Sound Linkage: An Integrated Programme for Overcoming Reading Difficulties

The third edition of this highly successful phonological training programme, developed to support children with reading delays and dyslexia, has been revised throughout to incorporate the latest research in the field. The  package contains a phonological training programme, and explains how this programme can be embedded within a broader reading intervention.  These materials and the broader approach have been used with a wide range of children since 1994, and found to be suitable for reading–delayed children, irrespective of cognitive ability and age. Revised and reordered to reflect the latest advancements, the ten sections of activities within the programme include: identification of words and syllables; identification and supply of rhyming words, identification and discrimination of phonemes; and blending, segmentation, deletion, substitution and transposition of phonemes within words. The manual also contains sections covering the theoretical background to the 1994 study by Hatcher, Hulme and Ellis, and subsequent studies; a standardized test of phonological awareness and a methodology that can be used to grade children’s reading books. All activities are accompanied by a set of photocopiable record sheets,  a set of pictures, and an appendix of additional activities useful in helping children master a particular skill or to reinforce existing learning.

Peter J. Hatcher was, until his retirement, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of York. He also worked as a Senior Educational Psychologist with the Cumbria Education Authority. His work in the area of understanding and helping children with reading difficulties master the skills of reading, with Charles Hulme and Andrew Ellis, culminated in their ground–breaking research (1994) that supported the Sound Linkage Hypothesis.   Fiona J. Duff is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford. She was previously a research fellow at the University of York, and during these studies, she was awarded the British Psychological Society Postgraduate Award and was seconded to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, where she authored a briefing note for parliamentarians on teaching children to read.    Charles Hulme is Professor of Psychology at University College London. He is a former Editor–in–Chief of the journal Scientific Studies of Reading and is currently Senior Editor of the Association of Psychological Science’s flagship journal, Psychological Science .  His publications include four authored and four edited books, over 180 journal articles, as well as several psychometric tests including the UK’s new standard test of reading comprehension, the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension .