A preschool teacher notices a child can identify letters in their name but struggles with other words. What is the next step to support the child's literacy development?

Focusing on teaching letter-sound correspondence is essential for supporting the child's literacy development at this stage. Understanding the connection between letters and their corresponding sounds lays the foundational skills necessary for reading and writing. Since this child can identify letters in their name, reinforcing this knowledge by teaching how each letter corresponds to a specific sound will empower them to apply this understanding to other words they encounter.

This strategy builds upon their existing knowledge while also encouraging phonemic awareness, which is crucial for decoding unfamiliar words as they progress in their reading skills. By mastering letter-sound correspondence, the child can begin to blend sounds together to form words, creating a bridge from recognizing individual letters to reading complete words, thereby enhancing their overall literacy development.