Why Does Phonics Start With S, A, T, P, I, N Instead of A, B, C?

Why don’t phonics lessons start with A, B, C?

For a lot of us, letters started with the alphabet song. It is a good song. It teaches the names of the letters, in a set order. But a child does not read a word by its letter names. Phonics starts from the sounds the letters make. Those sounds are what a child blends into a word.

A letter’s name and its sound are two different things. Say the name of s: “ess.” Now say its sound: “sss.” Hear the difference? Reading “sat” needs the sounds, not the names.

There is a bigger idea under this. Talking comes on its own. A child picks it up by being around it. Reading is different. There is no reading instinct to fall back on. Reading has to be taught, step by step. Maryanne Wolf, a reading researcher, put it this way: “we were never born to read.” That is not a failing in your child. It is true of every reader who ever lived. Our infographic on the part of reading that isn’t natural walks through it.

So the order of the letters is a teaching choice. Alphabet order is a fine way to list letters. Phonics needed a different order, one that gets a child reading real words soon.

What makes s, a, t, p, i, n a good first six?

First, one plain word. Blending means saying sounds in a row until they make a word. “S-a-t” turns into “sat.” That is the skill the first letters are there to practice.

The thinking behind the order is simple. Every new letter should let your child read real words right away. These six do that in three ways.

• They make real words fast. These six letters alone make sat, pin, tap, nap, tip and sit.
• Some of them stretch. Try holding s and n: “sssss,” “nnnnn.” Teachers pick stretchy sounds early because a held sound slides into the next one. Teachers find them easier to blend than a sound like b, which stops short.
• The first win comes fast. Reading a real word feels like reading. That win is part of the plan.

The order has a history, too. It traces back to the Orton-Gillingham tradition, through Childs and Cox in the 1960s. Two later programs, Letters and Sounds and Jolly Phonics, open with these six too.

This is teaching logic, worked out by teachers for good reasons. It is a smart default. It is not a law, and that matters for the next question.

What if my child’s program uses a different order?

To us, a different order is not a red flag. Jolly Phonics swaps two of them. It teaches s, a, t, i, p, n. Other programs use other orders again. The International Dyslexia Association says it plainly in its Structured Literacy fact sheet: “systematic instruction does not imply that there is only one sequence of instruction that is appropriate.” In plain words, there is no one right order.

So look at the idea, not the exact list. Does each new letter turn into words your child reads right away? That is the idea behind s, a, t, p, i, n. The exact list is a detail.

Curious about your child’s program? Ask the teacher, or check the program guide. Two questions cover it:

• Which letters come next, and why those?
• How will my child practice blending them into words?

A clear answer tells you the order was chosen with care. That is the part worth checking.

Keep one more thing in view. The first six letters are where phonics starts. They are not the whole of reading. Reading is several jobs at once. They run from hearing the sounds inside words to understanding the page. Some of that work starts with sounds alone, before any letters. Our post on rhythm, rhyme and the sounds under reading covers that part.

Want to try the idea tonight? Say “sat” slowly with your child: “sss-aaa-t.” Then say it fast. Do the same with “pin” and “nap.” Keep it short, and stop while it is fun. For more ways to practice, see six letters, not twenty-six.