The 7 Uses of Silent E

Did you know that the Silent E at the end of words has 7 different uses? I certainly didn't before I started teaching Orton-Gillingham. I would bet that most elementary teachers don't either.

• The most commonly known one is the "magic e". When an 'e' at the end of a word is one consonant away from a vowel, it forces the vowel to say its long sound (its name). In words like cake, bike, and fluke.

• The silent 'e' also protects 's' at the end of words, so it's not mistaken for a plural. Think the words like "nurse" and "sparse".

• Also, no phonetic words in English end with u, v, or i. Words like glue, lie, and solve.

• It signals C & G to use their soft sound. Words like dance and range.

• Adds a vowel to a "consonant - l - e" final syllable. Words like purple, table, and bottle.

• Makes TH say it's voiced sound. Words like bathe, breathe, and clothe.

• Clarifies the meaning of words or creates homophones. Words like bye and awe.

Understanding the nuances of the English language is imperative for teaching kids with dyslexia. Teaching kids with dyslexia requires an explicit approach. This means that you must actually teach each piece of the language, not just teach some concepts and hope that they just leap to other concepts themselves. Many people without dyslexia do not know these concepts either; they just memorize how to read and spell a huge amount of words. However, short-term memory and the capacity to move information from short-term to long-term memory is impaired for those with dyslexia. Understanding the concepts is imperative.