Use the Speech Sound Play Plan before teaching any phonics programme, not just the Speech Sound Pics Approach, to screen for dyslexia risk by assessing phonemic awareness and phonological working memory. Letters that function as graphemes in words are known as sound pictures, that is, Speech Sound Pics, and introduced early.
The Ten Day Speech Sound Play Plan provides the phonemic awareness and phonological working memory foundations that support a smooth transition into either the whole-class Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach or your chosen systematic phonics programme.
If you are working on a 1:1 basis, rather than in a classroom setting, use Speedie Word Mapping to Show the Code with Phonemies. Speedie Readies provides a dual route pathway and includes Speedie Spelling, offering bidirectional word mapping as a faster route towards Word Mapping Mastery® and orthographic mapping. Schools can use Speedie Spelling as a stand-alone word mapping system.
Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN| Expert in Preventing the Dyslexia Paradox. Train with me at SpeedieWordMapping.com
Mapped Words: Show the Code. All words become sight words when we show the sight word code. Speech sounds, spelling, and meaning are bonded without memorisation, strengthening phonemic awareness and phonological working memory, preventing the dyslexia paradox. No more guessing or memorisation. No more heart words. Parents and tutors can support Word Mapping Mastery® from birth through the on-demand two-hour training available at SpeedieWordMapping.com.
The 10-Day Speech Sound Play Plan is the pre-phonics speech-to-print lead-in to teaching children that the pictures of speech sounds are graphemes. We call these sound pictures Speech Sound Pics®. The plan is used in Reception before teaching phonics to screen for dyslexia risk and to support speech sound processing skills and awareness of how speech and print connect.
Use this at any stage, and spend as much time as you need if you are not using it whole-class and rushing to teach the first set of graphemes because this is mandated by the school system.
The Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach is our whole-class approach to teaching phonics as a kick-start into self-teaching and word mapping mastery. Speedie Readies can be used 1:1 with children, with only a two-hour training session, with no prior experience of the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) whole class approach, and it prevents reading and spelling difficulies through a Dual-Route Learning Pathway. Start Speedie Readies from birth.
If you are a parent, tutor, or TA working in schools, ask about Speedie Readies training. Help us reject the Wait to Fail approach, by preventing the the Dyslexia Paradox. Join the movement and support inclusion.
Need to order in Aussie dollars? Need to order Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) resources for your classroom in Australia?
Order through The Reading Hut Australia via a Purchase Order - email support@SpeechSoundPics.com
The Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach is our whole-class approach to teaching phonics systematically, with video lessons in the I Can Read Without You Lessons app with Miss Emma and technology teaching the constrained skills so that teachers are freed up to observe the learning, develop relationships with the children and focus on why we are mapping words: to get excited about reading. Because children learn the phonics so quickly in this way, and work through the four Code Levels at their own pace, we needed to offer a much easier route to bridge the kick-start of phonics with reading for pleasure, and spelling with confidence and accuracy.
👉This is why Speedie Readies was launched.
It is a Dual-Route towards Word Mapping Mastery and Orthographic Mapping and orthographic mapping and can be used whole-class or on a 1:1 basis. It is simple enough for anyone to use with a child, whether as a tutor or parent, because the technology maps words bi-directionally for and with children, and it is also a powerful teaching tool for adults so they understand the IPA and the issues involved in mapping words with accents. Everything is provided, and adults simply guide and support.
The way children want to learn has not been front and centre since the beginning of the school system. We believe that model needs to be discarded. We are finding that this is also how most adults want to support children. It is far easier to guide children who want to be there and who view this as play, because it relates to their own lives and interests. The technology allows us to explore words that the children want to explore, rather than restricting them to a fixed sequence. Adults tell us they want to be genuine partners with children during the learning experience, and they enjoy being with children who cannot get enough of what they are doing because they see it as play.
This is the first flipped model of its kind in the world. It has been created by a team of Level 7 Specialist SEN and SpLD teachers and assessors with lived experience of being outstanding teachers and school leaders who are themselves neurodivergent. This growing team of game changer understand why personalised learning is the right vision for the future. Get started with the 2 hour Speedie Readies training session if you are a tutor or home educating parent.
Speedie Readies changes the model for teaching reading and spelling completely. There is less teaching, less explicit instruction, and more statistical learning through self-teaching. This is also how most children want to learn, and how most adults want to support them.
Connecting spoken and written English should be easy for children to understand, even before they are speaking with ease.
Have you started using Duck Hands® yet?
Speech Sound Play with Speech Sound Pics®
This ten-day 'Phase 1' plan for reception classrooms focuses on speech sound processing – the ability to hear, isolate, segment, and blend speech sounds. Developing phonemic awareness helps children understand that words are made up of individual sounds, and that these sounds can be represented by letters. Once children grasp this concept, learning the role of letters in words becomes far more meaningful. Phonemies (Speech Sound Monsters®) speed up the process by making the sound value visible, starting with their names! We show them which letters are connected as graphemes AND which speech sounds they connect to! A world first, from The Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer® Emma Hartnell-Baker.
Before introducing learners to Monster Mapped words and mapped books, work through the 10-day plan. Use the Speech Sound Pics Approach to teach phonics systematically. Monster Mapped® resources are designed to support the 1 in 4 children who struggle to learn phonics with DfE validated synthetic phonics programmes in England. Monster Mapping® is integral to the Speech Sound Pics® Approach, and the NeuroReadies Learning Pathway for Neurodivergent Minds. The 10 Day Plan will show you who they are likely to be! (1 in 4)
Children understand that the Speech Sound Monsters each say a sound of English (the speech sounds we use when speaking English). Children simply “follow the Monster Sounds to say the word!” The letters, which are the pictures of the sounds, are the secondary focus. The primary focus in Phase 1 is sound processing. Children learning to blend the sounds together using Duck Hands and understand their order on the page.
Show the Written Word Code. Support Every Brain.
The Speech Sound Play Plan builds the sound processing that reading and spelling depend on.
Words mapped with Phonemies make letter–sound links visible, so every child can learn with ease.
As Learning Whisperers®, we advocate early attunement to individual learning needs and free screening for dyslexia risk, ADHD, and autism when children turn three. The first Early Dyslexia Screening Centre is now open in Dorset.
We Show the Code: Phonics with Phonemies!
Funded by Innovate UK, MyWordz® helps children make sense of written language by showing the full speech–sound structure of words in both directions: from print to speech and from speech to print. This is real-time word mapping that shows both graphemes (Sound Pics®) and their sound values – using IPA Phonemies - a world first.
MyWordz® is especially helpful for learners who have difficulty retaining spellings, self-correcting when writing, or decoding words with fluency. It is available as a website login, at MyWordz.tech, which is ideal for interactive whiteboards, and also as an app version. More details.
MySpeekie® is included within the MyWordz technology®. It enables non-speaking children to build and voice words using speech sounds on a single screen. This is another breakthrough in inclusive technology for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), developed by The Reading Hut. Training is delivered by Emma Hartnell-Baker aka The Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer®
❓ What is Speech Sound Processing? How do we facilitate Phonemic Awareness Mastery?
Phonemic awareness mastery means a child can confidently hear, identify, and manipulate individual speech sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. These skills form the foundation for decoding, spelling, and understanding how spoken language maps to print. Without these skills children will find learning synthetic phonics difficult. To make it easier to develop phonemic awareness, and link it to phonics - even before introducing the graphemes, we use Phonemies.
❓ How does the Speech Sound Play Plan work before teaching Core Phonics?
Speech Sound Play builds the essential listening and sound awareness skills children need before phonics begins. Through playful, structured activities using the Speech Sound Monsters (Phonemies), children develop the ability to hear and work with individual sounds. This prepares them for systematic synthetic phonics by giving them the speech–sound insight phonics assumes they already have.
During the ten-day plan, you will identify the children most at risk of struggling to understand synthetic phonics. It is essential to recognise these gaps early and take action. One effective way to intervene is by giving these children access to the Monster Spelling Piano app to learn the Core Code quickly and easily, and to MySpeekie® throughout the day. This allows them to figure out unfamiliar words and learn how to spell the words they need while writing.
They explore the words that matter to them in that moment. That is why it is called MyWordz® with MySpeekie®.
Start with Speech Sound Play, the Phonemic Awareness Mastery Plan to use before Core Phonics.
The goal? Word Mapping Mastery® for all. This makes reading fluency and accurate spelling possible for every brain.
Our 10-day standalone plan introduces children to the IPA-aligned Phonemies®, the Speech Sound Monsters®, and builds the essential skills they need before systematic synthetic phonics begins in Key Stage One. Each Monster says a sound of English.
"Use your Duck Hands, and Follow the Monster Sounds to Say the Word!"
Start the reception year with an upstream mindset: screen all children for dyslexia risk and ensure every child develops the phonemic awareness needed to make sense of phonics.
Children love mapping words with Speech Sound Monsters and quickly become hooked on wanting to read and write.
Start here with Speech Sound Play, then transition to Speedie Readies using MyWordz® with MySpeekie®, the world’s first Word Mapping Mastery tool that shows the code in both directions: Print to Speech and Speech to Print. It is the only Speech to Print word mapper designed for children.
The Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer®: Let's Prevent Reading and Spelling Difficulties
A Sound Start to KS1 with Phonemies!
From the moment children step into school, they are welcomed with activities that build on what they already know—speech. We play with speech sounds, helping every child feel valued by mapping their names and celebrating their voices. Our Innovate UK-funded tech provides a voice for non-speaking children through the Phonemies Keyboard: a one-screen AAC. Through talking, singing, rhyming, painting, and puppet play, children explore sounds in a way that feels natural and engaging.
This is more than just a lead into phonics, it is an early screening opportunity to identify children at risk of struggling and a dedicated focus on speech, language, and communication needs, ensuring that every child gets the support they need from the very start. We prevent the struggle.
Speech Sound Play Before Speech Sound Pics!
During the 10-day Speech Sound Play Plan, you will need the MyWordz® tech so that children can start to explore the letters and sounds in any words they choose, not just the words that are mapped with the Core Code.
Use MySpeekie as a one-screen AAC for non-speaking children!
Get the Web Version
Register and confirm your email. You can then pay the £75 to use MyWordz.tech for 12 months.
If you would like to use the app version you can pay for licences once logged in (£5.75 per year) and use these links to access the app version with your login credentials
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mywordz-for-members/id6739351608
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thereadinghut.mywordz.members
One-Off Payment of £134.75 in the app stores!
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mywordz-with-myspeekie/id6737770129
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mywordz.app&hl=en_GB
During the 10-day Speech Sound Play Plan, you will need the Monster Spelling Piano app. This tool accelerates the development of phonemic awareness by providing carefully scaffolded learning. Children can toggle between building words with Speech Sound Monsters® (Phonemies) or with Sound Pics® (graphemes), helping them make clear connections between sounds and print. They can also practise forming the letters s, a, t, p, i, n to prepare for phonics instruction.
Get the Monster Spelling Piano app to master the core phonics code.
One-time price: £14.95
Available on:
Apple (iPads)
Google Play (Android tablets)
