ABSTRACT
Once children realise that letters represent sounds, the world is their oyster, as far as writing is concerned. If they were learning to write a completely regular, phonetic language like Italian, or Turkish, they would have a much easier path ahead than children struggling with the complexities of English spelling. Children at this stage rely heavily on the most obvious sound they can hear in a word, usually the consonants. Some children may have noticed that the words in books have spaces between them and be able to apply this to their writing. In this example, Patrick now knows many letter names and sounds, and although he still has a long way to go, his writing can be understood (see Figure 3.3).
