoken words and a choice of 3 letter cards, Nora will point to the letter for the first sound for 8 of 10 words on 3 consecutive probes." Baseline: 3 of 10. See isolate first and last sounds.
2. "Given a spoken CVC word, Nora will push one token per sound in order for 8 of 10 words across 3 probes, with responses scored for the sound intended." Baseline: 1 of 10. See segment words into sounds using sound boxes.

Her production goals sit separately. For wording, see articulation goals examples and the phonological processes goals page.

Common mistakes

• Weak: Scoring a segmenting item wrong because the student said /t/ for /k/. Better: Score the awareness skill on intent and log the speech error separately.
• Weak: Generic word lists that ignore the student's speech targets. Better: Use target-sound words, so one activity serves both goals.
• Weak: A separate awareness sequence that clashes with the reading program. Better: Ask the teacher what is being taught and match it.
• Weak: Oral-only tasks for a student who knows letters. Better: Add letter cards under minimal pairs and in sound boxes.
• Weak: Two providers writing two goals for the same skill. Better: Decide who leads each skill and note it in the IEP services.

Tools and templates

• The phonological awareness goals page lists 60 templates, including receptive formats such as tap a dot or switch per sound and yes or no sound judgments.
• The SLP goals by role and speech-language goals hubs group the speech side.
• For logging two skills per session, see speech therapy data collection.
• For deciding whether awareness work happens in the classroom or a speech room, see push-in vs pull-out.
• Check draft goals in the goal checker.

ASHA's description of school SLP roles includes collaborating with teachers on literacy.^[3] A shared probe schedule is the simplest way to do it.

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• Phonological awareness goals (reading)
• Goals for the SLP role
• Phonological processes goals
• Phonological process in the IEP glossary
• Phonological awareness in the IEP glossary
• IEP goal checker

Related guides

• Phonemic awareness interventions for students with IEPs
• Phonological awareness vs phonemic awareness vs phonics
• Phonological awareness assessment template, with a completed example
• Phonemic awareness IEP goal examples
• Elkonin boxes: how to use sound boxes for segmenting

Sources

1. Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology, ASHA
2. Written Language Disorders, ASHA
3. Roles and Responsibilities of Speech-Language Pathologists in Schools, ASHA

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.