What does phoneme deletion refer to?

Phoneme deletion refers to identifying what remains of a word after a specific phoneme is removed. This skill is essential in phonemic awareness, as it requires a child to listen carefully to the individual sounds within words and understand how those sounds interact. For example, if the word “sand” has the phoneme /s/ deleted, the remaining word is “and.” This ability to manipulate sounds enhances reading and spelling skills by fostering an understanding of the structure of words.