As educators have become aware of the research on phonological awareness, publishers have recognized the demand for classroom materials. Numerous commercial programs are currently available. Several of these programs have undergone field-testing and evaluation. In addition to these classroom materials, several programs for computer-assisted instruction have become available. Most activities in commercial programs can be incorporated informally within existing reading instruction. The following tasks are useful for practicing and developing phonological skills. The tasks are sequenced in an order that approximates the developmental sequence. However, the sequence and rate of skill development vary from child to child, and skills overlap during development. The activities described are also auditory and interactive in nature; studies show that children do not develop phonological skills by doing independent written work. Tapping words. Children can be taught to tap with a rhythm stick or finger for each word in a sentence or phrase. Most children acquire this skill with minimal instruction. Teacher modeling and guidance are useful for those children who have difficulty with this task. Children who struggle with this activity typically confuse words and syllables. Care should be taken to make this distinction explicit. Counting and tallying words. Tallying the number of words in a sentence requires a greater degree of cognitive engagement than tapping words and is considered a more sophisticated task. Another method of word counting involves moving a marker to indicate the number of words in a sentence. Tapping syllables. Children may be taught to tap out the number of syllables in a

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