What is the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach to Wiring Brains for Reading, Writing and Spelling? Join us as we shift the way we teach and learn literacy, based on the power of neuroplasticity. Playful, child centred, inquiry learning that gets the best academic outcomes. A win, win for all. Developed by Miss Emma, The Reading Whisperer, and incorporating a range of fabulous external resources. Miss Emma BEd Hons. MA Special Educational Needs (Dyslexia, Behaviour Management, PSED) www.wiringbrains.com

1. Why move to SSP? Best academic outcomes, inexpensive, fun, child centred playful learning, fully
differentiated, fully resourced, ‘how far travelled’ approach…… why not ?!
Every word in the English language ‘code mapped’ for the brain (except ‘one’ and ‘once’).
Brains are not ‘wired’ to learn words as whole words, and this is why children struggle with ‘sight
words’ taught using Look, Cover, Say, Write… The main reason AU students need to learn sight
words is because PM readers are made up of 90% sight words, and they guess the other words from
pictures. This is not reading.
Case Study Prep Class 2014 after 3 term of SSP-
Average PM Benchmark 21.
Why? No guessing or memorising, just learning
to read with fluency, expression and
comprehension.
See them using the student poster to rapidly
learn the code, after only 3 weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVB2oag-
XDc

2. I am currently teaching pre-school children to read and spell in 18 weeks. That means real reading
with comprehension. All videoed.
And this year 2 class after 4 term of SSP were ALL Probe tested at reading comprehension of 11 and
12 year olds, and ALL blasted PM 30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKnWknpY_3Y

3. And these teacher comments after using the Stand Alone Spelling Program for older grades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tiO5p10MEg
SSP is meaningful to the students (of all ages) and centres around their interests.
eg Code Mapping with Minecraft.

5. Why is SSP so important? We pick up on ‘red alert’ brains within the first week.
SSP offers Prevention AND Intervention, for all grade levels :
Really important for pre-school and Prep teachers to watch this, to show ‘prevention’ ; an
intelligent, articulate, keen girl who has poor phonemic awareness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOxINGbIgzY&feature=youtu.be
We have to re-wire her brain so she is able to learn to read and spell, and this means doing things
BEFORE even thinking about a focus on print - eg 'letter sounds'. She could memorise them, and will
quickly learn to say 'a' when she sees the 'a' etc but it won't MEAN anything to her brain.

6. This is why the SA Education Dept has these guidelines.

7. This is the child who would memorise sight words and get to about PM 8 - 10 by the end of Prep
through intelligent guesses, but the code will be a mystery to her, her spelling would be poor, and
people would start looking for labels eg dyslexia.
She would be trying so hard, but never 'get it'. School would become more and more difficult for
her, despite trying really hard. The phonemic awareness element is vital if you want all children
reading fluently (well past PM 30) and spelling effectively before Year 2.
Let's change all of that, and put her in the top of her class when she starts Prep, and brimming with
confidence. Her effort will pay off.
Watch as her brain start making new connections over the next week or so. We will literally 'unlock'
the parts that would stop her learning to read and spell using the traditional methods used in
school.
PMs and 'sight words used as whole words would mean she was still struggling in Year 3. This means
she becomes a high flier. I can see that now, because of her aptitude.
We can recognise her as a 'red alert' now, overcome the issues, and she will read and spell before
she even starts school. Because we will re-wire her brain it actually then won't matter if her school is
still using PM readers and sending home 'sight words' to learn as whole words, as she will know how
to code everything by then anyway.
Early intervention in pre-school can literally change brains, change lives. Most ‘programs’ mask
issues as children learn through memory. They may run ‘ants’ up their arms and repeated
‘aaaaaaaaaa’ madly, but this does not mean that they understand that ‘a’ is a representation for the
speech sound in the middle of the word ‘pan’. They can look at ‘c’ and say ‘clever cat’ but have no
understanding that this is a representation of more than one speech sound (cat, cent etc)

8. It is not MEANINGFUL to the brain.
Keep watching to see it in action! And remember, it's never too late. We caught this early. If you
recognise this in high school kids, you can get the reading and spelling within weeks too.
SSP Code Mapping

12. Coded Sight Word Videos- eg www.codedsightwords.com
Sight words to music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XprSQYRTjfk

13. Table Top Resources, eg Coded Sight Words – download from Printable Resources page in
member’s area – www.wiringbrains.com

14. The Speech Sound (Spelling) Clouds
There are actually 42 pure speech sounds (phonemes) and then there are representations for 2
speech sounds. For example k/s is two speech sounds, so not a phoneme, and represented by the
letter 'x'.
As they learn the code, they practice it within real books (home readers).

15. Note- Comprehension is included within ALL FOUR Code Levels. The difference with SSP and PM
Readers etc is that the children can actually say all words in the text without help, as they can code
them. Dandelion Readers from Phonics Books Ltd shown in this image (order in store)

17. A Poem for Every Speech Sound Cloud to show spelling choices in meaningful context.

18. The clouds represent the order in which we cover 90 of the most commonly used representations
for the speech sounds. There are around 200 in total, and these make up the whole spelling code.
There are 67 speech sound clouds because they follow the focus order of investigating the first 90.

19. We cover 90 within 4 Code Levels- Green, Purple, Yellow, Blue. Coded readers also follow these- ie
all coded readers in Yellow ONLY have sound pics that are covered in Green, Purple and Yellow
Levels, plus coded sight words.
So they may be explicitly covering the 'j' speech sound for the first time in the Purple Level (see 'g'
cloud) and then again as 'j' in the Yellow Level. So there will be a 'g' speech sound cloud in Purple,
and a 'j' speech sound cloud in Yellow- even though the sound pics are the same as its the same
speech sound. They have looked at 'g' as in giant and 'g' as in giggle, to discover a concept. But it is
important when we then look at 'j' in Yellow that they also see that cloud, and we don't just double
up. The letter in bold on the outside of the cloud refers to the sound pic we focused on at that stage
of the 4 code levels.
So having the clouds follow the order we teach the most commonly used Sound Pics, is a way to
organise it for the brain. It's a skill acquisition program, so that are constantly going over the
material learnt before, to reinforce, and store to long term memory - the clouds on the walls and on
keyrings further reinforce the learning sequence.
It's why 5 year olds can tell you exactly which code level each speech sound is in, and which sound
pics are in each level - not through memorising the clouds, but because of how the learning is
scaffolded. All resources reinforce this learning.

21. Skills Acquisition Program

23. How much does it cost?
$480 per class; hard copy resources for 25 children, and 12 months access to the member’s area for
downloadable resources, whiteboard lessons, assssment tools, support forum and more.
You can order resources separately eg a student poster per student ($8 each- your whole phonic
program on one poster) spelling clouds for walls in A4 or A5 ($67) flip book of coded sight words
($60) at least one spelling cloud keyring ($18) Pocket Rocket readers for speedy decoding in pairs
($60) Also recommend the Green and Purple Flip Work Books (1 per class)
Put spelling keyrings on books lists for parents.

24. There are also options for parents, for less than $300.
There are over 250 free coded readers to use on tablets, whiteboards etc. So just get a set of
Fitzroy readers, although if you have the budget we recommend Dandelion hard copy readers as
these follow the order of teaching the Sound Pics. SSP readers online are free.
They show the Sound Pics in the reader, and the children read them independently.
Also use the SSP Brain Training (Code Mapping) strategies for speeding up the reading
process when in pairs, and use these techniques so that the brain does not lose the
meaning of the text
.

25. Daily Routines. Just follow them. Learn about SSP as you ‘teach’.
Everything included: phonemic awareness, phonics (code mapping) spelling using speech sounds,
letter formation, reading fluency and comprehension,
vocabularly knowledge, grammar and punctuation,
writing for a purpose, higher order / critical thinking,
verbal intelligence and more.
For more info about VCOP see Andrell Education.
Poster downloads are free.
All activities have their own page on
www.wiringbrains.com to show you how to do them,
and so that you can watch real children in real
classrooms going through the routines.
Come and visit SSP Approved Schools, and see it in action. You simply pay a fee per teacher, to the
school, and they come to see it in action, and can then opt for a half day training with an SSP Trainer.
(Schools using SSP please contact us to offer this)

26. Phase 1 – Phonemic Awareness and Oral Language (Inc Speech Therapy)

28. Developing phonemic awareness and segmenting skills. They ‘play the word’ showing ure speech
sounds, with fingers over the lines (keys).

29. When moving to Phase 2 they start making choices about what sits on those lines!
Pre-School

30. Phase 2- Learning to Code with Comprehension.
By Year 2.
Phase 3- Literacy Teaching. No longer learning to read. Now reading to learn !

31. We recommend using resources from Andrell Education ( Big Write ) to
complement your SSP Rapid Writing activities. Miss Emma has focused on
teaching reading and spelling while first launching SSP as these are the areas
teachers struggle with the most. However we are now working on the Writing
elements. Wiring Brains Education are happy to promote the use of Big Writing
resources to schools using SSP, and recommend the display of these VCOP
posters.
SSP offers your programming for the two hour literacy block, for Phase 2 and 3.
The ‘Rapid Writing’ element changes as they transition to Phase 3, naturally, as
the children are now longer learning to read and spell, and their verbal
intelligence is so far advanced. They have a more mature voice, which means
they are moving into a far more exciting and challenging ‘Writer’s Voice’ stage.
They have more to say, and are using the tools and developing the skills to
translate this to paper.

32. RTI at any age
Scaffolded Learning – Content Overview - Phase 2

34. RWI phrases recommended as
they not only help children
form letters correctly, but also
further reinforce the speech
sound to sound pics links.
Order card pack from the store.

53. Watch instructional video- the first 5 weeks
of school (Prep/ Reception/ Foundation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qil7-
YzhXiw
Questions? Email info@ReadAustralia.com
Miss Emma
The Reading Whisperer
Useful Info
Recommended External Resources, mentioned in this document
Read Write Inc (letter formation cards)
Fitzroy (readers)
Big Writing/ Write (VCOP posters)
Dandelion Readers
Pocket Rocket Readers (Orange and Purple Boxes)
Oxford Owl (free e-readers)
Apps in My Pocket - Pocket Phonics app

56. Facebook.com/ReadAustralia
Youtube.com/SoundPics
WiringBrains.com
WiringBrainsLab.com
SSPReaders.com
CodedSightWords.com
RethinkingBenchmarks.com
Future Plans: The Wiring Brains Learning Village.
Independent School, Worldwide Distance Education School (Online)
Teacher Training and Research Centre.
7 Year Longitudinal Research Project, Televised.