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.
Use the SSP Green Code Level sections during the 10 Day Speech Sound Play Plan
The Monster Spelling Piano app for Tablets!
Parent and Grown Up Corner
Within the first few days, toggle to the Phonemies so that the focus remains on phonemic awareness without the cognitive load of letters.
Although many children cope, your neurodivergent learners and those with poor phonemic awareness will benefit greatly from this. They still see the graphemes, but this approach is more schema-driven.
The Phonemies also provide non-speaking children with a character to point to when speaking children would articulate the speech sound or phoneme.
The Monster Spelling Piano app
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)