Neurodivergent children are ready for change—changes that prevent learning difficulties.
At least 95% of children have the capacity to learn to read, yet the existing system produces at least 27% of eleven-year-olds who are instructional casualties.
When Jim Rose addressed Parliament during his review of the teaching of reading in 2005, the data showed that 84% of 11-year-olds in England were reading at the expected level for their age. This was a significant improvement from 67% in 1997, following the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy in 1998. Despite this progress, Rose's review argued that close to one in five children still left primary school without adequate reading skills, which led to his recommendation that synthetic phonics be adopted as the primary method of teaching reading in early education.
Rose's findings led to a strong push for systematic synthetic phonics to be mandated in schools, as the method was considered more effective than alternative approaches like whole-word learning or mixed methods, which were popular at the time. This shift was intended to close the gap for those children who were still not achieving expected literacy levels by the end of primary school (The Independent) (Shanahan on Literacy). That more children are unable to read by age 11 today is clear evidence that this decision was unwise, and costly for children and taxpayers alike. The recent report from Warwick Mansell, "A ‘closed shop’? Phonics advisory group to Department for Education dominated by individuals linked to products offered by just two companies," highlights how those advising the government are making millions while children continue to struggle.
Why not change the curriculum and assessment system to ensure that at least 95% of children can read before they enter Key Stage 2? I have already demonstrated how this can be done in Australia when I introduced the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach. SSP is not 'synthetic phonics,' yet phonics is taught systematically and explicitly, and each child experiences a personalised learning journey. Not only are children given the opportunity to learn differently, but teachers are also given the opportunity to teach differently. Covid - and school closures - did not negatively impact on our data!
My doctoral research centres around orthographic interference. Could synthetic phonics training and programmes be making it worse for teachers and learning support staff? Why are at least 80% of synthetic phonics teachers unable to accurately map phonemes and graphemes when mapping words that children want to use when writing independently, for example, 'super hero'? (suːpə ˈhɪərəʊ)
We will submit evidence through SystematicSyntheticPhonics.com so that this evidence can be reviewed by all. Data relating to literacy levels in England—both before and after the synthetic phonics mandate—is readily available. For example, before the mandate, 16% of children were unable to read at age 11. Clearly, this method of teaching phonics within a neurodiverse classroom isn't working. We will present evidence on what does work if teaching phonics is the goal. The difference? Approaches to teaching phonics that facilitate the mapping of words visually and linguistically will fail fewer children and also increase the number of children who read for pleasure. Some children do not need explicit phonics instruction at all. Some need support, but this predominantly relates to phonemic awareness, the skill that relates to the 'phoneme' part of grapheme-to-phoneme and phoneme-to-graheme mapping (decoding and encoding)
We will also present the case that phonemic awareness screening at school entry, within the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA), is not fit for purpose. Phonemic awareness on school entry is a better predictor of reading success or failure than socio-economic status, parental involvement, or intelligence (Stanovich, 1986; National Reading Panel, 2000; Lonigan et al., 1998; Scarborough, 2001; Torgesen et al., 1994; Goswami & Bryant, 1990; Catts et al., 2001; Ehri et al., 2001). Phonemic awareness deficits, if identified early, can be addressed to prevent future reading challenges. We will propose a solution that reduces teacher workload, is fully inclusive (engaging non-speaking children, those who do not speak English as a first language, or who are neurodivergent), and generates reports that guide teachers in supporting each unique child.
In England, the costs associated with supporting children with special educational needs (SEN) are substantial. In the 2022-2023 period, local authorities spent £10.1 billion on high-needs funding, which covers SEN provision, with over 473,000 children having an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan. Around 17% of pupils are identified as having SEN, and addressing reading difficulties earlier would drastically reduce the need for costly additional support (Gov.uk) (House of Commons Library).
Knowledge of phonemic awareness on school entry is an incredible gift to those interested in preventing reading and spelling difficulties. This 'Screen and Intervene' approach is the Immunisation Against Illiteracy that every child within a neurodiverse classroom deserves. And it will save the government billions, even if they insist on continuing to put children through one-size-fits-all whole-class synthetic phonics programmes.
Emma Hartnell-Baker
Connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/neurodivergent-reading-whisperer/
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