What are Speech Sound Monsters?
The SSP Speech Sound Monsters®, Phonemies®, make speech sounds visible to support bidirectional word mapping.
They are displayed on the MySpeekie® phonetic keyboard. Phonemies® are Phonetic Symbols for Kids, making speech sounds visible and word mapping easy to understand.
Children love them because they are engaging and make learning to map words fun.
Emma Hartnell-Baker, aka the Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer® and self-confessed Code Mapping Nerd, has a pattern-seeking brain and was able to see the logic of English in a way that no-one else had, mapping every word in English using her Ortho-GraphiX® algorithm and Phonemies®.
Phonemies® are used within the Word Mapping Mastery® ecosystem and are used to introduce children to the concept of listening for speech sounds, ordering them from left to right, and connecting them with graphemes for reading and spelling. They are used within the Speech Sound Play Plan, which leads into the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, a self-paced Core Code phonics programme for Reception classrooms; Dys-Code® (our dyslexia risk screening project, for which we are seeking funding to provide free risk screening for all three-year-olds in England); and EHCP provision for children who are struggling to learn phonics through print-to-speech instruction.
Phonemies® are also embedded within texts so that children can feel like readers from as young as two or three. They appear in the 36 pre-readers and 16 introductory readers in The Village With Three Corners series, providing visual access to the speech sounds in words as children begin exploring books and learning how written words map to spoken language. Learn more about Speedie Readies here
The Word Mapping Mastery® ecosystem is powered by Ortho-GraphiX®, the algorithm that maps every word of English bidirectionally.