In recent years, research has shown that the concept of Onset and Rime provides an effective path-of-progression from elementary phonics, for children who are comfortable with basic one-syllable words. The Rime Technique provides a dependable method for decoding more complex words, and is entirely complementary to Phonics.

In general, with more complex sound-letter relationships, the sound of the vowel(s) is determined by the letter following the vowel. Hence, decoding with Phonics alone can give a variety of sound choices for the same vowels. To help isolate the exact sound, then, the child needs to take in account the both vowel(s) and the letters immediately after.

For example, consider the complex word "tough" ... phonics breaks the word into three parts: the beginning consonant "t", the vowel combination "ou", and the consonant blend "gh". In this example, the vowel blend has a range of sounds (tough, you, should etc) and the consonant blend also has a range of sounds (tough, though, etc). Such words become a little cumbersome with Phonics - in this case, there are 6 possible sound variations.

The Onset is the part of the syllable before the vowel - the Rime is the remainder of the syllable, from the vowel onwards. Children learn to identify groups of letters which (bigger than simple vowels) which create predictable sounds. Where the same vowels can give different sounds in different words, the Rime helps them quickly work out the specific sound - by referring to the letters after the vowel.

The Rime technique means that the rime "..ough" becomes reasonably predictable. The task is to embed this letter combination into memory, so that recall is immediate. Once the child has a grasp on the sound of the word, minor variations are easy to cope with.

You can isolate the Rime by covering the Onset with your finger, and asking the child to identify the sound. For example, if the child knows the sound of "..ail" then the words "pail", "mail", "sail" are easy to decode. Equally, the Rime ".. ale" makes the words "pale", "male", "sale" easily decoded. It also helps children discriminate the spelling when the same word-sound has different meanings.