The technology provides real-time guidance, helping the TA support each child while showing how speech and print connect. Part of the tech is MySpeekie®, the first one-screen AAC for non-speaking children. The speech-to-print connection can be formed without the need to produce speech.

It complements whole-class phonics instruction, so TA sessions never conflict with classroom teaching.
 

The Spelling Piano app technology enables at least 90% of children to pass the PSC by the end of Reception. It frees up time to focus on reading for pleasure rather than on learning additional GPCs. Passing the PSC does not correlate with improved reading comprehension in KS2, so more is needed (Bradbury, 2019; Gibb, 2022; Wyse & Bradbury, 2022).

The TA spends ten minutes a day with the children identified as at risk, around one in five in every Reception classroom, until they reach the point of self-teaching. We ensure that every child enters the self-teaching phase before the end of Year 1. At that point, they continue to learn more about reading through reading itself, using implicit learning to strengthen fluency and comprehension (Share, 1995; Ehri, 2014; Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018).

Decoding within meaningful context supports the development of orthographic learning and reading comprehension. When children encounter words in connected text, they can link phoneme–grapheme patterns to meaning, which strengthens long-term memory for spelling and vocabulary (Ehri, 2014; Share, 1995). This contextual exposure promotes implicit learning, enabling children to store and retrieve words efficiently and to recognise them automatically in future reading (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018). By combining systematic phonics with meaningful text experiences, the Speedie Readies system provides the foundation for fluent, motivated, and self-teaching readers.

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Week 1

The TA learns to identify early indicators of dyslexia risk using the Monster Spelling Piano app for tablets and becomes familiar with the Phonemies®.
🎥 Watch here

Week 2

The TA uses the activities in the handbook and begins to explore word mapping with the children using the MyWordz® technology, funded by Innovate UK.

Week 3

Children start reading mapped stories that make the grapheme–phoneme structure of each word visible. This bridges early phonological work with connected-text reading, supporting decoding, spelling, and self-teaching.
Children love these stories, and because the orthographic code is made visible, all words become decodable regardless of their existing knowledge. They quickly begin to enjoy reading and want to find out what happens next.

The process continues until the child has worked through the 36 pre-readers, followed by the 16 introductory readers. These 52 orthographically mapped stories are available in the Reading Corner.

After that, they can move on to the Blue Platform readers, which are code mapped (without Phonemies).

By the time they reach the Main Readers, they are reading to learn, no longer learning to read.

Although this Ten Minutes a Day With a TA system focuses on Reception and Year 1, it can also extend to include Year 2 children who are still consolidating the core code. A separate KS2 pilot is being developed, using different story materials to ensure age-appropriate engagement for older learners.

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Reference list
Bradbury, A. (2019). The impact of the Phonics Screening Check on teaching in England: A ten-year review. British Educational Research Journal, 45(5), 921–940.
Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51.
Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21.
Gibb, N. (2022). Phonics and the phonics screening check: Reflections on ten years of reform. Department for Education.
Share, D. L. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition. Cognition, 55(2), 151–218.
Wyse, D., & Bradbury, A. (2022). Reading wars or reading peace? An analysis of policy and practice in England since 2010. Literacy, 56(3), 172–182.