What does the word 'sam" start with?

Play games with the beginning sounds in words. Give the child a word and see if she can tell you the sound that the word starts with. For example,"What does the word “sam” start with?" and your child would respond with /sssss/. Help the child by saying the word slowly. Help him learn to hear these sounds. Since this is the first time we are trying this activity, we started with the sounds that can be stretched out (such as m, s, f, l, n, r) and we avoided the blended consonants (br, sm, fl, sh) that are much more difficult to segment (for example give the word ‘big’ not ‘broom’). Be careful not to ask the child for the name of the letter, but the sound of the letter. For some words, Brooke would say M instead of the sound /mmmmm/. Of course, that is a correct answer but I would refocus her on the sound by saying, "Yes, M makes the /mmmmmm/ sound in the word mitten." Try these words: Scooby Doo sit snack sailboat sun Superman sunflower six moth mouse motorcycle monkey mitten moon mop fox four fan fire fork feet fish five leaf ladybug lollipop lemon lamb lips lion nail net nose nest numbers nut needle rabbit rose ring rain rainbow rat rake rhino raccoon Then try these sounds that are the earliest to develop and you child most likely has mastered: p, h, w, b, t, d (the /h/ is a difficult sound to hear so keep that in mind) Then these sounds which are harder speech sounds: k, g, v, y