Several national newspapers and news services have reported recently about the government-implemented ‘Phonics screening check’, which began this month for six year olds throughout the country.
The phonics check was implemented by the government to boost reading standards. Teaching ‘phonics’ refers to a specific teaching approach aimed at teaching children to decode words by sounds, rather than recognising whole words. Using this approach, children are taught the sounds of words (phonemes) and once mastered, are taught to associate these with corresponding letters of the alphabet (graphemes). It is thought that by improving a child’s ability to decode phonics, they will be able to read better. The screen should help to identify children who are struggling with phonics and therefore need some extra help in learning to read.
However there are a number of individuals and organisations who disagree with this approach, arguing that teaching phonics is only one part of teaching a child to read, and that a balanced method incorporating other approaches is more useful.
Lisa Morgan, from The Communication Trust (campaigning for children with speech, language and communication needs), wrote in The Guardian blog about how the phonics check cannot work for all children. You can read her article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/jun/22/phonics-test. She notes that reading for meaning and reading for enjoyment are different from decoding phonics. This means that a phonics test will ascertain a child’s ability to decode phonics, but not necessarily their overall ability to read. She also states that the screen will be inaccessible to many children with speech, language and communication (SLCN) needs because of the nature of their difficulties – they may score poorly for reasons other than poor phonics decoding. Reasons may include reduced attention or speech processing difficulties, amongst others. Interpretation of phonics tests should therefore be made with caution, and in consideration of the child’s overall communication profile.The Communication Trust has therefore created a ‘Communicating Phonics’ guide to support teachers delivering and interpreting the phonics screening test to children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). It can be downloaded here:
http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/schools/phonics.aspx. The Trust states that, “Communicating Phonics provides a general overview of issues and then detailed information on 14 different types of SLCN, with a particular focus on the phonics test. It also gives details on how to interpret the outcomes of the test and support the literacy development of children with SLCN. We know how busy teachers are so the guide has been organised so that you can dip in and easily access the information you need. You can either download the whole document, each individual section, or the subsection that relates to each SLCN.” If you think that your child may benefit from speech and language therapy or associated therapies, Integrated Treatment Services could be of help. Contact us here: https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/contact-us/enquiry
Sarah Bennington, June 2012
Written on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services. Integrated Treatment Services is a private Speech and Language Therapy service based in Leicestershire, East Midlands and Southern England. It specialises in providing highly-skilled Speech and Language Therapists, but also associates with other therapeutic professionals, including Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Psychologists and Arts Psychotherapists.
