The Foundation
Course

Simply register, pay the £25 fee and access the Foundation Course from the drop down menu! Why not do the Pre-Course Check first? What will you say if your child asks how to map these words when reading or writing? Will this align with education department guidelines?

This training is for adults to learn to map words, so they can support their child no matter what programme or tutor they're already using, and specifically in the moment a child gets stuck on a word. Not a competing intervention — a capability that sits underneath and alongside anything else.

Dip in and out of different topics to find what is relevant to you. The more videos you watch, the easier it will be to understand how to Show the Code and what your child or student needs at any one time. We guide the self-learning of each child as an individual, rather than following a fixed sequence for all learners.

"As much explicit instruction as they need, and no more." Show the Code: Join the Guided Self-Teaching (GST) Movement

The Language of Word Mapping

New to word mapping? Some of the terms used may be unfamiliar, so we are building a new glossary section: The Language of Word Mapping

Some of the Things You Will Stop Teaching or Referring To:

Consonant Blends
High-Frequency Words to Memorise
Long and Short Vowels
Magic E / Bossy E
Mnemonics (Including Picture-Embedded Mnemonics)
Onset and Rime
Sight Words as Whole Words
Silent Letters
Spelling Rules
Syllabification
The Concept of Exceptions
The Concept of R-Controlled Vowels
The Concept of Tricky Words / Heart Words
Vowel Teams
Word Families

Our goal is to support self-teaching. By explicitly showing how speech sounds and graphemes connect, children bond speech, print and meaning in the orthographic lexicon. With each successful reading and writing experience, their orthographic knowledge grows.

This sits within a wider approach that begins with developing phonological awareness and phonemic awareness through Speech Sound Play, before introducing the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, where children learn the Core Code and commonly used words through bidirectional word mapping. A series of 52 mapped readers provides as much support as each learner needs, for as long as they need it, before gradually removing that support as self-teaching takes over and they carry on reading the 100 books.

Whatever programme or approach has been used previously, once a child has sufficient knowledge of the Core Code, the way we show you to guide bidirectional word mapping will support self-teaching.

None of the concepts listed need to be explicitly taught. Instead, children are shown which letters are graphemes and what phonemes they represent, exactly when they need that information. New words are alway stored in the orthographic lexicon (brain's word bank) using the 60 Second Spelling Routine.

As orthographic knowledge accumulates, learners naturally become aware of the regularities within English orthography. They do not need to be taught spelling rules to understand spelling patterns. Those patterns emerge naturally as a consequence of successful self-teaching. In other words, what many approaches attempt to teach explicitly as rules is acquired implicitly through repeated bonding of speech sounds, graphemes and meaning. By avoiding unnecessary instructional concepts and terminology, cognitive load is reduced, allowing learners to focus on what matters: mapping speech to print and print to speech, and building an increasingly rich orthographic lexicon.

This Foundation Course training is for anyone who wants to understand how speech, print and meaning connect, and why this matters for communication, reading and spelling.

You may find it particularly useful if:

You support a non-speaking child and want to understand how MySpeekie® enables communication through Speech Sound Mapping.
You support a child with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
You want to prevent literacy difficulties before reading failure occurs.
You work with toddlers and young children and want to strengthen speech sound processing, pronunciation, phonemic awareness and phonological working memory.
You support children who struggle to learn to read despite phonics instruction.
You support children who can read but cannot spell accurately.
You work with dyslexic learners and want to understand the role of bidirectional word mapping in reading and spelling.
You support autistic, ADHD or other neurodivergent learners and want approaches that reduce cognitive load and support self-teaching.
You are the parent of a gifted child and want to understand how to help them reach their full potential through meaningful exploration of speech, print and language.
You want to understand why at least 1 in 5 children struggle to connect speech, print and meaning, while others appear to learn with very little explicit instruction.
You want to understand the Speech Sound Mapping principles that underpin MyWordz® with MySpeekie®, NeuroReadies, Dys-Code, Speech Sound Play, the Speech Sound Pics (SSP Approach and Speedie Readies, all leading to Word Mapping Mastery®.

The Foundation Course explains the principles that underpin everything else. Once you understand why bidirectional word mapping matters, it becomes much easier to understand how and why the different pathways work.

Specialist Courses Launching Shortly

Dys-Code

How to screen three-year-olds for dyslexia risk factors, and how to itegrate the Speech Sound Play Plan into daily routines.

MySpeekie

Getting Started with MySpeekie®, the world's first one-screen AAC

The Core Code Club

Learn to help every children in Reception master the Core (Phonics) Code and 100+ Common Exception Words within the year.

Moving from phonics to fluency and comprehension with The Village With Three Corners

Guided Giftedness

Why Bidirectional Word Mapping Aligns with the Science of Reading and Current Education Department Guidelines

Parents and teachers who understand the Science of Reading recognise that successful reading and spelling depend upon understanding the alphabetic code: the relationship between the speech sounds we hear (phonemes) and the letters or groups of letters that represent them in print (graphemes). There is an expectation that this aligns with their own accent, and yet phonics progamme often do not offer resources that support accent variation. Accents change the 'phoneme'

The Department for Education (DfE) places the same emphasis on this knowledge. The Reading Framework states:

“Understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words underpins successful word reading. Pupils’ knowledge of the English alphabetic code, how letters or groups of letters represent the sounds of the language, supports their reading and spelling.”
(Department for Education, 2023, p. 5)

Importantly, the DfE also states:

“This guidance explains why teachers themselves also need to understand the alphabetic code: evidence supports the key role of phonic knowledge and skills in early reading and spelling.”
(Department for Education, 2023, p. 5)

This is a crucial point. The DfE is clear that teachers themselves need a secure understanding of how speech and print connect.

The Reading Framework and Writing Framework explain that the alphabetic code is reversible. In reading, children identify graphemes in written words, identify the phoneme values they represent, and blend those phonemes to recognise words. In spelling, children identify the phonemes in spoken words and select graphemes to represent those phonemes in writing.

This bidirectional relationship between speech and print is at the heart of Word Mapping Mastery®, another term for orthographic mapping.

The question is: how do teachers, parents and practitioners develop this understanding in practice?

At ShowTheCode.com, we offer training in word mapping that included 'Showing the Code'. That means identifying the correspondences. Not as easy as one might think.

Showing the Code makes the relationship between speech and print visible through bidirectional word mapping.

In reading (print-to-speech), adults and children learn to identify which letters are functioning as graphemes and the phoneme values they represent in that word. Unlike the fixed examples often presented within programmes, the mappings may vary according to accent and connected speech, and adults need to understand how to make those decisions.

In spelling (speech-to-print), they identify the phonemes in a spoken word and select the graphemes that represent those phonemes.

Code Mapping makes this process easier by visually showing exactly which letters are functioning together as graphemes. Phonemies® add another layer by showing the sound value of each grapheme.

By making phoneme–grapheme relationships visible, Showing the Code helps teachers develop the deep understanding of the alphabetic code that the DfE says they need. It also helps children understand the structure of words more easily, supporting the connections between speech, print and meaning that lead to Word Mapping Mastery®.

This is particularly important because the statutory spelling guidance states that teachers should draw pupils’ attention to grapheme–phoneme correspondences that both do and do not fit with what has been explicitly taught so far. This requires teachers to understand how the alphabetic code works beyond a set of taught examples. They need to be able to identify which letters are graphemes and their sound value.

This does not replace any SSP programme. We are not showing you how to teach a phonics programme. It supports the teacher knowledge that the DfE itself says is essential, whatever programme a school chooses to use. And how to use the 60 Second Spelling Routine so that the connection between letters and sounds is clear, and speech, spelling and meaning bond in the brain's word bank.

After more than a decade of systematic synthetic phonics as the mandated approach in England, around one in four children still do not reach the expected standard in reading and writing by the end of primary school. This raises an important question: are all adults supporting children being given the practical knowledge they need to understand and apply the full complexity of the alphabetic code, and epecially outside of the phonics lessons, and after they have mastered the Core Code.

The DfE has made clear what teachers need to understand. By showing YOU how to show the code we are providing a practical way for teachers, parents and practitioners to develop that understanding by making the alphabetic code visible through bidirectional word mapping.

Through this process, more children can develop the secure connections between phonemes, graphemes and meaning that support successful reading, spelling and Word Mapping Mastery®.

Why We Built MySpeekie®

MySpeekie® is the newest application of Speech Sound Mapping. The same principles that help children connect speech and print for reading and spelling can also help non-speaking children communicate.

Many of the children we work with are toddlers, autistic, non-speaking, or have significant speech and language difficulties. We found that communication was often the biggest barrier of all.

Traditional AAC systems can be life-changing, but many rely on children navigating multiple screens, selecting symbols, recognising words, remembering where vocabulary is stored, or learning systems that can be difficult for very young children to understand.

I found that when little children have to learn about print before they can get their words voiced, it can be a long time of feeling frustrated when they're not understood.

So I flipped it.

MySpeekie®, developed with Innovate UK support, is the world's first one-screen AAC for non-speaking children who cannot yet read or spell.

Instead of searching through grids and multiple pages, children type speech sounds using Phonemies®. The words appear on screen and are voiced immediately. This means they can communicate anything they want from the start.

A child can generate messages such as "snack please" or "orange squash in a yellow cup please" without needing to learn to read and spell first.

What surprised us was what happened next.

As children used speech sounds to generate words, they began noticing how speech and print connect. They were not only communicating, they were beginning to discover the structure of written language without explicit, systematic phonics instruction, simply because they were generating the code.

Children generated the words they wanted voiced, but could also see the mapping because MyWordz® uses a word mapping algorithm that handles bidirectional word mapping. When we showed the code so that children could type the speech sounds in the correct order, we were also building strong phonemic awareness. They did not need to focus on the pictures of the speech sounds, the graphemes, until they were ready.

When children are taught to read, the process typically happens the other way round. They are first shown graphemes, if being taught phonics, or whole words, as still often happens with "sight words", and then have to identify the speech sounds and blend them, or remember the word. There is generally a structured progression, with children only being taught certain grapheme-phoneme correspondences when they reach a particular point in a programme. For example, children are not usually taught split digraphs in week one.

With MySpeekie®, children start with the speech. They can generate words containing split digraphs and any other grapheme-phoneme correspondences because they are not restricted by a Scope and Sequence.

If these observations are confirmed through future research, they may have implications that extend far beyond AAC. They raise important questions about how orthographic knowledge develops when children are shown the code and are able to explore bidirectional word mapping from the start. By making the speech-to-print code visible when children are toddlers, we may be able to accelerate self-teaching, particularly for children who struggle with traditional print-to-speech approaches, and potentially prevent literacy difficulties before they occur.

We have also found that this appears to positively impact phoneme articulation. Parents frequently report that their child's articulation and interest in words differ markedly from siblings who did not use the system. Families for whom English is not the first language have also reported that their children develop clearer English pronunciation.

This system may not only be empowering for non-speaking children by allowing them to communicate exactly what they want to say through MySpeekie®. It may also help us understand how to send the majority of children to school already reading, even before they can hold a pencil, simply by integrating speech-to-print mapping into everyday interactions at home and in nursery. Children can use the technology to record speech, develop phonemic awareness and explore the code, even when the adults around them are unaware of the importance of these underlying skills. A stand-alone training course launches shortly.

We have also found that generating text from speech sounds helps adults better understand English orthography. They become more aware of how the code works and why at least 1 in 5 children currently struggle to learn to read and spell.

To understand why this may be significant, we first need to understand why so many children struggle to learn to read and spell in English.

Why Do So Many Children Struggle to Learn to Read and Spell?

At the heart of the problem is something called an opaque orthography.

English is an opaque orthography. This means the relationship between letters and speech sounds is not one-to-one or consistent.

In some languages, such as Finnish, one letter usually represents one sound. Learning to read and spell is therefore much more straightforward.

English is different.

The same grapheme can represent different phonemes:

a → /æ/ in cat
a → /ɑː/ in father
a → /ɒ/ in was

The same phoneme can also be represented by different graphemes:

/iː/ in see, sea, me, happy
/eɪ/ in day, rain, break, they
/f/ in fish, phone, laugh

English spelling reflects history, meaning and sound change. It is structured, but it is not transparent.

Using a standard English pronunciation, there are more than 350 grapheme-phoneme correspondences in English. Children learning phonics are typically taught around 100 of these. If accent variation is taken into account, there are many more.

For many children this is not a problem. Their brains can easily isolate, segment and blend speech sounds. When they hear the word sticks, they can identify the individual sounds represented by the graphemes s t i ck s. They can blend sounds to make words and manipulate sounds within words. If asked to remove the /t/ from sticks, they can give the new word.

At least 1 in 5 children find this much harder.

These children are not less intelligent, and they do not have hearing difficulties. They struggle with the speech sound processing skills that underpin reading and spelling. Reading to them is valuable, but it does not address the underlying difficulty.

In England, we can see from national data that many children continue to struggle despite systematic phonics instruction. The assumption that speech sound processing difficulties will automatically resolve as children learn phonics is not supported by the outcomes.

This is why Speech Sound Mapping matters.

Through Dys-Code, at age three, and the Speech Sound Play Plan in Reception (pre-phonics), we can identify many of the children who are likely to struggle and begin strengthening the underlying skills before reading failure occurs.

Children need to be able to isolate speech sounds, segment them and blend them. Phonemies® help make visible what many children cannot yet hear, reducing cognitive load and helping them connect speech, print and meaning.

Why the Foundation Course Underpins Everything

Everything we do builds on one simple idea: children learn to read and spell more easily when they understand how speech sounds, print and meaning connect. They are also far more motivated when learning centres on words that matter to them. This can be difficult when following a rigid Scope and Sequence that assumes children must first learn a large amount of code before they can experience success. A child who loves Peppa Pig is far more likely to engage in exploring the mapping within those words than spend months reading only highly controlled texts built around words such as ant, pan, tip and pin.

The Foundation Course is called the Foundation Course because it explains the principles that underpin everything else. Whether your interest is Speech Sound Play, NeuroReadies, Dys-Code, MySpeekie®, reading, spelling, communication or prevention, all pathways are built on the same foundation: Speech Sound Mapping and bidirectional word mapping.

Children can access this approach at any age and stage because it builds on what they already know. Rather than waiting until a child has mastered a particular set of graphemes, rules or code level, we start from their current understanding and help them connect speech, print and meaning through words that matter to them.

The Speech Sound Play Plan introduces children to listening for speech sounds and taking "pictures of sounds". Children begin to think about what the picture of a sound might look like in a word, developing bidirectional word mapping from the start. The focus is on just six phonemes and their Phonemie® characters, reducing cognitive load while building speech sound processing, pronunciation and phonological working memory. The plan can be delivered over 10 days in Reception or extended across months in the early years.

Unlike approaches that delay access to books until children have learned specific graphemes, children always see words. Following an initial phase focused solely on speech sounds, words are mapped so that children can see the graphemes and their sound values. Phonemies® make the sound value of every word visible, enabling children to figure out the word first and then explore the pictures of the sounds within it.

Children can therefore access books such as One, Two, Three and Away! without waiting to learn large numbers of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. At the same time, they learn the Core Code systematically through the Speech Sound Pics approach and the Monster Spelling Piano app. Children learn the approximately 100 core grapheme-phoneme correspondences while also reading meaningful texts and using mapped words for as long as they need them.

Reading is never separated from meaning. The texts children read are used to develop vocabulary, deepen understanding and explore the structure of written English. Through Snap and Crack, children learn to crack comprehension, while writing activities ensure they understand mapping in both directions. New words are added at the point of need, and the 60 Second Spelling Routine helps store them in the brain's word bank, known as the orthographic lexicon.

The Foundation Course explains why all of these approaches work. NeuroReadies explores how the same principles can support neurodivergent learners. Dys-Code explores how they can be used to identify and prevent literacy difficulties before reading failure occurs. MySpeekie® applies the same principles to communication through the world's first one-screen AAC.

Different pathways. One foundation.

The destination is Word Mapping Mastery®.

Emma Hartnell-Baker supports teachers all over the world by modelling word mapping in-class.

'Miss Emma' is passionate about early dyslexia risk screening and upstream support. This was a message to a dyslexic pupil.

A Message from Miss Emma

Look how big the Word Mapping Mastery® System is now!! Managed by The Reading Hut Ltd. And with 12 months of support from Innovate UK through Women in Innovation 2026/2027 (thanks for recognising the relevance of my work, guys!), we can reach even more children moving forwards.

I know it might seem overwhelming but all the pieces will soon start to make sense as you start mapping words with children. Take your time watching every clip in the Foundation Course!

The Speech Sound Mapping Shop is here
https://www.thereadinghut.com/speech-sound-mapping-shop

I’m still working on the Word Mapping Mastery® book, but as the system has expanded so much, I’ve had to put back the launch date. See why below!

WordMappingMastery.com

One Goal. Many Routes. One Foundation.

The goal is always the same: confident bidirectional word mapping, connecting speech, print and meaning for life.

Children do not all follow the same pathway. Learning to communicate, read and spell is not linear. Some children need support to find their voice. Some need support with speech sounds, phonological working memory or articulation. Some need a more systematic route into learning the Core Code. Some are ready to become independent readers from a very young age. Some require individualised intervention.

For parents and teachers, the starting point is always the Word Mapping Mastery® Foundation Training at ShowTheCode.com. The training helps adults understand what their individual child needs, rather than following a one-size-fits-all programme. Specialist courses are also available, including Birth to Three Guided Giftedness for parents wanting to understand how to support communication, reading and spelling from birth.

ShowTheCode.com
The Foundation Training: understanding how to Show the Code and support each child’s individual journey.

Parents, teachers and practitioners learn the underlying Word Mapping Mastery® system, where speech is made visible and children learn to map speech and print in both directions.

Children learn to listen for individual speech sounds and use Duck Hands® to segment words from left to right. Speech Sound Lines and Numbers help them order the phonemes, and on those lines sit their visible versions: Speech Sound Pics® (graphemes).

Phonemies® are Phonetic Symbols for Kids. They show the sound value of every Speech Sound Pic® used in a word, meaning no letters are viewed as "silent". This makes the English spelling system accessible to learners of all ages, without the need for adults to explain rules, morphology or etymology.

The system also allows children to understand their own Individual Pronunciation Code, making accent variation visible and reducing confusion when the sounds they use differ from those represented in traditional approaches.

Show the Code! Our technology maps all words in English. No more guessing, memorising or being confused when the sound values do not match the way the individual child speaks.

Simply register, pay the £25 fee and access the Foundation Course pages from the drop down menu! Dip in and out of different topics to find what is relevant to you. The more videos you watch, the easier it will be to understand how to Show the Code and what your child or student needs at any one time. If you are new to the concept please follow MySpeekie and watch the free word of the day clips! Also download and print the word as a card

Birth to Three Guided Giftedness A specialist Show the Code course for parents of babies and toddlers, sharing for the first time the early years insights developed through my experience as an owner-manager of Outstanding nurseries and later as an OFSTED Inspector. Discover how supporting communication, speech, reading and spelling from birth, and even during pregnancy, can unlock extraordinary potential. We can nurture unique abilities and support children to become confident readers and spellers far earlier than is usually expected.

Dys-Code
Age 3 dyslexia risk screening, identifying the 1 in 5 children who may benefit from additional support before starting school.
This is a Specialist Course launching on ShowtheCode.com

MySpeekie.com
The world’s first one-screen AAC: Thought to Voice with Fliss and the Phonemies®.

SpeechSoundPlay.com
Speech Sound Play and the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach, supporting phonemic awareness, phonological working memory, speech, systematic phonics and accurate spelling.
Australian schools should ask for a bespoke quote with shipping or purchase order via Support@TheReadingHut.com.au

SpeedieReadies.com
The reading-for-pleasure route using The Village With Three Corners series, with the first 52 books mapped to Show the Code.

TheSpellingRoutine.com
A daily or 'in the moment' 60 Second speech-to-print and print-to-speech word mapping routine, with no need to teach phonics or spelling rules. We use this with all children, at any stage, and it is introduced in the Speech Sound Play Plan on Day 6

MyWordz® Word Mapping Technology
Sign up to access technology that makes the English spelling system visible through Code Mapping® and Phonemies®.
Special £75 per year offer at MyWordz.tech

The Monster Spelling Piano app
A fast and engaging way to learn the Core Phonics Code tested in the UK Phonics Screening Check, and over 100 mapped Common Exception Words, for example <s> <ai> <d>.

Speech Sound Mapping (SSM)
An individualised intervention approach, including EHCP provision, delivered by specialist teachers and tutors with QTS, drawing from across the Word Mapping Mastery® System. This is a course unavailable to the public

Beyond the Word Mapping Mastery® System, we are also pushing for change at a national level.

PhonicsReformEngland.com

We are campaigning for six key reforms in England because 1 in 4 children still cannot read and spell at the minimum expected level by age 11, despite improvements in Phonics Screening Check results. The way phonics is currently taught needs to evolve so that it works for every child.

I’m also finishing my doctorate and will be returning to Australia in 2027 to launch this system and support Reception teachers again. If you loved The Speech Sound Pics (SSP) approach when I was there, supporting teachers in every state, you are going to be deliriously happy with what we will be able to achieve now!

Get ready to move beyond one-size-fits-all PowerPoints, scripts and the idea that every child must follow a programme with fidelity, even when the children in your class do not fit the mould those programmes were designed for.

Miss Emma MEd SEN
Emma Hartnell-Baker
The Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer® aka Code Mapping Nerd

What if we could support speech sound processing earlier? What if we could make reading and spelling easier for all brains? What if we could simply show the speech to print code?

The Foundation Course