The Speech Sound Connection

The idea that spoken words are built from discrete phonemes is a compelling illusion. Most people accept it without question, assuming speech maps neatly onto print. This assumption forms the foundation of how phonics programmes are designed.

But this is not completely accurate. If it was, we could simply join together the 'monster sounds' the children type, and the spoken word would be the product of those sounds in MySpeekie. But try it! Say 'yes' in phonemes and then put them back together again.
You will have to say 'yuhes'. This shows that in real speech, some sounds change slightly or blend in ways that aren't captured by breaking them down into separate parts. It is not as simple as that, and it is one reason so many children struggle to understand phonics. We need children to connect speech sounds, spelling (Sound Pics), and meaning (Speech Sound Mapping Theory), as this helps children read, rather than spending large amounts of time articulating individual 'sounds' in isolation or on phonemic awareness activities without a visual hook.

It is important that if children are shown graphemes and asked to articulate a phoneme (speech sound) that they also used this within a real word.

Use the chant strip and video lesson in the ICRWY lessons app. They say the target phoneme - then give the phonemes in the word (of which the target is one) and then give the whole word. This helps children overcome these blending discrepancies more easily

Phonemes are not naturally occurring segments that neatly and cleanly split up words in speech. The segmentation used in phonics is a constructed system, a decision about how we will represent and work with sounds to teach the alphabetic code. Because of this, it is important to show children how the segmentation works. It’s not simply a case of listening for the sounds and mapping them to letters, or putting together phonemes when looking at graphemes. A bit of cognitive blending gymnastics takes place! The more words are mapped, and the more children begin to understand the 'rules' for mapping phonemes and graphemes, the easier it becomes to read and spell words. With good phonemic awareness, this process is much easier. Without it, these activities help to develop it.

Regular synthetic phonics activities tend to miss much of this and can be incredibly difficult for children at risk of dyslexia, or for those with ADHD or autism who need the mapping to feel more mathematical, to add up and make logical sense.

Visual support plays a key role here. By using Phonemies as visual representations, we can show children how the sounds in a word have been separated for the purposes of decoding and encoding. The more they see the Phonemies and learn to 'follow the monster sounds to say the word', the more easily they can understand how letters are linked to those speech sounds. It helps make an abstract mapping system visible and learnable, and it applies to all words.

This makes it a world first. There is no other system for children that provides a visual for a speech sound that works across the entire English lexicon.

The Code Mapping Tool is also a world first. It shows the expected segmentation of words into graphemes, supporting consistent and transparent instruction. Try it for free here - or download the ICRWY Lessons app.

Phonics can be incredibly difficult for a range of learners, including children who are not diagnosed as dyslexic until later in Key Stage 2.

Phonics is a method of teaching learners to connect letters and sounds (graphemes and phonemes).

I think of graphemes as 'pictures of speech sounds'.

Knowledge of these Sound Pics', the basis of the universal spelling code, enables children to read and spell. However, they are only really the foundation of the ‘house’.

If you struggle with phonemic awareness, the ability to isolate, segment, and blend the smallest units of sound (phonemes), then learning phonics can be incredibly difficult. Synthetic phonics programmes are not designed to target these children (at least 1 in 4) or address phonemic awareness deficits in a way that enables them to learn phonics effectively.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 was vital. But only parts of it were useful, and it could have been used as an early screener. Teachers were not given the necessary understanding of why 1 in 4 children will struggle to grasp the basics of the alphabetic code using SSP programmes alone.

The Delphi Dyslexia Definition makes it clear that a new approach to early screening and intervention is needed. Our Letters and Sounds Phase 1 ten-day-plan has been designed to use BEFORE starting any synthetic phonics programme. You will be able to identify children who might otherwise be diagnosed as dyslexic later on. It is far easier and more effective to provide intervention in KS1. (See The Dyslexia Paradox.)

Even with good phonemic awareness, there's still a fair bit of cognitive gymnastics involved in decoding and encoding. As skilled readers, we often fail to recognise those challenges unless they are explicitly shown to us. I explore this in my Code Quacking workshops, where teachers map irregular words and experience first-hand the difficulties many children face.

My doctoral research focuses on the knowledge teachers need. At the moment, they are not receiving that training. Most really want it. They are asking why 1 in 5 children cannot even pass the PSC, which only assesses the core code, if following the SSP programme with fidelity. It's not their fault!

For ten years, thousands of children across Australia helped build The Speech Sound Wall for their classrooms, with Spelling Clouds® showing ALL possible grapheme choices.

The ‘core code’ taught in their systematic, explicit, and multisensory word-mapping (phonics) sessions appears on the outer layer of the Spelling Clouds®. Other grapheme options are explored throughout the day in meaningful context.

I’m so happy to share these and will soon be uploading all 48 of our videos to YouTube and social media. They are 90-second clips showing the ‘Sound Pics®’ we uncovered by mapping thousands of words. Bookmark this page!
We also developed a Code Mapping® tool that highlights the graphemes (Sound Pics®) in every word. Try it for free here!