Phonological awareness (PA) involves a wide range of skills; This includes the ability to identify and manipulate units of language, to break down (separate) words into syllables and phonemes, and to be aware of rhymes and units of onset and rime. An individual with knowledge of the phonological structure of words is considered phonologically aware. A relationship formed between phonological awareness and literacy that subsequently led to phonological awareness tasks and interventions. This relationship in particular appears to develop during early childhood and beyond (Lundberg, Olofsson & Wall 1980). The link between PA and reading also seems to be stronger in recent years (Engen & Holen 2002). As a result, phonological awareness assessments are currently viewed as a thoughtful and reliable predictor of a child's reading, spelling, and skills. Four stages of reading development have been established (Ehri 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999): pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic. These stages have led to fundamental understanding of children's reading development, apart from the pre-literacy stage, phonological awareness skills are visible in all stages. The preliterate stage is before any alphabetic knowledge where connections are made through visual cues on how to pronounce the word and the meaning of the words. In the partial alphabetic stage individuals pay attention to the different letters of a word to attempt its pronunciation, usually focusing on the first and last letters of a word, Ehri referred to this as 'reading phonetic cues'. This is a skill that, along with others, demonstrates phonological awareness. Throughout the entire alphabetic stage a reader is able to ... middle of the paper ...... ding panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for teaching reading (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Scarborough. HS (1998). Predicting future achievement of second graders with reading disabilities: Contributions of phonemic awareness, verbal memory, rapid naming, and IQ. Annals of dyslexia. 48 (1), p115-136.Stuart, M., Masterson, J. & Dixon, M. (2000). Spongy acquisition of visual vocabulary in beginning readers?. Journal of Reading Research. 23 (1), p12-27.Torgesen. J, Wagner.R, Rashotte. C, Burgess. S&Hecht. S. (1997). Contributions of phonological awareness and rapid automatic naming ability to the growth of word reading skills in second through fifth grade children. Scientific studies on reading. 1 (2), 161-185.