What is a non word?

What is a non word?

A non word is a phonetically regular, made-up word. The non words that we use in the program are words that only have the concepts we have explicitly taught before. So, when we introduce non words, they are practicing and reinforcing the information that they’ve already learned. They don’t have to guess at anything.

Why do we use non words?

Non words are important because when you have a reader that is using compensatory reading skills, especially as they get older, they have developed habits that we have to help override, and we can’t do that through words they’ve already seen.

If you put the word, for example, excitement in front of them, they are going to know what that word is, but we will not be able to tell if they are encoding or decoding. But if we take whatever concept it is that we’re working on and using non words, we can really check to make sure that they understand how to apply it.