Sound Effects: Activities for Developing Phonological Awareness. (1999). By Cecile Cyrul Spector. Thinking Publications, 424 Galloway St., Eau Claire, WI 54703. 187 pages, $35. Reviewed by Diana Newman, Glastonbury, CT.

This resource features well-written, purposeful materials to help develop metaphonological-or phonological awareness skills-in the older student. Spector has created activities that use phonological humor in a unique way to help build metaphonological skills, as well as other metalinguistic skills.

In a comprehensive introduction, Spector defines metaphonological skills and the reciprocal influences between phonological awareness and both literacy acquisition and spelling. Studies providing evidence of the importance of phonological awareness and later spelling and reading performances are also cited. The introduction continues with suggestions for assessment of phonological awareness, presentation of the intervention materials in the workbook, strategies for development of these skills, and further activities to enhance phonological awareness.

The author has targeted the activities in this workbook for students in grades 3-12; however, they appear to be most appropriate for upper elementary through middle school grades. Objectives and instructions are clearly written, and activities are arranged hierarchically. They can be used in one-to-one or group interactions. Warm-up activities precede the four types of phonological humor activities. The activities are based on the addition, substitution, or deletion of a sound in a word. For example, the humor in "How do fireflies start a race?" is based on the addition of /l/ to a word in the familiar phrase "Ready, set, go!" Challenge activities contain jokes and riddles that have more than one sound change. Finally, additional activities are provided for those students that have successfully mastered all of the above areas. An answer key for all of the activities is thoughtfully provided. Each set of activities can be done in a relatively brief period of time, and therefore can be used daily or several times weekly. In fact, they would be quite appropriate for use by a classroom teacher in collaboration or consultation with a speech-language pathologist.

The author states that the overall goal of this workbook is "to offer enjoyable activities that help students develop phonological awareness." Using humor provides students with opportunities to focus on the phonemes of words, strengthen their understanding of the difference between graphic and phonemic representation of words, enhance divergent thinking skills and vocabulary, and develop a greater awareness of the relationships among phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

For those professionals working on phonological awareness skills with older students, there is a limited amount of appropriate intervention materials available. This workbook is a welcome addition.