What is considered to be the best predictor of a child's success in learning to read?

Phonemic awareness and understanding of letters are critical components in the process of learning to read. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds—known as phonemes—in spoken words. This skill is foundational because reading involves matching these sounds to their corresponding letters, which makes it essential for decoding words.

By developing phonemic awareness, children learn to break words down into their smallest sound units, enabling them to blend sounds together to form words. This understanding is often a strong predictor of later reading success because it directly influences a child's ability to tackle unfamiliar words when reading.

In addition, an understanding of letters includes recognizing the shapes and sounds of each letter, which is crucial for early literacy development. Together, phonemic awareness and letter knowledge lay the groundwork for more complex reading skills, making them the best predictors of a child's ability to learn how to read effectively.