Foundation

Universal Similarities in Structured Synthetic Phonics Sequences

By Diana Rigg

10/08/2026

While there is no single universally agreed-upon phonics sequence, effective systematic phonics programs share a similar, research-based progression that moves from simple initial code to advanced and complex code. The […]

By Diana Rigg

07/08/2026

The Year 1 Phonics Check aims to identify students who require targeted literacy support, and schools that require a stronger school-wide approach to structured synthetic phonics (SSP). For schools implementing […]

By Diana Rigg

27/07/2026

Over the past semester, six improvements have been introduced to My SSP Online. Some may already be familiar if you’ve logged in over recent weeks, while others may be new […]

By Diana Rigg

24/07/2026

What does PLD recommend when catering for strong spellers and students achieving high scores in subsequent PLD Stages? PLD recommends that teachers avoid accelerating students through the Stages. Instead, we […]

By Diana Rigg

05/05/2026

As the Science of Reading takes its rightful place in Australian classrooms, many traditional literacy practices are being scrutinised. The “Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check” (LCSWC) method is often at […]

By Diana Rigg

16/04/2026

PLD is designed to align with the Australian Curriculum. Queensland, like all other states and territories, uses the Australian Curriculum as the foundation for its own teaching and learning guidance. […]

By Diana Rigg

09/04/2026

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 8th Edition is a norm-referenced assessment used to assess reading skills from the beginning of schooling through the end of eighth […]

By Diana Rigg

02/04/2026

Research into brain activity has shown a bidirectional connection between visual and phonological areas of the brain. This means that children should be systematically taught how letters map to speech […]

By Diana Rigg

13/03/2026

Many literacy organisations recommend between 10 and 20 minutes of reading per day, largely due to the exposure of words this brings to a student. However, citations linked to these […]

By Diana Rigg

19/12/2025

In today’s digital-first classrooms, finding the right tools to support foundational literacy can feel like a daunting task. With over 9,000 apps on the market claiming to teach children how […]

By Diana Rigg

03/11/2025

We are delighted to announce that PLD’s Foundation Decodable Reading Book Sets have been awarded the Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) 2025 Book of the Year Award in the Decodable Book […]

By Diana Rigg

28/08/2025

PLD routinely revisits and reviews the existing research to ensure our programs continue to reflect current best practices. This blog revisits and extends the topic of fluency. An earlier blog […]

By Diana Rigg

04/04/2025

What are HFWs? High-frequency words (HFWs) are words that have been identified as commonly appearing in children’s literature. The majority of HFWs can be decoded once students have learned the […]

By Diana Rigg

31/03/2025

Clearing Up Terminology Teachers often encounter confusion regarding the term ‘sight words’. It’s crucial to clarify that sight words represent instructional outcomes, not instructional inputs. Words become ‘sight words’ only […]

By Diana Rigg

21/02/2025

One of the most common questions teachers ask is, “Which children are at risk of struggling with reading?” Identifying these risk factors early is not only useful for intervention but […]

By Diana Rigg

27/09/2024

Letter-sound knowledge acquisition is one of the key elements driving early reading acquisition. For young learners, cracking the alphabet code can be challenging due to the arbitrary nature of letters […]

By Diana Rigg

17/01/2024

The ultimate goal for any teacher is to enable their students to express themselves through authentic writing. However, achieving this level of literacy independence requires a solid foundation in reading […]

By Diana Rigg

12/01/2024

What is Blending and Why is it a Necessary Skill in SSP Programs The two skills required to decode written words are letter-sound knowledge and blending phonemes (Muter et al., […]

By Diana Rigg

07/09/2021

As with any teaching resource, there are different ways sound wall displays can be introduced, displayed and utilised. As sound walls are a fairly new instructional tool, it is important […]

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