Speech Sound Play introduces young children to reading and spelling in a way that makes sense to all brains!
IPA Phonemies are Speech Sound Monsters® Speech Sound Pics® prevent difficulties in learning to read spell with Mapped Words®.
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Get started with the 10-Day Speech Sound Play Plan
Speech Sound
Monster Mapping®
Speech Sound Monsters® are part of the Phonemies Family. Children "follow the monster sounds to say the word," then look at the Sound Pics® — the graphemes — that represent those sounds. This approach offers a more natural way to explore English’s opaque orthography. It is speech-to-print, and it removes the need for systematic teaching of the alphabetic code.
We begin with the /s/ /æ/ /t/ /p/ /ɪ/ /n/ Speech Sound Monsters so that children can build over 30 words straight away. This gives them a clear understanding of the foundation on which reading and spelling are built. What happens next is up to you and your child.
Because the entire code is made visible, there is no need to introduce GPCs in a fixed order. The focus is on phonemic awareness, accurate articulation, vocabulary growth, and the exploration of words that matter to each child.
Learning to read and spell becomes a natural by-product, alongside an early love of reading for pleasure. Simple. Refreshing. Schema-led, personalised learning.
10-Day Dyslexia 'Screen & Intervene' Plan with MySpeekie®: Develop speech sound awareness through Phonemies Play, supporting children before or alongside systematic synthetic phonics (SSP). The Speech Sound Mapping (SSM) Plan is also available as a stand-alone option for children with SLCN.
Learn the Monster Sounds!
Amari has only just turned 2, and is producing phonemes most aren't articulating for years.
Typical Speech Sound /Phoneme Articulation Development
Most children acquire English speech sounds gradually, with mastery of all phonemes typically not achieved until around age 7 or 8.
Here’s a rough outline:
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By age 2–3: Children commonly produce early-developing sounds like /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/, /w/, and /h/.
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By age 4–5: Most children add /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, and some affricates like /tʃ/ (as in chop).
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By age 6–7: Later-developing sounds like /θ/ (as in thin), /ð/ (as in this), /ʒ/ (as in measure), and blends are acquired.
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Full mastery of the 44 English phonemes is not expected until the early school years.
Relevant Research
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Shriberg’s Order of Acquisition: A widely used framework in speech pathology shows that sounds are acquired in developmental tiers — early, middle, and late sounds. The “late 8” sounds (e.g., /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/) are typically not mastered until 6–8 years old.
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Normative data from Sander (1972) and subsequent replications continue to support these ranges.
As Amari is producing all 44 English phonemes it suggests:
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Exceptional speech motor control
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Advanced phonological awareness
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Possibly unusually strong auditory discrimination and memory for speech patterns
This will have significant implications for early reading, spelling, and language development
Parents and teachers are asked to practice producing speech sounds, with the Phonemies, too!
Follow the Monster Sounds, to Say the Word!
That children can follow the monster sounds to say the word, and focus on phoneme articulation and blending, while only focusing on the graphemes when they are ready to understand how these map to those sounds, means that the issues which prevent children from learning to read and spell are addressed (see Delphi Dyslexia Definition) from day one.
Children can learn the alphabetic code at their own pace, strengthening their phonemic awareness and phonological working memory skills, and building their vocabulary knowledge as they work in a predominantly speech-to-print direction.
Synthetic phonics programmes introduce concepts from print to speech. This approach depends on children already knowing the graphemes, meaning they can only figure out a word if they already understand how the letters map to the sounds. They also need to have phonemic awareness.
Because there are no restrictions, we can also introduce words they may never be able to decode using the core phonics code, and which may never appear in phonics readers. Learning new words and expanding their vocabulary knowledge is vital.
Phonemies help children map words with more accuracy.
To watch the full video please visit the MySpeekie® for Spelling page
MyWordz® – Word Mapping Mastery® for All Brains
Smiley Spelling!
😊 No Guessing. No Memorising. No Rules. 😊
