In recent years, scientific research has reaffirmed the importance of phonemic awareness in learning how to read. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear sounds within a word when it is spoken. It is an auditory skill. Reading aloud to children, rhyming, singing, and other oral activities will help develop this skill. Reading is a visual skill.
Phonemic awareness is the important first step in learning how to read.
It is an important precursor to phonics, but should never be confused with instruction in phonics. Dyslexia is a difficult and complex problem with no easy answers. The original definition was from World War I, and referred to adults who had lost their ability to read following a stroke or injury. Its present usage is more generic, referring to reading disorders known or unknown, frequently resulting in letter or word reversals. However, it has been my experience in thirty years of tutoring that some students who had been labeled dyslexic no longer reversed letters or words after having been taught explicit phonics.