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Phonics Reform England: Not reading reform. Phonics reform. Improving phonics for the one in five at risk of struggling to read and spell.
"Sound it Out!"
When looking at words, can you identify which letters are graphemes and their sound value? Could you explain this, or support children with SLCN, SEN, or SpLD?
Word Mapping Mastery® Experts talk about “letter sounds” very differently from those simply trained in synthetic phonics programme delivery.
At least 1 in 5 children learning to read and spell in England needs more than a synthetic phonics programme to work towards orthographic mapping and independent reading with fluency and comprehension. Many also have speech, language, and communication needs.
They need greater support to map words throughout the day, in both directions, in real text, whether they are speaking, minimally speaking, or non-speaking.
They need a specialist Word Mapping Mastery® Expert at hand to “Sound it Out”!
“Sound it out!” How often have we heard that phrase?
The problem is that most adults don’t feel confident sounding out words, and no-one else seems to want to open up this can of worms. Words are often presented using only what I call the Core Code taught in phonics programmes.
The Core Code is around 100 grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences taught in phonics programmes, and it only goes so far. Will children know a word like “sugar” when they’re 5? Of course! But they won’t be supported to sound it out, unless the adults understand word mapping.
My “Word Mapping Mastery” work shows parents and teachers how children can start to “sound out” any words independently, without direct instruction.
Being able to ‘sound out’ over 400 high frequency words like said, was, the, any in reception shifted everything for the teachers I support in Australia. How many 'tricky' words are you covering if teaching with a synthetic phonics programme?
The target for words deemed ‘tricky’ in England is around 40, in Reception! And yet no word is tricky if you think ‘word mapping’ and not phonics.
We use Phonemies® to denote phonemes (the sounds). Speech Sound Monsters®.
In recent WMM training, parents and teachers identified which letters are graphemes and their sound value, and we chose one grapheme, <s> , to explore the sounds that letter represents. There are three different sounds that represents <s> in this sentence.
The characters (Phonemies®) act like IPA phonetic symbols. “Sugar” shown as speech sounds is ʃʊɡər.
We also put the Phonemie for ʃ next to the <s> and <ti> They often only see <sh>
The MyWordz® tech also shows which letters are graphemes and their sound value if users are unsure.
Phonemies® can also be switched around for different accents.
Until we’re honest with parents and teachers about what an opaque orthography is, we can’t help them support at-risk children more effectively.
“Sound it Out” support will also be launched on Phonics Reform England (PRE) to better support anyone teaching phonics, so it works when the text is not manufactured to fit only the Core Code.
Let’s stop sugar-coating the difficulties at least 1 in 5 children face when asked to “sound it out” outside classroom phonics or phonics-based intervention lessons, where hundreds of GPCs are avoided. It’s time for change.
Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN
aka The Word Mapping Nerd
Until we’re honest with parents and teachers about what an opaque orthography is, and how few correspondences are taught (or could realistically be taught explicitly), we can’t help them support at-risk children more effectively.
Brains are natural pattern-seeking prediction machines and often prefer to simply be shown the code. Everything doesn’t need to be explicitly taught.
With this much data in the English spelling system, we must stop pretending that everything can be explicitly taught.
What we can do is show the code and kick-start self-teaching.
Outside of phonics lessons are you encouraging children to explore the whole English Pronunication code?
Or are they limited to the GPCs taught explicitly within your synthetic phonics programme? We are comparing synthetic phonics programmes, to see how each one supports the mapping of all words orthographically.
How do you show the sound value of the graphemes in different words?
eg the ʃ in ʃʊɡə ?
It's vital that they don't have a link with letters until there is a word.
How do you show which letters are grapemes, and their sound value?
When word mapping is part of daily life, children will start school with a much clearer understanding of how letters and sounds connect, and what an opaque orthography is, even without using grown-up words! They may even already be in the self-teaching phase and working towards Word Mapping Mastery® before day 1 of Reception.
Are you a Word Mapping Expert® yet? Can you map any word orthographically?
Could you become an “Expert at Hand” supporting children with SEND in schools and EOTAS settings? The government is calling for more specialist SEND support in every school and community:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/specialist-send-support-in-every-school-and-community
Every School and Community Needs Specialist Word Mapping Mastery® Experts at Hand
The government has announced a landmark £4 billion SEND investment to create specialist SEND support in every school and community.
The reforms include:
• £1.6 billion for earlier intervention in schools, colleges, and early years settings
• £1.8 billion for a new “Experts at Hand” service giving schools access to specialists including SEND teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and educational psychologists
• £200 million for SEND outreach through Best Start Family Hubs
• £200 million for teacher training, including the biggest SEND training offer ever seen in English schools
• 60,000 new specialist places backed by £3.7 billion investment
The aim is to stop families having to “fight” for support, provide earlier intervention, and make specialist expertise available in mainstream settings before difficulties become entrenched.
This is why we need a growing upstream team of Word Mapping Mastery® Experts.
Word Mapping Mastery® Experts support children and young people with SLCN, SEN, SpLD, and neurodiverse profiles, including PDA. They understand how speech, language, communication, reading, spelling, AAC, and orthographic mapping connect.
The MyWordz® technology includes the world’s first one-screen AAC, MySpeekie®, which also supports word mapping.
At least 1 in 5 children struggle when asked to “sound it out” beyond the limited Core Code taught in phonics programmes. Many adults supporting them were never shown how to identify graphemes and their sound values across the full complexity of English orthography.
Children need specialists who understand how speech and print connect across the whole curriculum, throughout the day, in real-life communication, reading, writing, and self-expression. Could that be you?