Start connecting speech to print from birth
We can figure out which children are at risk from as young as six months of age, and prevent the dyslexia paradox by supporting speech, language, and sound awareness in specific ways from birth to three. We can ensure that your child does not experience the mental anguish of struggling to read and spell. Prevention is key. By preventing difficulties, we also support speech and language development, and help children feel good about themselves as they learn to read early and with confidence. Speedie Readies training shows parents how children who become fluent readers naturally build word knowledge, how to recognise when this is not happening early, and what can be put in place at home during this critical window, regardless of school provision. Parental involvement may hold the key to resolving the SEN crisis.
Miss Emma MEd SEN
The Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer®
Supporting speech sound articulation and clarity
Supporting Phonemic Awareness with Duck Hands
Duck Hands before 2!
Children use their hands as a duck’s beak to segment words from left to right, finishing with a sweeping motion to blend the sounds. This helps them link speech sounds to how they are represented on paper from a very early age. We soon introduce ‘speech sound lines and numbers’ to extend this understanding. See the Speech Sound Play Plan for details.
Duck Hands in grade 2!
Connecting Speech and Print with Phonemies
Phonemies® enable toddlers to connect speech to print in a way that makes sense to very young minds.
This supports speech, language, and communication needs in ways that are natural to the child and integrated into day-to-day activities. The child experiences a sense of achievement because it makes sense to them, whereas asking them to look at letters at this age and say the sounds is not a concept many will understand. It introduces the connection between speech and print the wrong way round.
We need to start from what they already know – spoken words, even if they are not yet ready to produce them.
Speedie Readies: Preventing the Dyslexia Paradox from Birth to Three
The foundations for reading and spelling begin long before school. During the birth-to-three years, children are developing the speech, language, and sound awareness skills that underpin later reading success. When these skills are nurtured early, the risk of future reading difficulties can be greatly reduced.
In an opaque orthography like English, difficulties appear in phoneme awareness, phonological working memory, and therefore letter–sound mapping, unless speech sound processing issues are prevented before introducing their representation in print.
In transparent languages such as Finnish or Spanish, children may read accurately but slowly, as weak phonemic awareness means more cognitive effort is required. Again, if the underlying speech sound processing issues are resolved early, this does not occur.
In morpho-syllabic systems such as Chinese, the challenge lies in linking spoken syllables and tones to written symbols. The same principle applies: resolving these difficulties early and engaging in rich speech sound play with larger sound units supports later reading development, even if this play happens in English, as the underlying processing benefits transfer across languages.
Across all languages, dyslexia stems from weak or imprecise speech sound representations.
At the Early Dyslexia Screening Centre, we screen for these risks early and use speech sound play from birth to three to strengthen processing pathways. By doing so, we are re-routing dyslexia before it takes hold, whatever the language. You can learn to do this too!
By helping families, nurseries, and early-years practitioners tune into speech sounds, encourage sound play, and model clear language interactions, we can prevent the dyslexia paradox before it starts. Early attunement is the key to literacy for all.
Train as a Speedie Readies tutor. We offer Speedie Readie workshops for parents, in-house training for early-years practitioners, and one-to-one sessions for parents of babies aged six months and older at the Early Dyslexia Screening Centre.
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Unlike synthetic phonics, where children are shown letters and told they say sounds that must then be blended (even though the letters often don’t actually say those sounds), we start from speech. Please ADD this to your synthetic phonics programme lessons - you can do this separately, and you will see a huge difference to the child's confidence and knowledge within their synthetic phonics lessons!
The graphemes that map to those sounds are shown, but they’re not the focus until the child’s brain is ready. English has an opaque orthography so this is a far easier way to understand the orthographic code in the early years.
This speech-to-print focus helps prevent reading and spelling difficulties and offers an easier way to avoid the dyslexia paradox.
Speech Sound Mapping targets the phonological processing differences linked to dyslexia, promoting alternative neural routes that support successful reading acquisition.
Use of Screens in the Early Years
Some people believe toddlers should not use screens, but evidence shows that screen time can be beneficial depending on what children are doing. When used briefly, interactively, and under adult supervision, technology can strengthen early attention, memory, and speech-sound processing skills.
Research increasingly highlights that the quality and purpose of screen use are what matter. For example, Kirkorian et al. (2016) found that interactive screen experiences that prompt turn-taking and auditory attention support early language processing and executive function.
Roseberry et al. (2014) showed that toddlers can learn new words and sounds from responsive video interactions that include social cues. Hirsh-Pasek et al. (2015) further demonstrated that contingent, guided media experiences (where adults or the app respond to the child’s actions) are linked with stronger cognitive and linguistic outcomes than passive viewing.
In short, when young children engage in short, supervised, and interactive technology activities that focus on speech and sound, we are supporting the neural wiring for the auditory processing and working-memory skills that underpin later learning.
Children connect speech sounds and print with the Phonemies as they are interested.
They choose this, as part of their play.
Speech Sound Mapping is not an add-on, it is part of language development.
We are often asked, “Can two-year-olds learn to read?”
Yes!
This two-year-old is understanding the words they are reading. They are bonding speech sounds, spelling, and meaning, and did not need to work through a set of GPCs systematically to reach this point. Brains are designed for statistical learning, and many children need very little explicit instruction before they begin self-teaching. The key is knowing how to introduce it, and the parents of this toddler knew exactly what they were doing.
You can learn how to do this, as a Speedie Readies tutor.