Thank you, Jenny and Jim, for your replies.
I wrote a blog post as a tribute to Dave. If you'd like to read it, it's here:
https://www.thereadingcentre.com/2018/0 ... nds-write/
Best wishes to all.
John

I'm writing with great sadness to inform you that my friend and colleague at Sounds-Write over many years Dave Philpot passed away suddenly on March 9th. David was centrally involved in helping to create Sounds-Write from its inception in 2002 and he kept up a lively interest in everything we did su...

Hi Jenny, I'll be interested to see what you make of Clarke's new book. Have you ever come across Alison Clark, who writes the Spelfabet blog? She recently reviewed Clarke's Reading the Evidence: Synthetic Phonics and Literacy Learning , which I feel sure must be the same. Here's the link: https://w...

Well done, Jenny! What an excellent rebuttal.
Thank you and best wishes, John

I agree with both Jenny and Derrie on this. However, I'd also point out that rather than waiting for 'readiness', I'm always encouraging teachers to aim their instruction at pupils' 'ripening functions', rather than what they can do independently. As I'm sure we all agree, young children can do far ...

Hi Ken, I'm in favour of using language that is accessible to all. Although at a teachers' conference I would expect teachers to be using the 'jargon of the trade' and talking about 'digraphs', 'trigraphs' and 'phonograms', I think it's much better to use terminology that is likely to be understood ...

Pjay, I think you'll find that Dandelion Readers follow the order of sounds presented in Sounds-Write.

For practical tips, advice and lots more (the English writing system, etc.), why not visit The Literacy Blog: http://literacyblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Best wishes,

What a terrific response to the question!

I've just been looking at their video. About 40 odd seconds in you can see an alphabet chart. One of the spellings on it G g with a picture of a guitar. Presumably the <u> is silent!! :lol: But, given that they say it's taken four years to write, you'd think they'd have used 'goat' or 'glass', somet...

Firstly, well done to Elizabeth for producing these decodable, informational texts. :grin: I've been arguing for years for the inclusion of more informational texts in children's reading. I normally have to wait until pupils are halfway through the Extended Code before introducing my favourite Kingf...

The review is right on the money. 'Silent letters', 'words that break pronunciation rules' [What?!] - all the contradictions of a print to sound approach are exposed. Which all goes to show: you can be a great cognitive psychologist and understand very well how children learn, but if you don't under...

Well done, Debbie! This is an excellent point-by-point critique of Rosen's piece. I suspect Rosen doesn't have quite the same influence he had a few years ago; nevertheless, it is still absolutely vital that his views are challenged at every step in order to mitigate the pernicious effect he may hav...

Thanks, Jim.

I'll second that, Geraldine! A very well-argued and restrained response, Elizabeth!