Phonological Processing and Dyslexia: A Parent’s Guide
Updated: Oct 28
Phonological processing means working with the sound structure of spoken language. The word looks complicated, but the starting point is familiar: words contain sounds, and those sounds connect with letters when we learn to read and spell. A child can have plenty of ideas to share while finding some sound-based activities difficult.
Speech sounds are different from letter names
Take the everyday word “ship”. It has four letters, but the “sh” works together to represent one speech sound. Talking about the sounds in a word is therefore different from naming its letters. This is an explanation of the distinction, not a test to give your child.
In reading, a learner connects written letters or letter groups with sounds to identify a word. In spelling, the direction changes: they start with a spoken word and work out how to represent it in writing. Neither activity depends on sounds alone; knowledge of spelling and meaning matters too.
What is phonological awareness?
Phonological awareness involves noticing and working with parts of spoken words. These parts include syllables and the smaller sounds called phonemes. Phonemic awareness is the part concerned specifically with those individual speech sounds.
A practical question for school is whether the child finds blending sounds into a word or separating a word into sounds difficult. Ask the teacher what they have noticed during teaching. You do not need to practise assessment tasks at home to establish the concern.
What is phonological memory?
Phonological memory concerns keeping sound-based information available briefly. For example, when someone introduces an unfamiliar name, you may hold its sound in mind while you try saying it. This is different from knowing the meaning of the name or remembering an enjoyable event from last year.
A parent may notice that a new spoken word needs several repetitions. That observation is worth describing, but it does not tell you whether the main difficulty concerns memory, familiarity, attention, language or something else. An assessor considers more than the observation alone.
Where does speed fit in?
A report may also discuss phonological processing speed or rapid naming. Rapid naming concerns how efficiently someone retrieves familiar spoken labels in a timed naming activity. Recognising an item, knowing its name and retrieving that name quickly are related but different demands.
This is not a measure of intelligence, and a naming difficulty does not establish that all thinking is slow. The wider pattern matters. Our processing-speed guide explains why a timed result needs a precise description of the task involved.
How does this relate to dyslexia?
The Delphi definition recognises phonological difficulties as common in dyslexia, while also recognising that they do not explain every person’s profile. Sound-based processing is one part of the investigation, alongside reading, spelling, history and other relevant information.
A child’s clear speech, good conversation or enjoyment of stories does not answer every question about the sound skills used in literacy. Conversely, difficulty with a sound-based activity is not enough on its own to identify dyslexia.
Useful questions to ask
Ask which activity is difficult, whether the difficulty has persisted and what teaching has helped. For example: “Is identifying sounds difficult, or does my child know the sounds but take time to connect them with letters?” A precise question gives the teacher or assessor more to work with than “Their processing is poor”.
Keep home practice aligned with the teaching programme agreed with school. Short, manageable activities can be discussed with the teacher; avoid turning family time into repeated testing. The goal is to understand and support learning, rather than rehearse a diagnostic result.
Discussing an assessment
Mark Trewby offers diagnostic dyslexia assessments online across the UK for ages 11–21 and face-to-face in Bournemouth for ages 8–21. The £400 fee includes the assessment, personalised report within seven working days, recommendations and feedback.
Bournemouth appointments take place in a suitable client home or a hired Bournemouth library room, with Bournemouth travel and agreed room hire included.
Sources and related guidance
How do these ideas relate to learning another language?
A new language brings new speech sounds and written patterns. Our language-learning guide explains how to discuss listening, speaking, reading and spelling separately, and how to keep practice aligned with classroom teaching.