The Stimulation Program aims to promote the development of phonological awareness in preschool or early school age children.
Thus, the Program includes 3 levels, respectively, syllabic, intrasyllabic and segmental awareness, organized into 11 activities. Each activity can be carried out individually with a child or with groups of children (maximum 10 children).
The selection of words for each activity took into account the following linguistic criteria: word length and accent, syllabic structure and segmental properties. The interaction between these various criteria resulted in the creation of different levels, in each activity, with an increasing degree of complexity, which can be used depending on the age and/or level of phonological awareness of each child (Afonso, 2015; Alves, 2013; Rios, 2009; Veloso, 2003; Castelo, 2012; Freitas, 1997).
The program integrates the following activities: syllabic segmentation; word identification with equal initial syllable; initial syllable omission, intrasyllabic synthesis, intrasyllabic segmentation, segmental synthesis, initial segment identification, initial segment omission, final segment addition, initial segment replacement and segmental segmentation. In each activity the objective, materials, procedures, instructions, child feedback and reward are described. All illustrations were specifically developed for this program by two designers.