Is your child a late talker? It can be very worrying if your child does not start to talk when expected, approximately between the ages of one and two. Not only is it worrying, but it is not uncommon for other people to suggest that you have not talked to your child enough, or that it is in some way your fault! This can be very hard to take, along with watching other proud parents boasting of how well their child can talk - and some at such a young age. For your comfort I tell you that this is not necessarily the case. You may speak to your child much. However, do check this one point first a ..read more

What can I do? My child child is not making progress in reading? More and more parents are finding their child in this situation. You are far from alone. The teaching of reading has been made so complicated, so that you can be made to feel helpless, unless you have hundreds of pounds (literally) to get your child assessed and help obtained. Sadly, even then, your child may only receive a label with little or no help to actually solve the problem. Help is at hand.  I have taught hundreds of children to read over the course of over 30 years - of all ages and abilities. I know that it does ..read more

Is your child struggling to read fluently or are you trying to teach a young child to blend and having trouble? Maybe you find that your child will hear the end of a word and then say a word with the same ending. For example, the child may sound out h-e-n and say PEN. May be you have noticed that your older child can read a word on one page but not on another. Or, maybe you find that your child will say a similar word to the one in question, but not the right word. For example, a child may trip for tip, of back for black. Why is my child doing these things? In short, your child, even if s ..read more

When our children first begin to learn to read we may take care to use phonics. Maybe your child's school uses phonics. Phonics is the proven, best method to teach all children to read and spell well. So your child starts to learn by phonics and you expect all to be well. For some, that is the end of the story. The child does well, learns to read fluently and the parent thinks no more about it. For others, the tale is some what different. Their child fails to make progress. They are told "Maybe s/he is late starter". "Don't worry, it will come!" Precious time passes and still the child canno ..read more

Here is pack of 10 ar words with 2 puzzles for each word! The aims/objectives of these activities are: · to help children to sound out to spell words with the sound ‘ar’ · to help children to understand that the letters ‘ar’ together make one new sound   There are two kinds of puzzle in this pack. The first puzzle involves the child finding the matching parts and fitting then together to complete the picture - just like a real puzzle!  The second puzzle involves the child sounding out the word and finding the right letter tiles to spell the word.  How can th ..read more

Here is a FREE activity to help children to gain confidence in reading and spelling CVC words with a short vowel sound. That means a word like 'cap' or 'pen' where the vowel is saying its sound, not its name. How to play: The child simply chooses a word card. The word is then sounded out. The matching picture is found. Then the child can use magnetic letters to spell the word out. What is included in the pack? The pack includes one baseboard which you can print out as many times as you need. It also includes 6 picture cards and words for each short vowel sound. How to use the Sound-it-Out ..read more

Once children have learnt to hear initial sounds, they need to then hear middle and final sounds. Some children have difficulty hearing final sounds. This may be because they have poor phonological awareness. These children may also have indistinct speech. But these children can still learn to read and write, and we can help their speech as well. What is needed is a fun way to help the child to do something that is intrinsically boring - lots of practice hearing the final sound. I designed this game to do just that, to help one of my pupils. He loved it, even though he is ten! He took it hom ..read more

Dictations are a very helpful tool in the teaching of spelling. They are a very important part of Reading Made Simple. Many children can learn a spelling list to pass the spelling test on Friday, but there is more to learning spelling than passing the test. More importantly, the child needs to learn to use the new spelling knowledge in his/her independent writing. In other words, a child's word-building skills must become integrated into his/her general reading and writing. Yes, reading too, as reading and writing are linked. A good speller is often a good reader, but it is not necessarily th ..read more

​​​This page contains affiliate links. Here are two games for you to download and print for free to help children to learnt o read and spell ck sound words. This sound is usually found at the end of words, after a short vowel sound. Learning this sound is a natural progression from first having learnt to blend cvc and ccvc words. Rigour and repetition in phonics work ​As we work our way through the different letter combinations, remember speed is not the game. Rigour and repetition are more important. We want these sounds to become embedded in the pupil's brain so that i ..read more

Teaching the oo sound When you see two 'o's together we do not say   'o   o',   but rather we make one sound: 'oo' as in moon. For many of us they actually make two new sounds. Listen to these words and hear the sound made by the letters 'oo'. If your dialect pronounces these words with the same 'oo' sound, you do not need to teach two sounds, only one and your task will be easier! Many of us will make a different sound for 'oo' as we say these two words.                      look       ​mo ..read more