DfE Letters and Sounds

During the DfE’s validation process, synthetic phonics programme developers were advised to remove Phase 1—as seen  above - on the assumption that phonics instruction would naturally develop phonemic awareness along the way. But for many children—especially those at risk of dyslexia—that’s too late. It makes the process frustrating, and they lose confidence before they've even begun.

In England, formal identification of dyslexia usually occurs between ages 7–9, well after the most effective window for intervention (Reception to Year 1) has passed. This contributes directly to what Ozernov-Palchik and Gaab (2016) call the dyslexia paradox.

The Delphi Dyslexia Definition highlights that difficulties in phonemic awareness and phonological working memory are at the heart of dyslexia. Yet most children starting school this September will dive straight into letters and sounds, without first checking whether they can actually hear, isolate, or manipulate phonemes in spoken words. At least 1 in 4 will struggle from day 1. 
 

For children who struggle to hear the speech sounds in words, connecting those sounds to letters—especially as the code becomes more complex—can feel impossible. We therefore urge reception teachers to hold back, for ten days, to implement Phase 1 with Phonemies. For many children this is not necessary - for neurodivergent children this can be the differences between reading and spelling success and failure. This 'sound foundation' really matters, for at least 1 in 4 children. It is not a risk we should be willing to take. 

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Phonemic awareness—the ability to recognise and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words—is widely recognised as the strongest predictor of reading and spelling success. Before children begin formal reading instruction, their ability to hear, isolate, blend, and segment speech sounds determines how easily they will learn to map spoken language onto written text.
 

1. Reading is based on Speech-to-Print, Not Print-to-Speech

• Learning to read is not about memorising letters first—it is about understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds (phonemes) that can be represented by written symbols (graphemes).

• A child who already recognises and manipulates phonemes will find it easier to attach those sounds to letters and decode words.

2. The Self-Teaching Hypothesis & Phonemic Awareness

• The Self-Teaching Hypothesis highlights that successful readers rapidly move from explicit decoding to automatic word recognition through exposure to print.

• However, decoding is only possible if a child can already hear and manipulate phonemes—without this ability, they struggle to break words apart and map letters to sounds.

3. Phonemic Awareness Predicts Future Decoding Ability

• The alphabetic principle—understanding that letters represent sounds—only makes sense to children with phonemic awareness.

• Children who cannot identify and manipulate phonemes struggle to decode unfamiliar words, leading to difficulties in reading fluency and comprehension.

• A lack of phonemic awareness is strongly linked to later reading difficulties, including dyslexia, which is characterised by phonological processing deficits.

4. Strong Phonemic Awareness Enables Rapid Word Mapping Learning

• Children with strong phonemic awareness learn new words more easily because they can:

  • Hear speech sounds clearly.

  • Recognise sound patterns in new words.

  • Connect new spoken words to written forms more efficiently.

• This skill supports vocabulary growth, another key factor in reading success.

5. Research Evidence Supporting Phonemic Awareness as the Best Predictor

• National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) (2008): Phonemic awareness outperformed all other pre-reading skills, including letter recognition, in predicting reading achievement.

• Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley (1995, 2000): Longitudinal studies show that early phonemic awareness instruction leads to significantly higher reading achievement.

• Snowling et al. (2003): Children with poor phonemic awareness at school entry were at high risk for later reading difficulties, even if they were exposed to phonics instruction.

• Melby-Lervåg et al. (2012): A meta-analysis confirmed that phonemic awareness is the single most important predictor of reading development.

6. Phonemic Awareness Can Be Taught—Preventing Reading and Spelling Difficulties

• Unlike intelligence or general language skills, phonemic awareness is a skill that can be developed through instruction.

• Early screening and intervention in phonemic awareness significantly reduce the risk of reading failure, particularly for children at risk of dyslexia.

• Teaching phonemic awareness before phonics ensures that children can hear the sounds they are expected to map to letters.

Phonemic Awareness as the Key to Literacy Success
 

Children who enter school with strong phonemic awareness are well-prepared to learn phonics, decode words independently, and transition smoothly into fluent reading. They can understand word mapping in both directions - to read and to spell. Our Phase 1 with Phonemies ascertains who these children are, and offers an intervention for the others. Phonemies make the sounds that many cannot identify, visible.  

Without it, as is clear within the Delphi Dyslexia Definition, phonics instruction is far less effective, and reading and spelling difficulties are more likely. This is why phonemic awareness at school entry remains the strongest predictor of reading success—it is the foundation upon which all other literacy skills are built. Word Mapping with phonics alone is not enough to learn to read and spell, but it provides the foundation on which everything else can happen.

The Reception Baseline Assessment, introduced as a progress measure in the first six weeks of school, does not assess the core cognitive risks associated with dyslexia. It omits phonological processing, working memory, and rapid naming, and cannot be used to identify children who are most in need of early support.
 

Importantly, therefore, Phase 1 with Phonemies allows teachers to identify children with poor phonemic awareness without the cognitive load of letters. When letters are introduced immediately, it can be difficult to determine exactly where issues are occurring and to take action. 
 

For example, as tested in the Phonics Screening Check, a child may fail to say the word not because they do not recognise the sound for each grapheme. They may provide the correct sounds—since this is a skill based on memory rather than phonemic awareness—but still be marked incorrect because they cannot blend them into a word. Conversely, another child may be able to blend sounds but not recognise the graphemes. Both children would receive the same incorrect mark, but for entirely different reasons—yet this distinction is not assessed.
 

By checking whether children know the grapheme values AND can blend them, we can identify when something is going wrong. While children do not need to know all graphemes immediately (and, as shown below, there are many to memorise in KS1), phonemic awareness is a lifelong skill—once acquired, it is never lost, like riding a bicycle. A child may know all the grapheme sounds and still be unable to read and spell; the key is phonemic awareness.

It is also important to note that when children first start learning phonics they loe the opportunity to develop good phonological working memory. A child blending long words with the support of Phonemies is still using phonological working memory, but with visual scaffolding that reduces cognitive demand. It’s an excellent way to develop this skill, which is essential for reading and spelling—especially when Phonemies are (by day 5) also used with Sound Pics (graphemes). Alongwise their phonics lessons they can explore any words - of any length - without facing cognitive overload.  

The Phase 1 with Phonemies 10-day programme enables teachers to analyse phonemic awareness at a deep level, as the words used are not restricted to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) the child is learning. A child may demonstrate strong phonemic awareness, indicating they will not be among the 1 in 4 children who struggle, by successfully blending multiple speech sounds—a skill that would be impossible at this early stage if they were required to do so using graphemes. This strengthens their phonemic awareness before they encounter longer words that require them to remember the grapheme-sound values throughout the word and blend them together. You will see Xav - an autistic child - blending 13 sounds together, to figure out the word is 'physiotherapist'

 

Why Phase 1 with Phonemies Works
 

Another reason for starting with Phase 1 with Phonemies is that it builds from what children already know—speech (even for non-speaking children).  Indeed, we are including non-speaking children as they can use the Phonemies to demonstrate they can hear the sounds they cannot - or choose not to - produce.

This approach is also familiar, unlike an arbitrary shape assigned to a sound. Listening for speech sounds is not a natural process—the only time children need to do this is when learning to read and spell.
 

By starting with speech, and a representation for speech sounds that is playful, we build confidence. Children understand what they are doing. They do not start school immediately feeling confused or bored. Many love to move, dance, rhyme, and talk. Some children have the emotional resilience to sit still while learning something they have no interest in—but many will struggle, particularly those with ADHD or autism. For these children, sitting still through an activity they find boring or confusing can be excruciating.

It is vital to get them moving and engaged. They love learning the Monster Sounds and putting them together like a puzzle—popping them into the box, using duck hands with the puppets they made, playing ‘What’s Under the Hat?’, and listening to silly rhymes. They will associate ‘letters and sounds’ with fun.

This matters. They develop an identity of a child who is curious about how words 'work', as a journey of discovery. They will not need to learn any rules. Common exception words will be easy to understand. We avid confusion, and teachers do not need to teach words as whole words as they aren't sure how to explain all these variations!   

Why Starting with Graphemes Misses Critical Information
 

When graphemes are introduced immediately, children miss vital information—that speech sounds can be represented by multiple graphemes.

For example, the sound /s/ can be written as:

• s (as in sun),

• c (as in Spencer),

• ce (as in Jayce).

There are 14 different graphemes in written English that represent this single sound (as shown in the Spelling Clouds®).
 

Although children are explicitly taught only a few of these graphemes at first, what matters most is understanding the concept that multiple spellings exist. Starting with graphemes first robs them of this opportunity.

By starting with Phase 1 with Phonemies, children immediately grasp this concept because all names are Monster Mapped®. They may not yet know the phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences (how sounds map to letters), but they are introduced to the idea in a way that makes sense. They can  'follow the Monster Sounds to Say the Word' for their names, regardless of graphemes. Spelling Clouds® are on the walls.

Importantly, the Phonemies say the sound—they are not linked to one grapheme representation. This is different from traditional phonics, where 's for snake' represents the grapheme and phoneme /s/—even though:

• It is also s as in in sugar or leisure.

• It is also i in village - but both /i/ and /a/ in village map to the same sound!
   

English has an opaque orthography, making learning to map words far more difficult for children than with a language such as Italian or Finnish. Phase 1 with Phonemies introduces them in a way that makes sense.

Brains like things to make sense—and Phase 1 with Phonemies does just that.
 

Why Phonemies Are Essential for Speech-to-Print Learning and Word Mapping Mastery®

The written code was developed to represent speech. It was an invention that only occured fairly recently, in the history of mankind! And yet humans will always develop a spoken language. Phonemies provide a visual representation of speech sounds and can be used instead of graphemes for five days, ensuring children understand what decoding and encoding entail.
 

Importantly, this is not achieved anywhere else—children are introduced to the idea that their own pronunciation may change the "P" part of GPCs. For example, they may say:

• bath as bɑːθ  (think of the second sound in 'bark' or check the Phonemies chart below and play the sounds on the Phonemies screen 

• bath as bæθ (think of the second sound in Kath)

Even though the graphemes remain the same, their pronunciation differs.

This becomes critical when children must spell words using phonics, moving from speech to print. What if their speech sounds don’t align with Received Pronunciation—the sounds expected in phonics instruction?

We have a story for that! - The Speech Sound King and the Universal Code

On Day 5, children are introduced to the Speech Sound King.

📖 The Story: The Speech Sound King needed to send a message to the Prince, far away, about an ant in a pan. He realised he couldn’t draw a picture to represent the message. Instead, he created a code—a system of pictures for his speech sounds.

This code aligns with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)—a universal phonetic system. 

By introducing this concept of 'Speech Sound Pics®' early, children understand that written English is based on this universal code. 

For example, a child in New Zealand may say chips as ʧʌps and attempt to spell it ch-u-p-s, choosing /u/ for the second sound. It is far easier to explain that the correct spelling uses /i/ because the Speech Sound King pronounces it ʧɪps.

From an early stage, children navigate both their own speech patterns and the written code of English globally.

It just makes sense. We are not asking children to change how they speak just to understand that the written  code was not designed to accommodate the accents used globally when speaking in English.  
 

The Reality: 1 in 4 Children in England Struggle
 

Although only 1 in 5 children fail the Phonics Screening Check, 1 in 4 children still leave school unable to read and spell at minimum levels.

Many of these children never developed phonemic awareness. Over 90% of struggling children aged 7+ sent to me for support have poor phonemic awareness, yet neither the parents nor the child knew.

The belief that phonemic awareness develops through phonics instruction is not true for all children. All children diagnosed with dyslexia have poor phonemic awareness. Dyslexia is an educational learning difficulty, and so changing the instruction is vital.  

With Phase 1 with Phonemies, we can identify these children early—and do something about it.

 

Conclusion
 

We know that many children can learn to read and spell with minimal explicit instruction because they have strong phonemic awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Others, however, cannot cope with the standard phonics approach that is offered in isolation, and when starting with graphemes. 

Phase 1 with Phonemies will evoke discussions about the way forward, and how we can prevent the SEND crisis from growing. Literacy matters. While we want children to choose to read for meaning and pleasure they must be ABLE to read, even if they don't. Otherwise they cannot cope at school, and will want to avoid it.  

10 days is very little, in the scheme of KS1, but could be your most powerful weapon against illiteracy – and offer an immunisation against illiteracy for at least 1 in 4 . Teachers are as ready for something different as children are! We can find out how they learn by letting them play with sounds in this way. Imprtantly, they will want to go to school and explore words because it is fun to them. Having fun is the best way to learn anything! 

Miss Emma
Emma Hartnell-Baker