The ability to separate the sounds of a word is called “phoneme segmentation”.  It’s a critical skill in both learning to read and write. By six and a half/seven years of age students should be able to tell you the sounds in a word. So, for example, if given the word “cat”, the student should be able to you that the sounds in “cat” are /k/ /a/ /t/.  Understanding that words are made up of separate speech sounds is an important foundational skill.  Phoneme segmentation is considered a “phonemic awareness” skill which falls under the broader category of “phonological” skills. If you’d like to see the developmental sequence of these skills, just download the free handout below. Just click the following