Spelfabet

Learning the building blocks of words - sounds, their spellings, and word parts

Literacy catch-up programs for struggling older children and teenagers

Please note that accent differences make Australian, UK and NZ programs more suitable for use in Australia than US and Canadian ones.

The Spelfabet resources from this website can also be used to explicitly teach phonemic awareness and phoneme-grapheme correspondences to adults, and should be used in conjunction with materials targeting fluency, vocabulary and comprehension such as the Phonic Books and workbooks for catch-up readers or the Sound Out Chapter Books and workbooks.

20 responses to “05. Catch-up”

  1. Debbie Hepplewhite says:
    January 24, 2016 at 11:05 pm

    Hi Alison,

    Phonics International is also suitable for ‘Literacy catch-up programs for struggling older children and teenagers’ and because the systematic resources are provided as electronic links, they are accessible in most places around the world readily and inexpensively. These might be of interest as they relate to older, struggling learners:

    http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Complete_Works.html

    http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Secondary_Phonics_write_up.pdf

    Warmest regards,

    Debbie
    X

    Reply
    • alison says:
      January 27, 2016 at 1:45 pm

      Hi Debbie, thanks for this feedback, I made these menus and lists up thinking that there were many people who knew their programs better than I did, and that lots of them would quickly get in touch with me and tell me how to fine-tune them, but of course hardly anyone did. So I really appreciate that you have, and have added the links in your comment to the main pages. All the best, Alison

      Reply
  2. KS says:
    April 27, 2016 at 3:28 pm

    Hi Alison,

    Another teacher and I are creating a reading intervention program for the Year 7 students at my school. Our school has the THRASS resource. I also suggested we buy Words Their Way. I saw you have recommended against WTW but do you have any thoughts on THRASS? Is this a good program to be using?

    Reply
    • alison says:
      April 29, 2016 at 6:20 pm

      Hi, I have used some THRASS materials though I haven’t done the training, but my understanding is that it is not a synthetic phonics program. There are some good things in it, but my experience and what others tell me is that it’s a bit too complex and difficult for many kids and there is a lot of extraneous stuff in it. Have you considered the Phonic Books series for older kids, the Sound Out Chapter Books, or the Rip Rap books and workbook?
      I wrote a blog post about these and other things that are suitable for teenagers at http://www.spelfabet.com.au/2015/09/helping-teenagers-with-literacy. Hope that it provides you with some leads that are helpful. Alison

      Reply
  3. Jude Evelyn Mathers says:
    January 1, 2017 at 10:00 am

    Hi Alison,
    Do you have any recommendations for learners with memory disability?

    Jude

    Reply
  4. Jude Evelyn Mathers says:
    January 1, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Add-on to previous post-
    My student will be in my mainstream gr 3/4 class this year and I’m guessing is 9 or 10. It is very difficult to teach him as he doesn’t retain the teaching from previous sessions, I’ve been told by former teachers.

    Reply
    • alison says:
      January 1, 2017 at 4:10 pm

      Ah, I think you probably need to get the school speech pathologist and/or psychologist to assess him, as this could be a language impairment, a vocabulary issue, attention, or something else, or a combination of things. Perhaps it is working memory, and he’s just being given too much information at once so he can’t take it all in, but anyway I’d highly recommend a proper assessment to drill down on exactly what the issue or issues are.

      Reply
      • jude mathers says:
        January 1, 2017 at 7:28 pm

        Thanks Alison. I haven’t yet read his file, but he has been tested. Maybe I’ll get back to you once I’ve read his assessment, if that’s ok. I understand that working memory is a problem but there may be more to it. He is still sounding out words, and forgets letter sounds that he was taught the day before. Teaching is not reaching his long-term memory. I’ll try to track down the book you’ve mentioned, thank you.

        I’m feeling increasingly frustrated by the fact that you have such an incredible breadth of information here online and it all makes so much sense, and yet this information is not being disseminated to teachers. Why are teacher educators so out of touch with what you are saying? I am so grateful for the incredible amount of work you have done and shared. I am doing my darnedest to share your site with every teacher I know. You must be truly dedicated to work so tirelessly- I’m sure that in the end, your dedication will eventually pay off and things will change.

        Reply
        • alison says:
          January 9, 2017 at 4:28 pm

          Dear Jude, Thanks for the lovely feedback, I’m so glad you find my site useful, it sorely needs an update which I am about to get going on so it’s ready in time for the new school year. Thanks for sharing it and I hope others find it useful too, it’s certainly been a learning curve for me and I hope that it does contribute to gradually turning the early literacy educational ship. Alison

          Reply
  5. Elisha Byrne says:
    March 1, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Hi Alison,

    Thank you for providing invaluable advice and sharing fantastic resources and ideas. Do you recommend MultiLit’s program, MacqLit? I’m a Primary Enrichment teacher who is currently looking for a quality program to support students in small groups and one-to-one. I’m also considering ‘Cracking the ABC Code’. Do you have a preference?

    Reply
    • alison says:
      March 4, 2017 at 7:30 am

      Hi Elisha, I don’t personally have either of these programs but they both look pretty good to me, and are both based on sound research and current models. Alison

      Reply
  6. Debbie Hepplewhite says:
    November 25, 2017 at 6:02 am

    Hi Alison,

    I have now redeveloped some core Phonics International material into a pick-up-and-go hard copy series of books. Lioncrest in Australia distribute this material for Raintree Publishing. You can review this hard copy material via the link below and possibly consider it for adding to your list. Thank you so much:

    https://phonicsintervention.org/no-nonsense-phonics-skills/

    I’ve also created a new website which showcases this material at http://www.phonicsintervention.org

    Best wishes,

    Debbie

    Reply
    • alison says:
      November 25, 2017 at 4:20 pm

      Hi Debbie,

      Thanks for letting me know, I’ll make contact with the Lioncrest rep here sometime soon and see if I can take a look at the resources, I’m sure they are excellent. And of course I am always happy to add new resources to my lists, the more good options there are, the more likely people will be to take them up.
      All the best
      Alison

      Reply
      • Debbie Hepplewhite says:
        November 26, 2017 at 5:29 am

        Thank you so much, Alison. I agree with you about ‘the more good stuff the better’ and teachers and parents deserve choices of evidence-informed programmes and resources.

        There is information about further programmes – particularly in America – for those parents and teachers in America who may access your site but not be aware of the following organisation and site:

        The International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction http://www.iferi.org

        Reply
  7. Alison says:
    March 5, 2019 at 11:35 pm

    Hi Alison

    Would you recommend the Spelling Made Easy program to use at home with my 11 yo son? He struggles trying to break words into syllables and tries to recall them from sight rather than sound! He’s 18 months behind in spelling but age appropriate in reading.

    I’d appreciate your thoughts,

    Alison (too!)

    Reply
    • alison says:
      March 10, 2019 at 6:33 pm

      Hi Alison Too, I haven’t got the Spelling Made Easy program but from what I can see of it on the amazing internets, it looks pretty good, it’s based on sounds and their spellings and works systematically and explicitly. Good luck with getting your son to sound out words, just keep nagging him to say the sounds as he writes their spellings till this becomes a habit that can then be done subvocally. All the best , Alison

      Reply
  8. Rosalie Fleming says:
    June 18, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Hi
    I discovered you through Reading Simplified. Have you looked into their programme?
    You talk such a lot of sense!
    Cheers

    Reply
    • alison says:
      June 18, 2020 at 6:43 pm

      Hi Rosalie, I only just learnt about Reading Simplified, but it looks great. I don’t have a copy yet but it’s definitely on my wish list. All the best, Alison

      Reply

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