What is a common symptom of poor phonological awareness?

A common symptom of poor phonological awareness is the tendency to rely on the visual appearance of words. This reliance indicates that the individual may struggle with decoding words based on their sounds and phonemes, which is a key component of phonological awareness. Instead of being able to break down and manipulate sounds within spoken words, a person with poor phonological awareness may gravitate towards recognizing words based on their visual characteristics, such as their shape or length. This can impede reading development, as the individual may have difficulty sounding out words and could struggle with skills such as blending and segmenting sounds, which are essential for proficient reading and spelling.

In contrast, strong articulation skills and the ability to blend sounds easily are indicative of good phonological awareness. Proficiency in using context clues also suggests that a reader can infer meanings and understand text through various strategies, further showing a level of competence beyond phonological difficulties. Therefore, the pattern of behavior in choice A aligns directly with the challenges faced by individuals with poor phonological awareness.