In early literacy development, writing is the slow pulling apart of the sounds in a word. A child who is confident with letter-sound associations may write words with the symbols much before the child's young hand can form the letters. Often, attempting to sound out written words parallels this effort.

However, reading and writing are distinctly different skills. If you observe your child writing, you will see that the child is literally writing the sounds he or she hears when saying a word. Inventive spelling is what you will see. Missing sounds in a word are to be expected and are not as important as ensuring the child's self-confidence.

The more a child writes, is read to, and reads, the more the skill of spelling will evolve. Building a word, one sound at a time, is essential preparation for reading. The Souns writing mat is designed for Souns letters and is excellent for classroom environments.