Word Mapping Matters
Emma Hartnell-Baker is a late-diagnosed AuDHD (Autism and ADHD), former Ofsted Inspector, MEd SEN specialist and doctoral researcher at the University of Reading. Combining lived experience with professional expertise, she developed Ortho-GraphiX®, a novel bidirectional word-mapping algorithm with wide-reaching potential.
The goal? Not only to prevent or overcome communication and literacy difficulties, but to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience success mapping words, the core skill underpinning reading and spelling.
Let’s explore some of the ways Ortho-GraphiX® is already helping children communicate, read and spell, and why that matters so much for self-confidence and personal identity.
See Ortho-GraphiX® in Action
Ortho-GraphiX® powers technology that makes the connections between speech sounds, written words and spelling visible. Sometimes that means helping a three-year-old show us the speech sounds they can hear. Sometimes it means giving a non-speaking child a voice. Sometimes it means helping a child figure out an unfamiliar word without asking an adult.
The technology is the same. How we use it depends on what the child needs.
I've been obsessed with helping children develop great phonemic awareness since doing my Master's degree in Special Educational Needs at the University of Nottingham, where I explored dyslexia (and autism) in depth. I've been sharing my Duck Hands® technique for over 15 years. It's free, fun and highly effective, not only for the child, but because we can see which children get it. They can't hide.
Because I was paying such close attention to the phonemes in words, I realised how easy it was to map words, with the simple idea that every phoneme maps to a grapheme. Today, this is the directive given to all teachers by the DfE.
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)
In reading, pupils are taught to decode by identifying graphemes in written words from left to right, saying the corresponding phonemes, and blending those phonemes to say the whole word (Department for Education, 2023, p. 47).
In spelling, pupils are taught to say a word clearly, segment it into phonemes, and select graphemes to represent each phoneme in writing (Department for Education, Writing Framework, 2025, p. 41). Statutory spelling guidance further states that teachers should draw pupils’ attention to grapheme–phoneme correspondences that both do and do not fit with what has been taught so far (Department for Education, Spelling Framework, p. 75).
The DfE expects teachers to extend programmes and apply phonics to all words, in all year groups, so that children continue to learn correspondences that have not yet been taught. So there is a clear gap between what programmes teach and the code knowledge needed to read and spell words in KS1 and KS2, let alone KS3 and KS4. To learn the whole alphabetic code, children need to transition into the self-teaching phase.
Because we were mapping every word, the Spelling Clouds® were launched, and we continued building them over a ten-year period while working with thousands of children across Australia.
When I show these to teachers in England as a reference, as we aren't explicitly teaching all of these correspondences, of course, many are stunned by just how extensive the English alphabetic code is.
This also aligns with DfE expectations.
The Reading Framework 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)
If teachers aren't aware of how much more needs to be understood and learned through self-teaching, and that explicit phonics instruction is simply the kick-start, they can be left wondering why so many children still cannot read and spell ‘after phonics’.
But there is no ‘after phonics’. Phonics describes the mapping between phonemes and graphemes, and that mapping applies to ALL words.
Over ten years ago, when supporting schools in Australia, I realised that children might know the word but often weren't seeing exactly which letters are the graphemes, so I created Code Mapping®.
Code Mapping® uses black and grey throughout the whole text, with blue to denote a split digraph. Every word is segmented into graphemes, and each grapheme is shown as a complete unit across the word. Alternating colours are not decoration; they simply mark the boundaries between graphemes so the structure of every word can be seen at a glance. We had to do it manually which was ridiculously time consuming. The Code Mapping Tool changes that.
I then wanted a way to show the sound value of each grapheme, because seeing which letters graphemes are often wasn't enough. For example, the letter <a> can represent at least nine different speech sounds when reading (print to speech), while a single speech sound, such as /e/, can be represented by at least nine different graphemes when spelling (speech to print). Many children with SEN found these relationships difficult to understand.
I wanted to make those connections visible, so I developed Phonemies®: child-friendly symbols representing every phoneme in English.
Together with the Ortho-GraphiX® algorithm, this made it possible to map the complete English alphabetic code for any word, showing both which letters are graphemes (Code Mapping®) and the sound value of those graphemes (Monster Mapping®).An unexpected benefit was that Phonemies® also solved a completely different problem. Children no longer needed speech or letters to demonstrate which speech sounds they could hear, used in their accent, or wanted to use when spelling. A non-speaking child could simply select the relevant Phonemies®, or arrange them to build a word from its speech sounds.
That capability became the foundation of Speech Sound Play®, and is the same underlying methodology now being digitised through Dys-Code®. During screening, children demonstrate speech sound processing using Phonemies®, without requiring spoken responses, letter knowledge or English vocabulary.
Within the Ten Day Speech Sound Play Plan, children learn all 48 Phonemies® (each with its own movement and music, not just a speech sound) in around two weeks in Reception. They begin blending multiple speech sounds before learning any letters (graphemes), using words that are meaningful to them, including their own names.
The Dys-Code® assessment introduces children to six Speech Sound Monsters® (Phonemies®), representing the first six speech sounds typically encountered in phonics, mapping to graphemes <s> <a> <t> <p> <i> <n> . On the right this boy is blending the sounds for the word ‘span’. The graphemes <s> <p> <a> <n> are soon introduced as pictures of speech sounds (Sound Pics®)
Through short, play-based activities, children being screened with Dys-Code® will learn to recognise the 6 Speech Sound Monsters®, blend them into words, identify individual speech sounds and build words using the Phonemies® rather than letters.
Throughout the assessment, children respond by touching, selecting and arranging Phonemies®, allowing speech sound processing to be assessed without requiring spoken responses, letter knowledge or English vocabulary. Each session ends by generating the child's own name in 'Monster Sounds', creating a personalised take-home resource.
A second session, approximately one week later, repeats the activities with new words to measure rate of learning rather than a single point-in-time score. These activities already exist as a practitioner-led methodology within Speech Sound Play®. This project digitises the existing practitioner-led methodology for the first time. Rather than changing the assessment itself, digitisation enables automated data capture, personalised content generation, consistent delivery, standardised reporting and longitudinal tracking, allowing the methodology to be delivered at scale and enabling earlier, fairer and more reliable identification of special educational needs (SEN) in contexts where existing market solutions underperform or do not operate.
1. Dys-Code®
Dyslexia Risk Screening from Age Three
The problem and opportunity
Dyslexia risk is generally identified after children have started learning phonics and difficulties have emerged. Existing screening approaches are also generally unsuitable for universal screening at age three because they may rely on spoken responses, letter knowledge or understanding English. This means an important opportunity for earlier identification and support can be missed.
The solution and innovation
Dys-Code® is dyslexia risk screening system for three-year-olds, designed to be used before systematic phonics instruction begins. Children use Phonemies® (Phonetic Symbols for Kids) to demonstrate speech sound processing without needing to know letters or give spoken responses. We have been screening manually as part of Speech Sound Play but are seeking funding to digitise
Screening of children not already familiar with Speech Sound Play will always take place across at least two sessions, enabling trained assessors to explore phonemic awareness and rate of learning, rather than relying on a single point-in-time score. Children identified as being at increased risk can move directly into Speech Sound Play® for pre-phonics support.
Market and ambition
The goal is to digitise and validate the existing practitioner-led methodology, creating the platform, practitioner handbook, training and licensing model needed for trained Dys-Code® assessors to deliver screening in nurseries, schools and other settings. The longer-term ambition is a family of age-specific Dys-Code® assessments, extending from pre-phonics screening at three to graphophonemic analysis across the complete code of English.
MySpeekie®: One-Screen AAC
The problem and opportunity
Non-speaking children are often limited to huge symbol libraries or technologies that require reading and spelling. Leading Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) developers have avoided phonetic keyboards because English’s complex orthography makes mapping between speech sounds and correctly spelled words highly complex. This leaves communication and literacy as separate challenges, creating a significant commercial opportunity across communication, literacy and language learning.
The solution and innovation
MySpeekie® is believed to be the world’s first AAC to solve English’s opaque orthography using a phonetic keyboard. It is powered by Ortho-GraphiX®, a novel bidirectional word-mapping algorithm, with patent protection being sought to enable future licensing across a range of applications. MySpeekie® is commercially available, developed with funding from Innovate UK’s Unlocking Potential Award, in use within EHCP provision and with pilots planned.
Market and ambition
MySpeekie® is being assessed by Safer Technologies 4 Schools (Australia) and will be piloted in nurseries, schools and by SALTs in England. As the world’s first phonetic keyboard using Phonemies®, Phonetic Symbols for Kids, it has international growth potential, targeting the global AAC, literacy and language learning markets.
Speech Sound Play®: Pre-Phonics Through Play
The problem and opportunity
Around 1 in 5 children start Reception with weak phonemic awareness, making it harder for them to learn phonics. Yet support often begins only after they have started formal phonics and difficulties become apparent. There is an assumption that phonemic awareness will develop during phonics instruction but this will very much depend on how phonics is being taught.
Dys-Code® creates an opportunity to identify children at increased risk from age three and provide targeted Speech Sound Processing support before they start learning letters and graphemes.
The solution and innovation
Speech Sound Play® is our pre-phonics pathway for developing phonemic awareness through play.
Children identified as being at increased risk through Dys-Code® can move directly into Speech Sound Play® from age three however it is so much fun, and has so many benefits that it is useful for all children. They learn to recognise, identify, blend and segment speech sounds using Speech Sound Monsters® (Phonemies®), without needing to know letters or give spoken responses. This is the established practitioner-led methodology from which Dys-Code® itself has been developed. The journey to learning the Speech Sound Monster sounds means that children can then explore all words when they are mapped.
The Monster Spelling Piano® app provides a speech-to-print route for learning the Speech Sound Monster® sounds. Children build words using the sounds first, then see the corresponding graphemes, creating a bridge from Speech Sound Play® into the alphabetic code.
Speech Sound Play® is also used in Reception as a fast-paced 10 Day Speech Sound Play Plan. Children meet all 48 Phonemies®, each with its own movement and music, and begin blending multiple speech sounds before graphemes are introduced, using meaningful words including their own names. The focus is on the sounds /s æ t p ɪ n/ and corresponding graphemes <s> <a> <t> <p> <i> <n> are introduced on Day 5 as 'pictures of speech sounds. This is because it was designed for children who would be taught phonics using the Speech Sound Pics (SSP) Approach.
The time spent learning the Speech Sound Monster® sounds is well worth the investment, as the Phonemies® act as phonetic symbols. Children can then use them as a visual Speech Sound Code as they move into phonics, reading and spelling.
Market and ambition
Speech Sound Play has potential across nurseries, preschools, schools, SEND settings and families, both as targeted early intervention from age three and as a universal pre-phonics approach through the 10 Day Speech Sound Play Plan in Reception.
The ambition is to make strong phonemic awareness easier to develop before and alongside formal phonics, with Phonemies® providing a shared visual Speech Sound Code that can continue to support communication, reading and spelling. This creates opportunities to scale through practitioner training, digital and physical resources, and setting-wide implementation in the UK and internationally.
Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach: The Core Code in Reception
The problem and opportunity
Children enter Reception with very different knowledge and learn at different rates. Yet phonics is often delivered according to a predetermined teaching sequence, with children introduced to the same GPCs at the same time.
The opportunity is to retain systematic phonics while enabling children to progress through the Core Code at the pace that is right for them. This also frees up the teacher to offer targeted support as and when needed, while a relief teacher can easily cover because the children simply follow the same routine. They complete the same activities, but at their own Code Level.
Over 400 mapped high-frequency words are mastered before the end of Reception, which we couldn't achieve without technology or if the children weren't able to work through the Code at their own pace.
The solution and innovation
The Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach builds directly on Speech Sound Play®. Children have been identifying, blending and segmenting speech sounds using Phonemies®, without letters. We then introduce graphemes as pictures of those speech sounds, which is why we call them Sound Pics®
Children learn the Core Code through a self-paced approach in Reception, with explicit instruction available when needed. Phonemies® provide a consistent visual reference for the sound values of graphemes, supporting the connection between speech and print in both directions. Although they work through the Core Code they use Spelling Clouds® to explore the full code.
The Monster Spelling Piano® app offers a speech-to-print route for learning the Core Code and over 100 mapped high-frequency words.
Market and ambition
The Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach is designed for Reception classrooms and offers schools and teachers an alternative way to deliver systematic phonics, rather than teaching every child through the same predetermined synthetic phonics sequence at the same pace. Code Level readers are used, but they show the code.
The ambition is to demonstrate that phonics can be delivered differently while still covering the content of DfE-validated phonics programmes and preparing children for the Phonics Screening Check. The Core Code is taught through a 30-minute routine, with children progressing at their own pace and over 90% able to pass the Phonics Screening Check before entering Year 1. The wider approach also includes activities targeting writing, reading comprehension and spelling.
Rather than making continued explicit phonics instruction the destination, the ambition is to move children through the Core Code efficiently and into the self-teaching phase as early as possible, offering schools a scalable alternative to conventional whole-class synthetic phonics delivery.
One, Two, Three and Away!: Supporting Self-Teaching
The problem and opportunity
The English alphabetic code extends far beyond the grapheme-phoneme correspondences children can reasonably be explicitly taught. Children therefore need to become able to figure out unfamiliar words containing graphemes and sound values they haven't previously been taught.
The opportunity is to give children access to the information they need without requiring an adult to explicitly teach every new word or GPC first.
The solution and innovation
Ortho-GraphiX® makes it possible to provide mapped text at different levels of support. Code Mapping® shows which letters are the graphemes in every word. When children also need to know the sound values of those graphemes, Monster Mapping® uses Phonemies® to make those sound values visible.
Children using the Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach begin One, Two, Three and Away! when they reach the stage of reading Yellow Code Level readers. They continue reading their phonics books alongside the mapped, levelled books, so the two serve different purposes. The phonics readers support their progression through the Core Code, while One, Two, Three and Away! gives them access to a much wider range of words and stories, with word-mapping support provided as needed.
The 36 pre-readers and 16 introductory One, Two, Three and Away! readers are available in three versions, so adults can give each child the level of word-mapping support they need. Children who don't need the Monster Mapped® versions don't have to work through them. By the 20 Blue Platform books, children are reading without Speech Sound Code cues. The technology therefore supports the transition towards independent reading rather than creating dependence on mapped text.
One, Two, Three and Away! also gives children something they want to keep reading. The stories centre on the same Village and characters, allowing children to become emotionally invested in the series. They were written by an award-winning children's author, Sheila McCullagh, who also wrote the Puddle Lane television series and books that helped generations of children develop a love of reading.
At a time when reading for pleasure is declining, the innovation isn't just that children can access mapped text at the level of support they need. It's that the mapping support can gradually disappear while the characters and stories keep children wanting to read the next book.
Market and ambition
One, Two, Three and Away! is a series of over 100 books for primary schools, intervention settings and families, designed to sit alongside early phonics reading at a certain point. Children using the Speech Sound Pics® (SSP) Approach begin the series when they reach Yellow Code Level, continuing with their phonics readers at the same time.
The opportunity is to bridge the gap between tightly controlled phonics texts and the much richer vocabulary and stories children will encounter as independent readers. Ortho-GraphiX® enables children to access mapped, levelled books containing a wider range of the English alphabetic code, with different levels of support available as needed and gradually removed as children become more independent.
The ambition is to bring this much-loved British series to a new generation, combining over 100 books, memorable characters and engaging stories with word-mapping technology that supports earlier self-teaching. Children continue learning the Core Code through phonics for as long as they need it, while also discovering that reading is something they want to do.
We want to see these stocked in every library so that children can access the regular text versions at any time.
Mapped Words® and the 60 Second Spelling Routine: Supporting Dyslexic Learners
The problem and opportunity
Dyslexic learners can find it harder to develop phonemic awareness, secure the Core Code and make the transition into self-teaching. Yet phonics is generally delivered through predetermined teaching sequences, with struggling learners often receiving more explicit instruction rather than instruction that responds to exactly what they know and don't yet know.
No child can be explicitly taught the whole English alphabetic code or every word they will encounter. English is an opaque orthography. The same grapheme can represent different speech sounds and the same speech sound can be represented by many different graphemes. For example, <a> can represent at least nine different speech sounds when reading, while a speech sound such as /e/ can be represented by at least nine different graphemes when spelling.
Most children quickly begin learning more of the code for themselves. Dyslexic learners need to reach that point too, but may need a different route to get there.
The opportunity is to teach phonics differently. Find out what each learner already knows, identify the gaps, and give them as much explicit instruction as they need, and no more. At the same time, show them how to map the words they actually want to read and spell, so that the focus from the beginning is on developing the skills needed for self-teaching.
The solution and innovation
Mapped Words® make the mapping of each word visible. Every word is segmented into graphemes, rather than individual letters. Code Mapping® uses alternating black and grey to show where one grapheme ends and the next begins, with split digraphs shown in blue. When a learner needs additional support, Phonemies® show the sound value of those graphemes.
For learners still securing the Core Code, the Monster Spelling Piano® app offers a speech-to-print route for learning the Core Code and over 100 mapped high-frequency words.
MyWordz® technology enables learners to access this support independently. If they're struggling to figure out a word when reading, or want to spell a new word, they simply say the word and check its mapping. This gives them the information they need at the point of need, without having to ask an adult.
The 60 Second Spelling Routine uses the mapped word to help learners secure the connection between the spoken word, its spelling and its meaning. Together, these tools support the principle of as much explicit instruction as they need, and no more, helping dyslexic learners become increasingly independent when reading and spelling.
Market and ambition
Mapped Words®, Silly Spello-Sentences, Mapped Books, the 60 Second Spelling Routine and other tools are designed to reduce dependence on an adult telling a learner how to read or spell a word.
The aim is for dyslexic learners to increasingly recognise patterns, check unfamiliar words for themselves and build the word-mapping knowledge needed for independent reading and spelling.
Designed for schools, specialist teachers, tutors and families supporting dyslexic learners, the ambition is to change how dyslexia support is delivered: as much explicit instruction as they need, and no more, with technology supporting guided self-teaching and greater independence.
Less Teaching. More Guided Self-Teaching.