DORA Phonemic Awareness—For Educators
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read.
DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills.
- Measures nine phonemic awareness skills
- Interactive technology features a mix of audio and multimedia images to engage all students
In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming.
Fast, Powerful Results
DORA Phonemic Awareness‘s web-based platform allows for practical school or district-wide deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any school’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and administrators to download, view, or print.
These reports may be used to:
- Guide classroom instruction via small groups
- Easily share students’ reading profiles with parents and prescribe activities for home instruction
- Deliver accurate measures of student progress and standards achievement to schools and districts








DORA (K-12)
DORA Phonemic Awareness
DORA (Spanish)
Unique Reader