Meet the Speech Sound King!
The Speech Sound King is a character in the Speech Sound Pics® story. He plays a key role in helping children understand that words are mapped according to his speech sounds, which may differ from the ones they use in everyday speech. Children imagine that he created "the code" and authored a word-mapping book we also call a dictionary.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an invaluable tool for speech therapists because it provides a consistent, universal system to accurately represent the sounds of speech using phonetic symbols.
Phonemies offer a way to adapt this system in a format even toddlers can understand, bridging speech and written English and extending the IPA.
For example, two separate Phonemie monsters are used to represent the two graphemes y/ou and yet, joined together to represent the grapheme /ew/ in yew or /ue/ in cue.
The IPA allows speech therapists to transcribe exactly what a child says, capturing nuances such as mispronunciations, substitutions, or omissions. For example:
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A child who says tat instead of cat can have this substitution recorded as /tæt/ instead of /kæt/.
You will hear Spencer do that.
This precision is invaluable for parents and educators who support the child, as it aids in diagnosing and treating articulation and/ or phonological disorders. Phonemic awareness, the ability to recognise and manipulate individual speech sounds, is the strongest predictor of reading and spelling success or failure. Word Mapping with 'Phonemies' addresses PA deficits!
The IPA also serves as a common language among speech therapists, linguists, educators, and other specialists. It ensures that observations and recommendations are understood consistently, regardless of regional accents or dialects.
Spencer began using the Speech Sound Monsters® under the guidance of his speech pathologist. Although he was not yet pronouncing all the phonemes correctly, in this clip, the Phonemies help him identify the target sounds. By showing us the cards, we can understand the sounds he is trying to articulate. This approach takes the pressure off children and offers them an easier way to communicate and be understood. MySpeekie® takes that one step further!
Avery is finding out that we need to type the Phonemies used by the Speech Sound King to produce the correctly spelt written word. He thought the word 'stop' had a /d/
From the chapter in the Word Mapping Mastery Book
"The Speech Sound King, the Speech Sound Duck, and the Naughty Speech Sound Frog"
As outlined in the chapter on the Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach, I create stories and poems to help children connect with concepts and learn meaningfully, rather than relying on memorising words or learning ‘rules’ – which I suggest you avoid when teaching phonics. We start from where children are when they begin school, which involves assessing their ability to isolate, segment, and blend speech sounds, regardless of any speech and language challenges or whether they even speak English. It doesn’t matter!
Children develop excellent phonemic awareness, even if they lacked it at the start of school, enabling them to understand word mapping conceptually. They are introduced to commonly used GPC groups in four ‘Code Levels’ and high-frequency words mapped within seven ‘Duck Levels.’ This scaffolding introduces concepts and routines that can be applied to any word, helping children store words in their brain’s ‘word bank.’
Our focus is always on what is meaningful to the children, starting with their mapped names from day one. We emphasise independence and foster curiosity and engagement in learning! While many focus on ‘learning outcomes,’ we are obsessed with the process of learning itself. Teaching young children is a profound responsibility, yet the ‘what’ often overshadows the ‘how,’ neglecting the fact that these are unique individuals.
I wanted teachers to do the opposite of what most ‘programme developers’ design: instead of standing at the front of a classroom and leading lessons, teachers should have more time to observe children and their engagement. This approach requires spending less time actively ‘teaching.’ When standing in front of a group of children, it’s challenging to gauge how each child is feeling or what they are learning. I wanted teachers to act as guides and observers of active learning, especially for constrained skills.
What are constrained skills?
Constrained skills are foundational skills with a finite scope that can be mastered through practice, such as recognising letter-sound correspondences, decoding simple words, and writing letters. These skills are critical for early literacy and can be systematically taught using technology and structured routines. For example, we incorporate 'spaced repetition' within the 30 Minute Routine to reinforce learning effectively.
In contrast, unconstrained skills, such as vocabulary and comprehension, develop continuously throughout life and are typically more challenging to cultivate without support. This is why I believe teachers should be able to focus more of their time in lower primary, as technology cannot replace the value of a great teacher in discussing ideas, exploring new words, and connecting them to each child’s unique experiences. Ironically, the more children read for pleasure, the more naturally and easily they develop these unconstrained skills. Most children who struggle with comprehension tasks in upper primary do so because they read only when required, whereas those who excel often succeed because they read frequently and deeply– not necessarily because of what they are taught in class. If we ensure children not only can read but also do read for pleasure before Year 2, the entire school culture changes. A strong foundation in constrained skills, coupled with fostering a love of reading early on, creates a ripple effect that impacts learning outcomes across all areas.
Constrained skills are essential for providing children with the foundational ability to read without decoding every word, but this stage should never overshadow the importance of fostering curiosity and creating meaningful learning experiences that encourage a love of reading and lifelong learning.
The Speech Sound King
The Speech Sound King is a sensible, occasionally grumpy character who sometimes shows a silly side – like when he wears flip-flops!
Because children think that the dictionary is the King’s ‘Code Mapping® Book,’ they become interested in it! This is when they need to know letter names and use the Spelling Clouds®. It is the only way to explain which ‘Sound Pic®’ you are referring to when multiple options represent the same speech sound, unless you simply point.
For example:
Question: “Which is the Sound Pic® for the first sound in ‘science’?”
Answer: “Ess cee.”
Question: “Which is the Sound Pic® for the last sound in ‘science’?”
Answer: “Cee ee.”
The King plays an essential role in explaining some of the quirks of the English language. For example, the words ones and once cannot be mapped in the usual way because the Naughty Speech Sound Frog messed up their monster sounds: /wʌn/ and /wʌns/.
On this day, the King was in a bad mood and refused to fix the problem! Instead, he decided to keep the words in his Code Mapping book in red, as a reminder of how stubborn he had been.
The Sound Pic® /o/ could represent the first sound in the word one, with /n/ representing the last sound. Just as it does in the word ‘onion’ In once, the /o/ could again represent the first sound, and /ce/ the last. But what happened to the Sound Pic for the /ʌ/ sound? It’s a mystery! As a result, these two words are forever spelt in their unique way.
The Naughty Speech Sound Frog also added a /w/ to the /tuː/ monsters, to write the word ‘two’ but the King declared it could not appear in any other words and therefore could not be added to the Spelling Clouds®. Similarly, the Frog placed the Sound Pic® /ach/ between /y/ and /t/. Why not just use /o/? The King was not amused!
The King speaks in a very ‘posh’ English accent, aligning with the British IPA – Received Pronunciation – and the expectations of GPC instruction within phonics lessons. Children often ask, “Which speech sounds would the King have used and mapped to HIS Sound Pics?” This helps explain why correspondences may differ from their own accents.
While the King began his journey mapping spoken words into print by identifying speech sounds and assigning the Sound Pics® (and creating the Spelling Clouds®), we are busy exploring those words to see if he missed any! If children find Sound Pics ®that appear in at least two words, we add them to the Spelling Clouds®, and I write them a poem. 😊
