Alfie is autistic and had not been able to decode words with the very first set of graphemes, i.e. m, a, s, t, i, n, p, even after two years. He became highly stressed when asked to do so. More Read Write Inc. was not the answer.
First, we needed to address the underlying phonemic awareness issues and then show the code so that the letters that go together and the sound value for those graphemes connect visually.

This also takes a speech-to-print approach so that the nature of the orthographic code was not confusing to Alfie. For example, <a> can be a picture of the sound at the beginning of the word 'ant', but a different Phonemie appears in the word 'any'. Speech-to-print makes sense to his brain, as he given all the information needed to arrive at the word, starting from what he knows (how to say the word) supported by his newly developed phonemic awareness.

This was added to his EHCP. A TA leads his intervention, not a teacher. Any TA who connects with the child emotionally can do this.

In the first couple of weeks, he had to keep checking the sound value for the word 'a', as he struggled to detach it from the sound he had been told 'it made' when looking at the grapheme <a>. When reading 'A red house' etc he would keep playing the Phonemie to be sure it was not that sound /æ/ (as in ant).

Having the Story Peg People act out the stories adds another dimension to the process, supporting SALT.

Alfie is now thriving & ENJOYING reading. He's just entered the self-teaching phase and using recoding effectively. His eyes now spend less time on each individual word.

He is not just decoding more easily; he is predicting and inferring, and experiencing pleasure in getting to know the characters. He is not keen on Percy Green, who can be ‘naughty’, as Alfie has a strong moral compass. Being able to talk about things such as people not always being ‘good’ has been invaluable for him, as it was something that once made him feel very anxious.

At the Early Dyslexia Screening Centre, we screen for risk before children are taught to connect letters and sounds with phonics, to ensure that we prevent issues. Prevention is far easier than intervention.

If you are a TA supporting children in Reception and Year 1, please get in touch and follow SpeedieReadies.com. We cannot stand by and watch the impact of a ‘wait to fail’ approach, and synthetic phonics is not going to prevent reading and spelling difficulties for one in four children. By the time they take the Phonics Screening Check at the end of Year 1, we can no longer prevent reading and spelling difficulties. At that stage, they need intervention.
The window for prevention in Reception and Year 1, ages five to seven, has passed.

We must change this. We can change this. It is also far easier when we start with Speech Sound Processing Play (SSP Play) from birth to three. If you are working in the early years - and especially if you support children who are neurodivergent - please do get in touch.