The Reading Hut®
"On a mission to inspire every child to read, learn, and find joy in books. To achieve this, we must stop making learning to read so difficult for so many."
Screen and Intervene (SAI) - Phonemic Awareness - from The Reading Hut will be a game-changer in education. Our unique solution for early detection of learning differences and the creation of customised intervention programmes ensures that no child needs to find learning to read difficult, boosting confidence and academic success early in life.
Wiring Brains Early: Preventing Learning Difficulties and Unlocking Lifelong Reading for Pleasure
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The earlier we screen children and identify those who need help, the sooner we can support them and become part of their village.
A Message from Rory's Mum.
When our eldest son was in Grade 3 he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Unfortunately by then the damage was done, his reading age was assessed as being below the age of six (he was 8.5 at the time). The most heart-breaking part of his journey was the devastating effect it had on his self-esteem.
The educational psychologist at the time introduced me to the Speech Sound Pics SSP approach, which turned out to be life-changing! Under Miss Emma's guidance, we cleared the slate and started his journey again at home after school. He warmed very quickly to the approach and in just five weeks he had increased six reading levels. I am extremely proud to announce that he is now in Grade 6 and reading at grade level!! In fact, he is doing so well that in his LP meeting recently I was questioned whether he even had a learning disability.
This brings us to Rory, our youngest. From a young age, he showed signs of possessing the same strengths and weaknesses as his older brother. Not willing to sit back and watch him suffer the same fate we jumped at the chance to be part of the ICRWY 'Monster Mapping' pilot, he was two months shy of his fifth birthday at the time.
Now at six, he is doing so well, this video is proof of that. This is Rory reading his home reader to me. So proud and so very grateful for Miss Emma and her innovative ideas and approach.
For many UK parents, SEND provision was one of the main reasons they voted for change.
I support children struggling to read and spell, with my fees as an independent provider covered by EHCP funding. EHCP funding provides financial support for children with special educational needs and disabilities in the UK to ensure they receive necessary educational, health, and social care services.
As a neurodivergent woman and specialist teacher, I am excited to bring you this totally unique, neuro-affirming Phonemic Awareness Mastery (PAM) programme, designed for children with SEND: Screen and Intervene.
Bonding together speech, spelling, and meaning to facilitate orthographic mapping with hashtag#InnovateUKFunded Speech Sound Mapping technology, launching in August.
Ask about training!
ˈbrɪʤɪŋ ˈspəʊkən ænd ˈrɪtən ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ fɔːr ɔːl ˈlɜːnəz
This is only the beginning!
I am a former 'outstanding' nursery owner and OFSTED inspector, now advocating for change in the early years: a new era of schema-driven learning that starts by identifying not only what children know at that point in time but also how they learn. An era of child-centric practices that centre around activities that each child sees as play for their brain.
Less teaching, more learning.
We track their unique learning journey, carefully monitoring 'how far travelled' and ensuring they are happy, confident learners who feel excited about their journey as individuals.
We do not let them first fail by teaching them as if they are the same as others; instead, we give them what they need and develop a connection with them—and their family—in the early years.
We screen for reading difficulties when they are about to turn 3: BEFORE they start learning letter names and phonics. We screen phoneme articulation, phonemic awareness, and phonological working memory, WITHOUT letters, and it is designed to include pre-verbal autistic children.
We ensure that they start school ABLE to learn to read and spell, often in spite of being taught in a classroom setting with synthetic phonics- which is often uninteresting to autistic children.
This is an autistic 8-year-old who would actually have been reading before starting school if screened at 3, as his brilliant pattern-seeking brain would have been excited by our ‘flipped’ approach. We start with what they know and build on that using their interests. He is now engaged and has autonomy. But at what cost? It should have happened for him years ago. Please ask about training, tech, and resources. Let’s not let others have to wait.
hashtag#immunisationagainstilliteracy
Early Screening : Reducing Risk
Dyslexia is a language based specific learning difference that affects reading, writing and spelling skills. It has a strong neurobiological basis. Genetic influence is estimated at 50–70%. Most children must experience failure before their unique learning needs are addressed. Until then, they are expected to learn in the same way and at the same pace as their peers. One of the central problems with dyslexia is its late diagnosis, normally not before the end of the 2nd grade, resulting in the loss of several years for early therapy. We assert that it is imperative to “catch them before they fall” (Torgesen, 1998). Early intervention is crucial for children at risk of dyslexia and early reading problems (Fletcher et al., 2019). Studies show that identifying risk in kindergarten (KG), Grade 1 (G1), and Grade 2 (G2) can reduce the risk of reading problems from around 20% to below 5%, depending on the quality and intensity of the instruction (Mathes et al., 2005; Torgesen, 2000).
Distinguishing children with dyslexia from those with other word-level problems is challenging, leading some to question the utility of the dyslexia label (Elliott & Grigorenko, 2014). There is scant evidence suggesting that different interventions are required for children identified with dyslexia compared to those with general reading difficulties (Miciak & Fletcher, 2020). An effective intervention for a child with dyslexia is also suitable for children struggling with reading and spelling who have not been diagnosed as dyslexic. Therefore, the necessity of the label is debatable. Additionally, if a child does not exhibit reading and spelling difficulties, can they be considered dyslexic? These are important discussions to have.
The wide-spread practice of delayed identification of reading and spelling difficulties can have tremendous psychological and clinical implications. Children with dyslexia show an increased incidence of internalising anxious and depressive symptomatology (Mugnaini, Lassi, La Malfa, & Albertini, 2007) and are less likely to complete high school (Jimerson, Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson, 2000) or to enrol in programs of higher education (Dougherty, 2003). So although early screenings entail significant costs given the costs associated with remediation and the treatment of accompanying psychological and medical problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic conditions related to academic stress), the benefits of early screening outweigh the costs.
Common practices for early screening of reading difficulties involve universal screeners or tests assessing domains where dyslexia may manifest (e.g., phonological awareness [PA], rapid naming). These approaches often do not measure the instrument's predictive power for subsequent risk, particularly for dyslexia screening in KG and G1. One predictive effort, the KG–G2 component of the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Reading Assessment (FRA; Foorman et al., 2015), includes computer-adaptive tasks assessing PA, letter sounds, word reading, and spelling, among other skills, to provide a probability of literacy success based on performance in KG and G1/G2 standardized tests. However, this ‘screening’ relies heavily on knowledge and letter use.
If a child who has had no instruction in letter names does not pass the screener, how can this predict their ability to learn to read? It can only indicate whether they have acquired letter name knowledge, which may be due to parental instruction. It does not reveal whether the child still struggles despite being taught. The screening only reflects existing knowledge. Our screening will not only identify existing knowledge but also evaluate how they learn, explaining why it does not take just 5 minutes. To intervene effectively, we need to understand their learning capacity.
A dominance analysis (Schatschneider et al., 2004) found that three KG measures consistently predicted word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension at the end of G1 and G2: letter-sound knowledge, PA, and rapid naming of letters. These are tests of existing knowledge. We need to predict difficulties for all children before they begin learning to read and spell. Our role is to prevent these difficulties from arising in the first place.
Studies involving brain measures, such as electroencephalography or magnetic resonance imaging, have shown that the brain characteristics of individuals with dyslexia can be observed as early as infancy and preschool, especially in children with a genetic risk for dyslexia. A longitudinal dyslexia study in Finland, which followed children from birth until age 8, showed that early differential brain measures could distinguish at-risk children who later developed reading problems from those who did not (Leppanen et al., 2010). Additionally, several studies have shown alterations in white matter (the highways that connect two brain areas and enable fast information flow) in young prereading children who subsequently developed a reading disability (Wang et al., in press; Kraft et al., 2016).
These studies suggest that these children are stepping into their first day of kindergarten with a brain less optimised to learn to read. Why wait three or more years before we give them access to additional resources essential for improving their reading performance?
It is well-documented that phonemic awareness predicts future reading success. As educators, we must understand how children learn and address potential difficulties early on. Ensuring that children can isolate, segment, and blend sounds prepares them for learning to read and spell effectively. We can do this with all 3 year olds. They need no prior knowledge of letter names or phonics to get started! They do not even need to be able to speak. This makes SAI -Phonemic Awareness - a world first.
References:
Dougherty, C. Numeracy, literacy and earnings: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Economics of education review, 22, 511–521 (2003).
Elliott JG, & Grigorenko EL (2014). The dyslexia debate. Cambridge University Press.
Fletcher JM, Lyon GR, Fuchs LS, & Barnes M (2019). Learning disabilities: From identification to intervention. Guilford Press.
Foorman B, Petscher Y, & Schatschneider C (2015). Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Reading Assessments (FRA) Kindergarten to Grade 2 [Technical manual]. http://www.fcrr.org/for-researchers/fra.asp
Jimerson, S., Egeland, B., Sroufe, L. A. & Carlson, B. A prospective longitudinal study of high school dropouts examining multiple predictors across development. Journal of school psychology, 38, 525–549 (2000).
Kraft, I. et al. Predicting early signs of dyslexia at a preliterate age by combining behavioral assessment with structural MRI. Neuroimage, 143, 378–386 (2016).
Leppanen, P. H., Hamalainen, J. A., Salminen, H. K., Eklund, K. M., Guttorm, T. K., Lohvansuu, K., Puolakanaho, A., & Lyytinen, H. Newborn brain event-related potentials revealing atypical processing of sound frequency and the subsequent association with later literacy skills in children with familial dyslexia. Cortex, 46, 1362–1376 (2010).
Mathes PG, Denton CA, Fletcher JM, Anthony JL, Francis DJ, & Schatschneider C (2005). An evaluation of two reading interventions derived from diverse models. Reading Research Quarterly, 40, 148–183
Miciak J, & Fletcher JM (2020). The critical role of instructional response for identifying dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Advance online publication. 10.1177/0022219420906801
Mugnaini, D., Lassi, S., La Malfa, G. & Albertini, G. Internalizing correlates of dyslexia. World Journal of Pediatrics, 5, 255–264 (2009).
Schatschneider C, Fletcher JM, Francis DJ, Carlson CD, & Foorman BR (2004). Kindergarten prediction of reading skills: A longitudinal comparative analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 265–282
Torgesen, J. K. (1998). Catch them before they fall: Identification and assessment to prevent reading failure in young children. American Educator, 22, 32-39.
Torgesen JK (2000). Individual responses in response to early interventions in reading: The lingering problem of treatment resisters. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15, 55–64
Wang, Y. et al. Development of tract-specific white matter pathways during early reading development in at-risk children and typical controls. Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhw095 (In press).
Emma Hartnell-Baker has a proven track record of screening children for learning differences such as dyslexia using quick, easy, and innovative methods. Tech based SAI can be used to also generate reports with risk factors and recommendations for each child, which are then checked by specialist assessors before being shared with parents and their education providers. This approach reduces subjectivity and creates consistency across Screen and Intervene Spaces. Imagine if there was an SAI Space in every community! Many of these screening options should be funded and free for children in the local area.
Screen and Intervene (SAI): Unlocking Every Child's Unique Learning Code
Unique Tech Based Solutions from The Reading Hut Ltd
Emma Hartnell-Baker invites discussions about existing screening methods and how to improve them.
This session is On-Demand through PATOSS
PATOSS stands for the "Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties." It is a UK-based organisation dedicated to supporting teachers and other professionals involved in the education and support of individuals with specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and Asperger syndrome (Patoss Dyslexia) (National Autistic Society).
Leading experts in learning difficulties and differences come together to create innovative tech-based screening solutions that facilitate bespoke intervention and acceleration programmes for individuals.
Our differences are our strengths.
Without Phonemic Awareness, children will struggle to understand the links with letters and would have to rely on memorising words as whole words—the traditional way to teach 'sight words'—if they cannot understand the speech sound (phoneme) to spelling correspondence. Children cannot memorise enough words for this to be a reliable long-term strategy. Speech Sound Mapping facilitates this for ALL words because we focus on phonemic awareness and making the connections visible. We teach 'visible' and 'linguistic' phonics. The GPC correspondence order may be the same, when the Speech Sound Pics approach is used in classrooms, but we can also explore other words—e.g., high-frequency words and words of interest to the child—at the same time. They don't need to wait to reach a certain point within the program 'Scope and Sequence' *start storing new words. Research by Linnea Ehri and others has demonstrated that effective phonemic awareness, combined with the connection of sounds, spellings, and meanings of words, facilitates the storage of words in the orthographic lexicon with only 1- 4 exposures. This process, known as orthographic mapping, is crucial for developing sight word recognition and fluent reading.
It cannot happen without good phonemic awareness.
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