Final answer:
Basic Phonemic Awareness skills for a child aged 5.5 include blending onset and rime and segmenting initial sounds of words; these are part of developing reading and spelling skills.
Step-by-step explanation:
At age 5.5, Basic Phonemic Awareness skills include distinguishing and remembering separate phonemes in a series, blending onset and rime, segmenting and pronouncing the initial sound of a word. For example, one task might involve showing sequences of single phonemes with colored blocks, answering 'What word?' for 'th-umb' and saying the first sound in 'shoelace' (/sh/).
- Recognizing letters and words
- Producing sentences with at least five to seven words
- Counting past 20 and recognizing numerals
Phonemic awareness is crucial for the development of reading and spelling skills, and by the age of 5.5, children are typically capable of more complex tasks involving the manipulation and understanding of individual sounds in words.