What’s the difference between final blending and successive blending?
The main goal of this blog and video series is to help you understand the similarities and differences between some terms or strategies we use in the field of reading and apply this knowledge to your teaching.
*Find all the posts/videos in this series so far by clicking on the images towards the bottom of this post.
Quick Tip: Using continuous sounds {versus stop sounds} when possible makes blending much easier. If you’re not sure what these terms mean, I encourage you to watch my video or read my blog post.
The text in this blog post is the text from my video.
Watch the full video on my YouTube channel.
Final Blending and Successive Blending
First, let’s talk about final blending. This is more of a traditional view of blending and is the way I was taught to blend words.
In final blending, you say each sound in the word, then wait to blend all the sounds at the very end. Sometimes you’ll see this called sound by sound blending.
Examples of final blending would be: /m/ – /a/ – /t/ = mat or /r/ – /u/ – /n/ = run
As you can see in these two examples, all three sounds in the word are held in the brain and then blended at the end to create the entire word. This is called final blending.
With successive blending, you say and blend the sounds in the word as you go. Successive blending is different than final blending because you don’t wait until the end of the word to blend. Sometimes successive blending is called cumulative blending.
Let’s use the same two words to see successive blending in action.
With the word mat,
We’ll begin with the first sound: /m/
Then we’ll add on only the short a and blend the m and a together /ma/, it can help to stretch out that vowel sound a bit like this: /maaaa…/
Then finally tack on the ending sound /maaaa/ – /t/
With the word run,
We’ll begin with the first sound: /r/
Then we’ll add on only the short u and blend the r and u together, stretching out that vowel sound a bit like this: /ruuuu…/
Then finally tack on the ending sound /ruuuu/ – /n/
Final or Successive Blending?
Both kinds of blending are important to reading, but I strongly recommend teaching successive blending to beginning or struggling readers. Why?
If you’ve taught a struggling or beginning reader for very long, you’ve probably experience this. A child successfully sounds out the entire word, but then calls the wrong word after blending. What is going on here?
One of the reasons kids struggle to correctly decode words using final blending is they lack the executive function skill of working memory.
What exactly is working memory? Working memory is what allows you to hold information in your head while you perform a task.
For example, you use working memory when you jot down your “to do” list. You must hold information in your head (the things you need to do) while you write down your list (the task). Working memory is used when you dial a phone number. You must hold information in your head (why you’re calling) while you dial the number (the task).
For beginning and struggling readers, it’s very difficult to remember the three letter sounds (or phonemes) while they try to blend the sounds to create the whole word. And if three sounds is tricky, can you imagine the taxing effect final blending can have on longer words like plant or stump?
You can also find more free resources on my blog below to help you teach blending.
Enjoy teaching!
~Becky
More Posts in this Series so Far…
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