The Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approoch is the only self-paced phonics approach for Reception Classrooms. Get in. Get out. Let self-teaching take over.
Self-Paced Phonics
"Get In. Get Out"
The aim is not to keep children in phonics instruction for longer than they need it. Children move through the GPC Learning Order at their own pace, building the phonemic awareness and Core Code knowledge needed to become self-teaching readers and spellers.
The Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach is the ONLY self-paced whole classs phonics programme in the world. There are no scripts. The teacher is freed up to observe and support as and where needed.
Once they can read, understand and figure out unfamiliar words, they move on. They continue extending their orthographic knowledge through reading, spelling and writing, with MyWordz® providing the phonological–orthographic mapping of individual words at the point of need.
Get in. Learn the Core Code. Become self-teaching. Get out.
Why getting it right in Reception matters
The aim is not simply to accelerate a phonics sequence. It is to change what becomes necessary later.
When children establish the Core Code, accurate word-mapping habits and the ability to self-teach during Reception, much of the later work that is currently introduced because children are still struggling to decode, spell or engage with reading can be avoided. The intention is to prevent children from needing unnecessary catch-up teaching, repeated whole-class word-level instruction or intervention for skills that could have been secured earlier.
It also changes the reading trajectory. Children are moved into books they can read and want to keep reading, so reading for pleasure is developed through successful reading rather than treated as a separate problem to be repaired later. For some children, if they do not read for pleasure early, too many other activities will be prioritised.
Children who remain at risk are identified early and receive additional teaching immediately. This is about preventing the dyslexia paradox: ensuring that children do not have to experience prolonged difficulty before receiving the support they need. The purpose is not to deny that some children will need more support, but to ensure that difficulty is not allowed to accumulate because instruction was paced for the class rather than the child.
The SSP technology is used instead of a script or teacher-led ‘I Do, You Do’ instruction. This enables every child to learn the grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs) at their own pace. Classrooms may have four stations where children use headphones, so they do not need their own iPads, tablets or laptops. When a child has mastered one Code Level, they can move to another station to work on the next Code Level.
This is the GPC (Core Code) Learning Order.
Because learning is self-paced, children progress through the GPCs at their own pace following an introductory Phase 1: Pre-Phonics. The aim is to ensure that children have the phonemic awareness and Core Code knowledge they need to enter the self-teaching phase before Year 1.
Skills and Concepts within the four Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach Core Code Levels
Less explicit teaching, more self-teaching. Brains LOVE it!
English has an opaque orthography, which is why self-teaching matters. The whole alphabetic code cannot be taught explicitly. Emma Hartnell-Baker offers the ONLY word-mapping approach that shows the whole alphabetic code, using phonetic symbols for adults and corresponding Phonemies® for children.
SSP teachers do not ask every child to learn to read and spell the same words at the same time, during or after learning the Core Code, or treat multisyllabic words differently in any grade.
Children learn the Core Code during the 30-Minute Phonics Routine, with the aim of moving them into the self-teaching phase before Year 1. From that point, they are increasingly reading, figuring out unfamiliar words and extending their orthographic knowledge through reading, spelling and writing.
Use MyWordz® word-mapping technology for any words they need to read or spell in the moment. This is important because the words they can’t yet read or spell will depend on the individual child and their existing orthographic knowledge. A predetermined spelling curriculum cannot know what is already stored in that child’s orthographic lexicon, or which words and correspondences that particular child still needs support with, so it can involve a great deal of unnecessary instruction.
Use the 60-Second Spelling Routine to then bond the speech sounds, graphemes and meaning in the orthographic lexicon, supporting instant recognition in future reading and accurate spelling.
This approach reflects Seidenberg’s position that there is such a thing as “over-teaching” and that the amount of instruction should be conditional on the child’s reading. He argues that if a child is already reading, recognising and understanding words, figuring out new words and understanding texts, “they can move on” (Seidenberg, 2023).
More recently, Seidenberg has described the goal as providing enough initial instruction for children to achieve “escape velocity”: reaching the point at which they can begin reading sentences and learning from a broader range of “reading, spelling, and writing activities”, rather than needing to learn every word through the same explicit instructional process (Seidenberg, 2026).
This is what we are aiming to achieve before Year 1. The principle is to provide as much explicit instruction as the individual child needs, and no more, while ensuring that they have immediate access to support for the particular words they cannot yet read or spell.
MyWordz® provides that support by showing the phonological–orthographic mapping in the moment. Rather than waiting for a particular spelling pattern or correspondence to appear in a predetermined curriculum, the child can see the graphemes and their sound values for the word they actually need to read or spell. The 60-Second Spelling Routine can then be used when needed to support the bonding of the word’s pronunciation, spelling and meaning in the orthographic lexicon.
References
Seidenberg, M. S. (2023). Responses to some of the chat from the May 23 Reading Meeting.
https://seidenbergreading.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/may-23-reading-meeting-chat-responses.pdf
Seidenberg, M. S. (2026). On Blending.
https://msseidenberg.substack.com/p/on-blending
Emma Hartnell-Baker, developer of the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, has been mapping words with children and teachers for over a decade. Why? Bidirectional word mapping unlocks the English alphabetic code, enabling children to use what they know about phoneme–grapheme relationships to read and spell words, and to become increasingly independent in their own learning.
The science has shown that connecting letters and sounds is vital, and that phonological recoding facilitates self-teaching, which in turn supports orthographic learning. But the how has been widely misinterpreted. Some have misunderstood how millions of children learnt to read without explicit phonics instruction, and what that tells us about the learning process. Others have treated systematic phonics instruction as though completing a prescribed sequence is the destination, rather than the starting point for independent word learning.
As Mark Seidenberg explains, explicit phonics instruction is essential, but it is not the sole way children learn the alphabetic code. It gets them started; much of the subsequent learning occurs through reading and other language use. The question is therefore not whether children need phonics, but how we ensure that each child develops the knowledge and skills needed to continue learning independently. This is at the heart of the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, as seen in the latest handbook.
After more than a decade of systematic synthetic phonics in England, around one in four children still leave primary school without reaching the expected standard in reading or spelling. What is missing? Giving each child what THEY need to map words, become a self-teacher and keep learning. That means responsive teaching, accurate word mapping, access to the code when they need it, and additional support as soon as difficulty is identified, rather than waiting for children to fall behind.
Emma divides her time between England and Australia, but is currently based in England while completing her doctoral research at the University of Reading and will therefore not be returning to Queensland until 2028.
Applications are invited from Prep teachers in Queensland interested in being mentored by Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN for the 2028 school year. She will select one school for a year-long demonstration of the approach, beginning in January 2028.
Emma will personally mentor the selected school and spend approximately 90 minutes in a Prep classroom each morning, overseeing the activities, observing progress and demonstrating what we do with any child identified as being at high risk of reading difficulty.
The target will be for at least 90% of the cohort to be able to pass the UK Phonics Screening Check before the end of Prep and to be reading the Main Readers, with the wider goal that all children are self-teaching before Grade 2.
We would also examine whether children themselves report that they enjoy mapping words and enjoy reading before the end of Prep.
The implementation would be filmed from Day 1 so that other teachers and school leaders could see what the approach looks like in a real classroom, including how children at different Code Levels are managed simultaneously and how additional support is provided. Appropriate parental permission would therefore be required.
School leaders could be invited to observe the classroom in operation, and the resulting footage could be used for teacher training.
The purpose would be to demonstrate transparently how a teacher can manage a class of 30+ children working systematically but at their own pace, deliver the phonics and literacy learning expected within the Australian Curriculum, identify children requiring additional support early, and move children towards independent reading, spelling and writing as quickly as they are individually ready.
Schools interested in applying should be willing to implement the self-paced model consistently across the year, support parental permission for filming, and allow the classroom process and outcomes to be used for teacher training. The purpose is to show, from Day 1, what becomes possible when the foundations are secured in Prep: less need for later remediation, less unnecessary whole-class word-level instruction, and more children reading independently and for pleasure.
Schools and organisations are also welcome to make contact about other pilot opportunities, including projects supporting non-speaking children and children learning to map words through alternative access methods, including eye-pointing.
Emma's wider innovation work includes MySpeekie®, developed to enable non-speaking children to communicate words without needing to be able to read or spell. MySpeekie® is powered by the Ortho-GraphiX® bidirectional word-mapping algorithm and uses Phonemies®, Phonetic Symbols for Kids.
More about Emma's Innovate UK work:
https://iuk-business-connect.org.uk/projects/women-in-innovation/emma-hartnell-baker/
ShowtheCode.com
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