Activity 1: The Monster Spelling Piano app for tablets.
50% off when ordered through the Apple Store Manager
We can identify dyslexia risk before children turn 3, even in those who are non-speaking. By doing this, Amari and Lucas will never have to struggle. Imagine the peace of mind that comes from knowing your child will not face reading and spelling difficulties at school, even if they are not using the Speedie Readies system.
As much as many dislike the idea of young children using screens, we simply cannot accurately screen non-speaking or minimally verbal children, or observe how they learn and problem-solve, without technology. The few minutes spent on it are worth any perceived negative.
At the Early Dyslexia Screening Centre, we screen children for dyslexia risk before they begin learning to connect speech to print with phonics.
Speech Sound Mapping with Phonemies® prevents the Dyslexia Paradox by supporting accurate speech sound processing and re-routing the pathways that can lead to reading and spelling difficulty.
Phonemies® make speech–print relationships visible, helping children form stable, bidirectional links between sounds and letters. This supports both reading and spelling development by strengthening the underlying phonological and orthographic connections. By targeting the phonological processing differences linked to dyslexia, Speech Sound Mapping promotes alternative neural routes that support successful literacy acquisition.
We start from speech.
The Monster Spelling Piano® app was first developed over ten years ago by Emma Hartnell-Baker in Australia, where few children were being explicitly taught to connect letters and sounds, and even fewer were being supported through a speech-to-print approach that could identify phonemic awareness and phonological working memory difficulties while reducing cognitive load. The GPC sequence was designed to complement both the UK Letters and Sounds programme and the Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach.
Children begin with Phase 1, focusing on listening for the sounds in words, segmenting, and blending. They learn to use Duck Hands® (as demonstrated at www.speechsoundpics.com/duck-hands) to organise phonemes from left to right and to blend them together. The Duck Hands® technique also helps teachers identify which children are not accurately hearing sounds and may be relying on imitation or visual cues instead. Phonemic awareness is essential; if children cannot hear and sequence sounds, phonics instruction becomes far more difficult to understand and apply.
Many teachers lacked the support needed to implement whole-class phonics effectively and often did not have a TA or suitable tools to screen for phonemic awareness or identify dyslexia risk. The Monster Spelling Piano® app was created to fill this gap. It introduces children to speech sounds first and then explains that there are pictures of speech sounds used to talk on paper. This is the foundation of phonics, showing how letters and sounds connect in a way that is universally understood. In the video below, a child decodes the word pan and pronounces it with an Australian accent, illustrating that while pronunciations may vary, the underlying phoneme–grapheme mapping remains constant.
The Speech Sound Monsters® were introduced to help children who struggle to produce certain sounds, such as those with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). Each Phonemie® represents a specific speech sound, functioning as a visual and auditory equivalent of an IPA phonetic symbol. This makes it easier for children to understand that a grapheme such as s may represent different sounds in different words, as seen with the grapheme <s> in pans and sip. When the code is visible, these differences are easy to grasp. This is especially important to children at risk for finding phonics difficult.
The original version of the app was later replaced with a new build that included over 100 high-frequency words. In this version, children can type a word by its sounds using Phonemies® and instantly see the correct spelling. They also use the app to write words with their finger or stylus.
Because English has an opaque orthography, there is limited value in embedded mnemonics such as associating the letter s with a picture of a snake. The grapheme s does not always correspond to that sound. Dr Linnea Ehri, a leading researcher in literacy development and psycholinguistics, has examined mnemonic strategies such as those used in Letterland®. While recognising their role in introducing basic letter-sound awareness, she has also highlighted their limitations. Shmidman and Ehri (2010) observed that “although there are commercially available programmes that employ mnemonics, many are unlikely to achieve success due to the excessive number of associations required to be remembered, coupled with the lack of personal relevance of these associations.”
Although embedded mnemonics have been praised for supporting early phonics instruction, their value beyond initial letter identification is questionable. For some neurodivergent children, such strategies may even make learning to read and spell more difficult. Critiques from Ehri and others point to the risk of overcomplication and lack of relevance, which can hinder learning (Shmidman & Ehri, 2010; Sousa, 2006).
The Monster Spelling Piano® app is grounded in two key theories: the self-teaching hypothesis (Share, 1995) and orthographic mapping theory (Ehri, 2014). By introducing letter–sound mapping in a self-paced, interactive format that is easy to understand, the app helps children begin the process of orthographic learning and prepares them to transition into the One, Two, Three and Away! readers once they have mastered the Green and Purple Code Levels.
In addition, the app supports speech sound articulation. As children become familiar with the Monsters and Phonemies® through structured practice - which they view as play - they can quickly begin using the Innovate UK funded MyWordz® Technology for a range of daily literacy activities, including independent spelling for dyslexic learners.
This is Rory, who was screened as high risk of struggling to read and spell. He is able to check the sound value of the graphemes, but as you can see he struggles to blend all the sounds, even when his Mum tells him the word. The Monsters reduce the cognitive load, but he is one of the 1 in 5 who start school with weak phonemic awareness. Six months later - and with great support at home from his parents, he was in the self-teaching phase and reading for pleasure.
When phonemic awareness is secure, and children know the Green and Purple Code Level Phonemies®, they can begin the readers. They continue to work with the GPCs, but the readers bring everything together and enable self-teaching within a term.
This system facilitates decoding mastery and aligns with the Department for Education’s Curriculum and Assessment Review: Building a World-Class Curriculum for All (2025), which highlights the need for inclusive, mastery-based literacy pathways that integrate oracy, accessibility, and early assessment.
Read how Speedie Readies supports the Review’s recommendations.
The Phonemies Family of Speech Sound Monsters were introduced to Australian children over a decade ago! Helping children read for pleasure, and love the library.