Speech Sound Mapping! Speech Sound Play (SSP) Before Speech Sound Pics® with Phonemies: A 10-Day Sound Start to Word Mapping Mastery for All Learners, using ReadABLE Words. Celebrating Diversity in Every Voice With MySpeekie®, the One-Screen AAC.
Intervention Coaches for Intstructional Casualties (ICs for ICs!)
Are you a SENDCo dealing with the aftermath of KS1 teachers being required to use a one-size-fits-all, whole-class synthetic phonics programme? At least one in four children will become instructional casualties. This is not the fault of the teachers or the children, any more than it was when children failed to learn to read before synthetic phonics was mandated.
It is always the case that what a child needs to learn to read and spell (and spelling is even harder), as a unique individual, is not being given to them.
Emma Hartnell-Baker will show you how, by supporting you to work with struggling readers. Your insights will be grounded in direct experience, not in theory or generalisations drawn from research.
You can then use that knowledge to support every teacher and child in your school, and be part of a movement to personalise learning for every child and to advocate for greater teacher autonomy.
English has an opaque orthography, and every skilled reader understands it, even if they were never taught phonics.
Those who struggle cannot move beyond single-word decoding to focus on meaning, because they do not understand the links between letters and sounds. Some children need to be explicitly taught this, but all children benefit from being shown it.
Until policies change, or teachers are given the knowledge and tools to fill the gaps and embrace both linguistic and neurodiversity in their word mapping instruction, at least one in four children will be struggling before the end of Reception.
The impact of this goes far beyond literacy. Many of these children begin to disengage and show behaviours that are a direct result of feeling disempowered. They cannot understand why reading and spelling come easily to their peers but not to them, even though they know they are not stupid.
By training you to understand these children, you will be better equipped to support both teachers and learners in your school. You will also learn how to make the whole code visible. This is linguistic and visual phonics in action. It enables 95 percent of the Reception class to master the synthetic phonics content and pass the PSC before Year 1. More importantly, it removes the learning blocks and helps children want to read.
Word Mapping Mastery (WMM) Intervention Coaches (ICs): The ICs for the ICs — Intervention Coaches for Instructional Casualties
At least one in four children become instructional casualties because the teaching does not meet their needs. The vast majority of teachers are required to use one-size-fits-all synthetic phonics programmes in whole-class settings. As a result, they often fail to notice when a child has phonological processing or working memory difficulties and is not connecting phonemes and graphemes, or making the transition into the self-teaching phase. In this phase, children begin to use strategies such as set for variability, which is the ability to flexibly adjust an initial decoding attempt to arrive at a known word, especially when the spelling–sound relationship is not straightforward.
Teachers can only explicitly teach around 100 core grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs), so it is essential that they also introduce high-frequency words as mapped words. In our approach, reception children read and spell over 400 words before Year 1. This enables them to decode many of the words they encounter outside phonics lessons and to write confidently throughout the day. They draw on set for variability to make sense of unfamiliar words.
We also map all words, not just those included in the phonics programme's GPC scope and sequence. This gives children access to more of the code and helps ensure that the words are securely stored in memory. However, most teachers’ experience of phonics is limited to the core code, and they are not mapping words throughout the day. Many teachers struggle to map words themselves. As a result, children with poor phonological awareness often slip through the cracks. They may hide their difficulties by memorising words or guessing unfamiliar ones without checking the mapping.
Our technology allows children to engage in word mapping at any time of the day. It shows both the graphemes and their phoneme values. Most teachers have little understanding of the full code or why so many children fail to become fluent readers, even if they pass the Phonics Screening Check. They often do not know how to analyse writing to identify gaps, or how to understand errors when children are reading.
After training tens of thousands of teachers, Miss Emma believes that the only way to eradicate illiteracy in a school is to prevent children from becoming instructional casualties. This starts by learning from those who are already struggling and by developing the skills to identify and respond to their learning needs. The solution is to become a Word Mapping Mastery Intervention Coach (WMM IC).
During a ten-week intensive supervision period, the coach becomes the intervention lead. They learn why children struggle to learn to read and how to support them effectively. This knowledge can then be shared throughout the school.
Over time, reception teachers will implement the following sequence:
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The 10-Day Speech Sound Play Plan, followed by the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, including:
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The 30-Minute Phonics Routine (until all children have mastered the Core Code and 400 high-frequency words)
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Speekie Peeps Story Time
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The Speedy Six Spelling Routine
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Snap and Crack (Cracking Comprehension)
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Rapid Writing
SSP activities will be introduced across the school in response to learner needs. Children will also be supported individually to ensure they read with fluency and comprehension, and spell with confidence.
This expertise can then be shared with other schools in the local area, creating a community that works together to ensure that every child is protected from reading failure.
WMM Intervention Coaches discuss videos like this one with Stanislas Dehaene - Letter Position Dyslexia?
