Information for Therapists
Create skills for life
Learning to read is one of the most critical skills we develop, learning to read needs to happen as early as possible so that children can use reading to learn. Learning to read correctly with the right skills increases confidence and helps children to relate reading to pleasure and create reading independence. The effects these skills have are strong vocabulary, writing and comprehension confidence.
The Create skills for life approach
The Create skills for life approach uses synthetic phonics with sensory integration. Create skills for life teaches reading, spelling, writing and comprehension based on large amounts of research especially in the areas of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness. An example of this research is “Phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonemes and phoneicians” by Bartek Rajkowski, Ph.D. Speech & Language Pathologist, also known as “the reading doctor”.
The biggest predictor of reading success or failure is phonemic awareness. This is the ability to hear, segment, blend, match, count, substitute and rhyme in sounds. Without phonemic awareness children struggle to learn to read, spell and write. The Create skills for life program uses pure sound, visually engaging scaffolds to teach reading using sounds expressively which are then related to graphemes or letters.
1.25 million words, 250 spellings, 46 sounds!
Instead of learning spelling words as a series of letters, Create skills for life teaches the 47 sounds in four code levels - blue, orange, green and pink. Discovering and matching the spelling/letters to the sounds from each code. Start with blue and read, spell, write that code then move to orange. Read, spell, write orange, move to green, repeat, finish on pink. Develop your phonemic awareness as you go and make sure there is auditory and visual processing skills developed.
Create skills for life spelling strategy -
We use the “logic of sounds” to translate speech to print.
Say it, sound it, write it
(use your pipe cleaner and beads to get the sounds)
When reading, writing and spelling first say the word, pronounce it clearly and correctly, say the sounds in order, move a bead on your pipe cleaner for each sound then write the graphemes/letters for the sounds.
Discovery spelling with the spelling choices lists, find the spelling in the list
Coded readers – talking in sounds is my super power!
At Create skills for life we use talking in sounds to discover and map between print and speech, it is one of the fastest ways to learn to read. Readers are chosen to suit the code level the learner is at and we say the words in the reader in sounds. This helps learners to make sense of print.
Rachel Cavanagh - CSFL Founder
Rachel Cavanagh is the founder and director of Create Skills for Life. Rachel has worked as a teacher and educational therapist for 22 years. During this time she has taken thousands of children on a successful journey to become functioning adults with a positive outlook on life.
If you would like more information or to chat to Rachel, please get in touch below.