WILLIAMS SYNDROME LITERACY
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Words Instruction 

What is word instruction?

Word instruction helps students to learn high-frequency words they need in order to read fluently with comprehension. Working with words activities teaches students the skills they need to successfully spell and decode words when writing or reading. 

Benefits of word instruction

Word instruction helps readers to:
  • learn high-frequency words needed to become successful at reading fluently with comprehension
  • develop skills needed to spell and decode words when reading and writing 
  • develop strategies to read unknown words
  • understand how words work

Which individuals benefit from word instruction?

All students benefit from opportunities to work with words in structured and engaging ways. However, this looks different for emergent readers vs. conventional readers.

For students who are emergent readers, the focus is on:
  • Rhyme (focus on word endings-cat, fat, hat)
  • Rhythm (memory)
  • Repetition 
  • Alliteration (word onsets-car, cap, cat)
  • Predictability  
​For more information on working with emergent readers, check out our emergent literacy resource page. 

We teach word identification and decoding to conventional readers through the use of:
  • making words
  • word sorts and transfer
  • word wall activities 
  • keyword decoding 
Below we give instructions and resources on how to implement these instructional activities. 

Basics of Word Instruction for Conventional Readers  

Making Words
Making words (Cunningham & Hall, 1994, 1997) is a strategy that teaches students to recognize spelling patterns in words and to understand that a new word can be created by changing a single letter (e.g., cat, fat, mat). 
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