I don’t know about you, but I seem to have an ever-expanding ‘to do’ list and an ever-diminishing amount of time to complete stuff. This is a source of endless frustration for me as there are some things that I have been staring at for months and just never seem to get around to. This is one of them, but I have resolved to put this right, just in time for the new school year in the UK. I am often asked about how to begin instruction with an older learner who is, perhaps, new to phonics or has had different experiences of being taught to read and spell. Depending on the learner’s profile of ne ..read more

In school, children learn to read, spell and write via a phonics programme that gradually and incrementally introduces them to the alphabetic code in manageable steps. They systematically learn the relationship between the 44 sounds (phonemes) in English and the 175 or so letters and letter combinations (graphemes) that represent them. This takes time, 2-3 years for most children. At odds with this, one of the first things that teachers and parents want children to do is to learn to read and write their name. Many names are ‘phonically complex’, containing phonemes and graphemes that children ..read more

In the pre-Covid days, when I did face to face training, I would usually ask folks if they remembered learning to read. 99.99% of them reported no recollection of this and could not describe how it happened, or indeed how they now do it so efficiently. I think I must buck the trend on this because I actually do remember my journey to being a reader and it is not quite what you might imagine. There are a few things you need to know about me before you read this. Firstly, I am 58 (that places me as being in an English school as a pupil, rather than a teacher, in the late 60s to early 80s) and be ..read more

As educators we are keenly aware of the need to ensure that all our pupils develop literacy skills that will serve them well as they move through school, on into adulthood and throughout their lives. But what is the best way to do this, particularly if our pupils have challenges and barriers to learning? As a starting point, let’s think about what ‘the science’ (that’s academic peer-reviewed research) tells us about what happens when we learn to read and spell. Without a doubt, the vast body of international research over the past 40+ years indicates that the best way to teach a child to read ..read more

I do urge you to read this fantastic piece of work on literacy and the teaching of reading in special schools in the UK, focusing on intellectually disabled pupils. This mirrors exactly my (anecdotal) experience of how literacy is taught in special schools. Access to appropriate training, curricula and materials are cited as the main barriers for teachers in teaching reading. If you are on this site then you can see that training and resources needn't be a barrier! So what is happening in UK special schools? In terms of reading, it could be described as 'a bit mixed'. The will is there! In th ..read more

I am often asked if my programme is validated and there seems to be some confusion around what phonics programmes specialist schools and provisions should be using. The validation scheme is squarely aimed at programmes used in mainstream primary schools to deliver initial instruction to their pupils, not pupils with moderate to severe and complex needs in special schools and provisions. I applied to the DfE for Phonics for SEN to become a validated phonics programme. The reason I did this is that increasingly mainstream schools find that they have pupils with moderate to severe and complex nee ..read more

I have always admired and frequently used the excellent decodable readers produced by Phonic Books Ltd. I can still remember the utter delight when, many years ago, I discovered the first Talisman series. My students at the time were mainstream Y7 and 8 pupils and I was a teacher in the learning support department whose sole job was to teach them to read (and spell) so that they could access the secondary curriculum. They loved, loved Talisman. Many years on, I have published my own programme and Phonic Books have a fantastic range of books to suit all needs and tastes. Phonic Books and the Ph ..read more

The sound of a baby crying, a dog barking and that awful chattering that magpies make are all alarm calls that urge us to do something – feed me, run away or (according to the great Agatha Christie) hide the family silver, that sort of thing. I have another one to add to the list. It’s, “Aw…” When I hear it, I know that the person I am speaking to is probably very, very, VERY lovely and terribly well-meaning but is not thinking in quite the same way as me. My call to action is to, as kindly as possible, shake them up (metaphorically). Before I focused entirely on phonics and reading/spelling ..read more

First things first. Q: What do we mean by SEND? A: It depends who we are. People’s understanding and perception of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – UK term) varies greater depending on their experience and situation. A mainstream teacher may consider that a child who isn’t working at or just below age related expectations may have special educational needs and further investigation may follow. This child may struggle with basic skills such as reading, writing or numeracy or have sensory, language or concentration challenges, all of which may impact on their access to the curr ..read more

The landmark Rose Report in 2006 signalled the change in England to teaching phonics in mainstream schools. Phonics is now well established as being vital for initial instruction in R and Y1, taught in the wider context of The Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer 1985). Many English speaking countries have been slow to follow suit. Australia, New Zealand, the USA and even our own Wales and Scotland still do not mandate that phonics is taught as the foundation of reading instruction. But things are changing and they are changing fast. Research (and results from England - sadly hampered by C ..read more