Upstream Screening and Support: A New Vision
Our vision is simple. Stop waiting for children to fail. Identify vulnerability early, support speech sound processing from birth, and remove barriers long before written words are introduced. This avoids the dyslexia paradox and ensures every child with the cognitive capacity to read can thrive.
Birth to Age 3: Early Screening and Speech Sound Processing Support
Screening begins from birth to three, with a focus on how children process and attend to speech sounds during day to day activities.
From eighteen months to three, we check how children respond to the sound structure of language in playful, everyday interactions. This includes children who are non-speaking, autistic, minimally verbal, or who speak little or no English.
Screening at 3: Before Letters Are Introduced
At age three, before any teaching about letters:
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Can they isolate individual sounds in words
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Can they blend sounds into whole words
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Can they give the sounds in words when prompted
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Can they segment spoken words into their parts
All tasks are designed to be accessible for non-speaking and autistic children, and for children who are new to English.
This is risk screening, not diagnosis. Its purpose is to spot the early markers linked to later difficulty, so support is in place before reading begins.
âžœ 2 Hour CPD for Early Years Teachers: Integrating Speech Sound Processing into Daily Play from Birth to Three£1,200 plus travel
Ages 3 to 5: Speech Sound Play, Moving Towards Word Mapping
Between ages three and five we build a robust speech sound processing system through playful, child-centred (schema-driven) activity. A Speech to Print approach is taken.
Children learn to:
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Isolate sounds
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Articulate sounds
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Blend sounds into words
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Segment words into sounds
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Recognise their Monster Sound (Phonemies)
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Decode and encode words with Phonemies, so that connecting graphemes will be easy when they’re ready, and to produce words and sentences in MySpeekie® that can be voiced. This is the world's first one-screen AAC and it also lays the foundation for reading and spelling.
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Name their visual prompt words and connect meaning to word mapping activities.
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If appropriate, this extends into the initial Code Level. Children work with words that matter to them, including their own names, pets, and family members. Graphemes such as s, a, t, p, i, and n can be introduced if the child is ready, but the focus is always on their interests and speech sound awareness.
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âžœ 2 Hour CPD for Early Years Teachers: Connecting Speech to Print within Daily Play from Three to Five. Includes MySpeekie® training
£1,200 plus travel
Reception: Before Whole Class Phonics Begins
Before Reception children start whole-class phonics instruction, they complete a ten day Speech Sound Play plan. This can be extended (in Australia the teachers I support spend about 4 weeks on this plan)
During this period:
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Children learn to use Duck Hands and play with the Phonemies (Speech Sound Monsters)
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All names are mapped before the start of term and they learn to 'follow the Monster Sounds, to Say the Word'
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Children learn the Monster Routine with the Visual Prompt words
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Children have the opportunity to form satpin lower case and the numbers 1 to 10
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Children are introduced to the Monster Spelling Piano app and MySpeekie.
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All childen are tracked using the screener checklist
âžœ 2 Hour CPD for Reception Teachers and Support Staff: Connecting Speech to Print within the Speech Sound Play Plan. Screening for Dyslexia Risk. Includes an introduction to bi-directional word mapping with MyWordz® and MySpeekie® training
£1,200 plus travel
Speedie Readies: Show the Code.
The Dual-Route to Word Mapping Mastery in Reception and KS1.
Ten Minutes a Day, With a TA!
After the Speech Sound Play Plan the TA then supports children 1 to 1 using the Monster Spelling Piano app, mapping high frequency words across the term.
Mapped Core Code readers form Path 1. This ensures children can access early reading more easily and are set up to pass the PSC.
Once children reach the end of the Purple Code Level, they begin the Pre-Readers with the TA. This is Path 2.
The TA works with all children, but prioritises those flagged as at risk. By the end of Year 1, any child with the cognitive capacity to read will be thriving.
We have prevented the dyslexia paradox.
âžœ Hour CPD for SENDCos and Teaching Assistants: Screening for Dyslexia Risk. Guiding children towards word mapping mastery using Speedie Readies: Show the Code and understanding the two learning paths. Includes an introduction to bi-directional word mapping with MyWordz® and MySpeekie®
£1,200 plus travel
​​Ages 7 to 11: Support for Children We Didn’t Reach Earlier
Ten Minutes a Day, With a TA!
Children not reached before age seven follow the Speedie Readies pathway:
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Revisiting GPCs on the Monster Spelling Piano app
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Building high frequency word knowledge - words are mapped orthographically.
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Exploring accents and concepts previously missed from instruction or misunderstood
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Developing fluency and comprehension through the One Two Three and Away series
Support remains structured, visual, accessible, and child centred.
âžœ 2 Hour CPD for SENDCos and Teaching Assistants: Screening for Word Mapping Difficulties . Guiding upper primary aged children towards word mapping mastery using Speedie Readies: Show the Code and understanding the two learning paths. Includes an introduction to bi-directional word mapping with MyWordz® and MySpeekie®
£1,200 plus travel
​​Non Age specific: Support for Children With SEN and SpLD
1:1 EHCP Support with a TA.
Children follow the Speedie Readies pathway:
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Mastering Phonemic Awareness and GPCs on the Monster Spelling Piano app
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Building high frequency word knowledge - words are mapped orthographically.
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Exploring MySpeekie as an AAC and bridge between speech and print
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Developing fluency and comprehension through the One Two Three and Away series
âžœ 2 Hour CPD for Specialist Teachers and Support Staff: Connecting Speech to Print through Word Mapping with a Visible Code. Includes an introduction to MySpeekie as an AAC and bi-directional word mapping with MyWordz® £1,200 plus travel
Personalising Speech to Print phonics through classroom based word mapping with IPA aligned Phonemies
Children who aren’t reading with fluency and comprehension, or spelling effectively, aren’t storing words in the orthographic lexicon. This means they’re still slowly and laboriously decoding each word, grapheme by grapheme. This uses so many cognitive resources they can’t focus on comprehension.
Learn how to speed up word mapping in both directions.
Learn to explore which letters are graphemes and which phonemes they represent, depending on accent.
Learn what to do when a child can’t figure out a word.
Show students who can read how to be their own spelling coach.