Exciting News! Emma Hartnell-Baker Wins National Award for Innovation: Thought-Driven Communication App for Non-Speaking Children Who Cannot Yet Read and Spell
OrthoGraphix®: Speech Sound Mapping
Unlocking Language & Literacy Potential with Phonemies! Phonetic Symbols for Children
Free info for parents!
I would like SSP (Speech Sound Pics Approach) parents in Australia to have the opportunity to support their child at home, for free! I am currently in the UK undertaking doctoral research and so can't run parent workshops in Australia for a while.
I will be launching a support group shortly, and with the help of other Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach teachers and parents look forward to helping you at home. If you know of children being taught with other methods please tell them that we are fully inclusive! They are welcome too. We just want to see children reading for pleasure as quickly as possible.
Emma Hartnell-Baker (aka 'Miss Emma)
SSP terminology and Important Info:
'Sound Pics' are pictures of speech sounds (graphemes) and can be 1 or more letter.
They represent speech sounds on paper. eg cat has 3 'Sound Pics' - c / a / t
cent has 4 'Sound Pics' c/e/n/t
You will notice that the /c/ is a 'Sound Pic' for 2 different sounds, because you can read the words.
We use the Speech Sound Monsters to show children the 'sound' (phonemes are the smallest sound units) value of these Sound Pics, while they are learning to do what you just did ie switch the 'sound value' even though the letter stays the same. All Speech Sound Monsters all have their own English speech sound. You can hear them using the Spelling Piano app, and see their linked phonetic symbols: if you know anything about the IPA and phonetic symbols these are just alternatives that children as young as 2 understand!
Speech Sound Lines are lines that order the words we say, so that we have spaces to think about the 'Sound Pics' that will sit on those lines (without having the remember it all!) and the Speech Sound Numbers make sure we go left to right (and so that we can say things like 'which Speech Sound Monster sits on number 2?'
If helps to be able to form letters and numbers correctly (the right starting and exit points) asap!
The children learn a 'Monster Spelling Routine' to make spelling easier, and you will see them using 'Duck Hands, Lines and Numbers' The routine becomes second nature, and the layout makes it easier for children to organise all the 'parts' of the word (the Speech Sounds, Sound Pics and meaning) and bond them together into long term memory!
We do this as we want your child to build a big brain word bank! For those words to be stored they need to know the 'sounds' the 'sound pics' and the meaning. So we want lots of talking, and a wide range of books to read, to expand on that vocabulary knowledge, and the activities eg the Monster Routine, helps secure the words into their orthographic lexicon (brain word bank!) If one part is missing it is harder for those words to stay there! eg if they have been shown whole words, and not the parts, or they can't hear the sound units easily. The Speech Sound Monsters are used within Speech Therapy and children can SHOW the monsters even if they can't articulate the speech sounds. I am using them in a new app, funded by an Innovate UK grant! Every child deserves a voice, but should not need to feel pressurised to use spoken words
I will be running a parent and teacher workshop in Queensland in July. Learn the Monster Routine with me!
Each (phoneme) Speech Sound Monster has their own Spelling Cloud. The Sound Pics the children learn explicitly (are taught in the 4 Code Levels) are on the outside. The other Sound Pics for that speech sound, within the Universal Spelling Code (all words!) are shown inside. The children discover new Sound Pics as they read more.
If your child has seen a word before, but it's not 'secure' in their Brain Word Bank they may not be sure how to spell it, even if they recognised it when reading the word within context eg within a sentence. Later you ask them to read the word but they can't quite get it right - even though they only just looked at it! This is because the 3 essential elements have not bonded (the Monster Sounds, Sound Pics and meaning) Looking at the Spelling Clouds might 'ping' their memory, but it is much easier to SHOW them the word, and THEN they check the Sound Pic in the cloud. To store the word use the Monster Routine and follow it up with Map and Drag.
The clouds will not help children learn NEW Sound Pics (phoneme to grapheme correspondences) Every time they look at the Spelling Clouds, however, they are likely to see something new! If you put the clouds on the wall they can quickly check them - and find the cloud they want as they look for the Speech Sound Monster. The A3 Cloud Mat is also a great display! When they become more familiar with the order (which also aligns with the 4 Code Levels) they can more easily use the Spelling Cloud Keyring. Every time they refer to this portable 'Universal Spelling Code' they build in confidence and develop the 'orthographic knowledge' that is needed to become a skilled reader.
Much of what they will learn will be 'implicit' ie not 'taught' by either you or their phonics teacher! Having the resources at hand make this process far easier. If you tell them the word they can't read or spell, they can THEN learn it by using the Monster Routine: if they understand the meaning the routine bonds that together with the 2 other parts. The more they do it, the more words they store!
The 4 Code Levels offer them a 'kick-start' to mapping these Speech Sounds and Sound Pics, and within meaningful context - ie the Code Level Readers. By the end of the Purple Code Level they can start on the 1,23 and Away! 'pre-readers', which offer a much wider range of words (lots of high frequency words!) but the words are 'Code Mapped' to show the Sound Pics in words, AND Monster Mapped, to show the sound value. If they guess, memorise or don't pay attention to the whole word and its parts, they miss out on 'storing' the words. They need to store them to write them.
So we scaffold this kick-start with 4 'Code Levels' and 7 'Duck Levels' - which are the high frequency words.
It really doesn't matter the order as it's far more about their brains understanding 'Word Mapping'.
Mapped Words (Code Mapped and Monster Mapped) is an empowering approach that encourages self-directed learning. SSP teachers want your child learning without them, as quickly as possible! So if you help them at home that team work really does make the dream work:-)
Mapped with Monsters AND Sound Pics , Mapped with just Sound Pics and THEN the regular text.
Building words using Duck Hands, Lines and Numbers!
The Speech Sound Monsters help even very young children navigate the WHOLE code with easy. Regardless of the 'Sound Pics' children will be able to 'follow the Monster Sounds to say the Word' - and can learn lots of new words, unconstrained by sticking with the Sound Pics in the 4 Code Levels They understand that Speech Sound Connection!
Your child will be doing these core activities in the 30 Minutes spent on phonics in Prep/ Reception until they have mastered the 4 Code Levels. It is fully differentiated, so your child spends a much (or little) time learning phonics explicitly as is the 'best fit' for them. Unlike other phonics programs, your child will not be taught in the same way and at the same time as the other children: our focus is YOUR child's needs. Their teacher is a guide, who is free to move around the room checking on each child. They could leave the room and the children wouldn't notice! They are learning the Sound Pics with the Code Level videos. I have shared many of them on these pages so that you can support the learning at home. Thank you!
Very young children love the Speech Sound Monsters, which are used to teach toddlers how to speak and read in English. However, these can be more challenging for adults to understand, primarily due to 'Orthographic Interference.' To address this, the Level 1 Award was launched, along with a new support group for phonics educators. I will demonstrate to phonics teachers and parents methods to overcome this issue, as it presents obstacles in guiding orthographic knowledge
