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PLD’s unique approach scaffolds children to learn more high frequency words with less effort by teaching the right words at the right time and in the right way. Following an extensive literature review in 2020, PLD’s approach to high frequency words (HFW) was upgraded. If you would like to read more about the body of research […]

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What are Elkonin boxes? Elkonin boxes (or sound boxes) are a useful teaching resource in which each box represents a single sound (or phoneme) contained in a word. They are named after a Russian psychologist D. B. El’konin who first used them in the 1960’s to help students segment spoken words into sounds. Today, the […]

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AUSPELD is a national body comprised of representatives from various state SPELD associations and a recognised Global Partner of the International Dyslexia Association. Each SPELD organisation is extremely busy catering for large numbers of students and families. While the SPELD’s deliver assessments and diagnose dyslexia, they also advocate best practice. The SPELD’s act to encourage […]

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PLD’s range of decodable reading books align with our Structured Synthetic Phonics (SSP) sequence. The type of words, word count, and amount of HFWs gradually become more complex as more phonic concepts are introduced. It is important to include decodable reading books as part of your SSP program. See here for more information about the […]

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The beginning of the school year is an incredibly busy time of the year. Despite the workload ahead of all of you, it is imperative that schools start their year well. With this in mind, we’ve developed the following Term 1 essential checklist for teachers, school leaders and those new to PLD which should greatly […]

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While all children develop at different times, there is an expected sequence of developmental milestones your child should be reaching. PLD have provided handy downloadable milestone guides for children aged 6 months through to 12 years.  Designed by speech pathologists, occupational therapists and educators, the comprehensive guides give an overview of the Oral Language, Literacy […]

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It is quite common for children to arrive into Foundation without a dominant hand. Research suggests that while a majority of children show a preference by 3 years of age, and others by school age, some students actually establish dominance as late as 8 or 9 years old. As teachers are not Occupational Therapists, how […]

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Sight words are a special high frequency category of words that students are instructed to recognise automatically. The term “sight word” can mean several different things: high frequency words, phonetically irregular words, or familiar words that require no effort to recall (orthographic lexicon or sight vocabulary). When educators refer to sight words they are usually […]

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The WA Department of Education schools focus for 2020 has just been released, have you had a chance to check it out? If not, you can view or download a copy here as a PDF: https://www.education.wa.edu.au/dl/1zxeed For 2020 Western Australian schools are, among others, focusing on: Support learners to make the best start with access […]

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Let us be calm when reading the 2019 PISA results and not point the blame solely at teachers. The report reminds us that there is much work to be done at the teacher training level, the curriculum level and also the classroom/school level.  Firstly, the recommendations from the Independent Review of the Teaching of Early […]

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Did you catch our previous post, The Importance of Strong Oral Language Skills & Language for Literacy Success? We discussed how to create a high quality oral language program to foster a high quality learning environment and the importance of consolidating oral language skills between the home and school. In this three part series we […]

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Oral language skills form the foundation of literacy and academic success. A solid foundation of oral language helps children become successful readers, strong communicators, as well as increasing their confidence and overall sense of well-being.   The ability to use oral language effectively impacts all areas of a child’s life; from their ability to learn in […]

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With our increasing use of technology, is it necessary to teach children handwriting? Research suggests that the benefits of teaching handwriting go beyond simply writing (Dinehart, 2014). There is increasing evidence of a link between the fine motor skills required in handwriting and the development of cognitive skills which lay the foundation for later academic […]

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Learning to communicate using language is a remarkable achievement of early childhood. The progression of language development is very similar across children and even across languages. All children regardless of the language spoken begin their journey of communication with a focus on sounds and engage in behaviours such as cooing and babbling. Over time they […]

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Synthetic Phonics is the gold standard, evidence-based approach to teaching literacy, which suggests the fastest pathway into literacy is knowledge of alphabet sounds and phonic sounds. Students require alphabet knowledge in order to embark on the process of learning to read and spell. However, rather than letter naming ability, letter sound knowledge is the more […]