The Sounds-Write program has been used at Townsville Flexible School since it was introduced in Term 4 2021, following professional development opportunities delivered in Townsville by a certified Sounds-Write trainer. Over the past 3 years, the program has been successfully implemented by two volunteers, both qualified teachers, who work with individual students who are referred to them as needing additional literacy support by the specialist Inclusive Education Coordinator.

Over the three-year period (from Term 4, 2021 through to Term 4, 2024), the volunteers have worked with individual young people whose participation in classroom activities has been seriously restricted by their under-developed literacy skills, often manifesting in disruptive behaviours and failure to thrive in their classrooms.

The Sounds Write program - a highly structured, synthetic, phonics approach to learning to read, complimented by a precisely articulated set of resources that support the development of reading and writing skills - has proved to be an invaluable investment in young people’s literacy advancement at our school. It has provided the tutors with a wealth of ready to go systematic and programmed learning resource materials. While the theory and practices of Sounds Write are closely followed, the emphasis is on teaching individuals and accommodating their needs as young people in a Flexible School. The stepwise progression of the program ensures success for participants at each session.

The volunteers have written a case study illustrating the measurable success that one young person experienced as a more confident literacy learner. (See the appended case study for detail). Given the success he has experienced, the student continues to actively participate in the program. His continued improvement is clearly demonstrable in the level of text he is able now to read, and in the writing skills that he has developed.

Appendix:

Literacy support: A case study of one student

Sam came to the literacy tutors for informal literacy assessment on 16 March 2023. Sam participated fully in this session, but he had difficulty sequencing letters in the alphabet, blending CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), and in distinguishing some vowel sounds. It was decided to start Sam at the beginning of the Sounds-Write program, a structured synthetic phonics program designed for beginning readers in early childhood/ primary settings. However, strategies and social context are adapted to acknowledge the learners’ age and maturity. Because of the varied literacy learning experiences of young people at Flexi, sessions are conducted individually with students in a withdrawal room. Decodable texts, based on the Sounds-Write program, but specifically written and illustrated for older learners are also used to support the learner’s identity as a secondary school student.

Sessions with Sam begin with laying out the alphabet in wooden or plastic letters. Over time, Sam has increased his proficiency in this, often self-initiating the activity as soon as he arrives in the room. These letters then are used in activities designed to develop Sam’s skills in identifying, segmenting, blending and manipulating phonemes. The physical manipulation of the letters allows Sam to use word building, sound search and sound swap as learning strategies quickly and effectively with opportunities to self-correct. Initial sessions focused on a limited number of sounds. Gradually more sounds were introduced. Sessions included reading decodable text in book form based on the sounds taught. For example, the first book is based on 2 vowel sounds and 3 consonants only, configured as simple CVC words, as demonstrated in the following extract: “I am Tam.” “Is it Matt”. This ensured that, from day one, Sam left each session experiencing success and feeling proud of his developing skills. He was not expected to read anything that he had not been taught.

In the first five sessions, Sam worked through 8 decodable books covering all initial sounds and CVC words. This was reinforced through writing activities. Sam completed spelling lists, writing captions and dictation. Sam was offered the option of copying these, but he always opted to “have a go” himself. He accepted support and hints and frequently used self-correction.

Over the next 7 sessions, Sam moved onto CCVC and CVCC words and sounds spelt with two letters (eg, ff, ll, th, sh, and ch). He has leant to add “s” to indicate number and to add “ed” for past tense (although we avoid some of the complications with both of these). Sam occasionally struggles to clearly identify and distinguish vowel sounds but is always ready to work to get the correct sound. He quickly picks up strategies he has been shown. Indeed, he seems to relish this problem solving because, based on his experience of success in secure stepwise progression through the program, he is confident he will get there. He continues to make use of the concrete letters to support reading and dictation.

After 50 sessions, Sam is confidently accepting the challenges of working with multi-syllabic words and of learning the multiple spellings that some sounds have. He reads texts of considerable complexity and literary features. Previous learnings are reinforced and practiced. When confronted with unfamiliar words he works rigorously to sound them out and blend them. Despite this, Sam reads for meaning. He continues his enthusiastic approach to spelling and dictation tasks and is fascinated by features such as homophones and similes and the patterns he finds in English.

Sam’s learning is facilitated by his positive attitude and his enjoyment of learning. He frequently comments “That was fun!”.

CODA

Despite Sam having an intellectual disability, he has demonstrated measurable progress with his reading and writing, and with his comprehension of texts.

Sam’s success has been underpinned by the regularity with which he has been able to attend the literacy tutoring sessions, bearing witness to a basic tenet of the structured synthetic phonics program that regular practice is required early in the process.

All of the young people we work with can learn to read and write. The certainty of this will be guaranteed for each student where, like Sam, there is regular participation in tutoring sessions, allowing opportunities for regular practice, and ensuring personal success as they learn the code.