Literacy Read and Write: Highly effective literacy acquisition program

A STEP BY STEP COURSE THAT TEACHES YOUR CHILD TO READ AND WRITE WITH FLUENCY, SPEED AND EASE

BUY NOW FOR LITERACY SUCCESS!

​Literacy Read and Write Overview

See our step by step, fun and engaging, comprehensive course that equips your child with the skills they need to thrive in literacy. Choose between completely self-paced or include additional support sessions from our specialist literacy coach.


Literacy Read and Write

Build your child’s confidence and equip them with the tools they need to read, write and thrive at school with our step by step, high-quality, fun & engaging literacy program.

Literacy is essential for life-long learning, communication and employment. It is vital for children to have solid literacy skills in place in order to feel confident when tackling school work and to achieve success in learning and in life.

Is your child struggling with the basics of literacy at school and can't read yet?
Are you home-schooling your child and want to help them read easily?
Does your child find letter recognition/alphabet knowledge challenging?
Is there a diagnosed learning difficulty, hearing or pronunciation problem?
Do you worry that they have fallen behind their peers at school?
Can they distinguish between similar-looking letters, like b/d, or m/w?
Does your child struggle to spell or complain about going to school?
Are you worried that their handwriting is poorly formed?
Is your child learning English as a second language, and needs help with literacy?
Has your child been affected by school closures due to COVID-19?

If any of these questions or similar concerns play on your mind, then our Literacy Read and Write program could just be what you and your child need to feel confident and excited at the prospect of thriving at school.

This course is also perfect for:
• Children who are being home-schooled
• Professionals who want to teach children how to read and write with confidence
• ESL students

Through face to face training workshops, Vicki has taught thousands of parents, plus dozens of teachers and speech pathologists how to use her methods and benefit from her literacy expertise. She has also taught many ESL students of all ages how to read and write confidently in English.

Building your child's literacy skills and confidence

Our step by step, fun and engaging, systematic literacy program builds confidence by equipping children with the following skills they need to thrive during their primary years at school:

• Phonics (sound to letter correspondence)
• Handwriting (automatic letter formation, fine motor skills)
• Blending (word attack, sequencing, reading)
• Sight words (automatic recognition)
• Reading comprehension (understanding stories)
• Spelling rules (assists reading accuracy)

Each session contains consistent components and builds sequentially, allowing you and your child to practise as much as required, in order to feel confident before moving on to the next session.

The Language Tree helps you to create a fun, inclusive, nurturing and multi-sensory learning environment for your child, with the added bonus that you will be actively participating in your child’s learning journey and all from the comfort of your own home! It's important to note that for reading mastery, certain pathways in the brain (auditory, visual and kinaesthetic) need stimulating daily before automatic reading and writing can occur. This program is ideal for building those pathways and skills.

There are 10 sessions in the program.

Each session contains six instructional videos demonstrating how to carry out the activities as well as explaining which skill is being developed.

These videos are accompanied by comprehensive, easy to follow activity plans, instruction sheets, worksheets and information sheets for you to download and use.

All the teaching materials you need are included in the program. Extra support is also available in the form of Zoom sessions with Erin our specialist literacy coach (see enrolment options below).

By mail: You will also receive a pack of beautifully designed, colour, durable phonics Sound Cards that are unique to this course, and will fast-track your child's literacy skills.

DISCLAIMER: This course is intended to be used to teach children how to read and write, by giving parents a clear and logical method to support their child at school. It does not replace assessment, diagnosis or treatment from a qualified speech and language pathologist/therapist. If a parent is concerned about a persistent speech, language or literacy issue, they should seek face to face professional guidance.
VIDEO MUSIC: www.bensound.com


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Your Instructor


Vicki Selwyn-Barnett
Vicki Selwyn-Barnett

Hello, I'm Vicki, a qualified speech & language pathologist/therapist.
I have over 32 years of professional experience working with children and their parents.

I am the founder and proprietor of The Language Tree, a speech, language and literacy clinic based in Sydney, Australia www.thelanguagetree.com.au.

I pioneered the use of The Spalding Method® in my London based clinic, Spellit Practice www.spellitpractice.co.uk before returning to Australia to develop the TLT System®.

Children who attend my clinics, typically make 12–18 months progress in their reading skills after 12–24 hours of direct therapy. This level of success is due to the strength of the TLT System® and also having a parent present in the therapy sessions to ensure they learn, consolidate, support and implement the method at home.

I have adapted the TLT System® into two online programs (Literacy Fun-da-men-tools and Literacy Read and Write) so that those who cannot attend the clinic can still benefit from my literacy expertise.

I specialise in treating children with literacy, language and articulation disorders and I am also a published author. Along with two colleagues, I wrote "Total Phonology", a research based manual that stresses the importance of establishing phonological awareness skills at a pre-school level, in order to minimise literacy difficulties in the primary school years. This manual focuses on providing training to encourage parents to play in a guided and rewarding manner with their children at home. This manual became the foundation for our school readiness program in the clinic and its online sister program, Literacy Fun-da-men-tools.

I thoroughly enjoy working with children of all ages from pre-school to adolescence and provide a range of services in addition to direct 1:1 therapy, including home programs, master classes, holiday intensives, parent and teacher training workshops.

I have delighted in helping more than 4,000 children to read and write during the course of my rewarding career.

Families from all over Australia and overseas often bring their children to receive specialist literacy treatment at The Language Tree.

The Literacy Read and Write online program is designed to empower parents, teachers and speech pathologists to work actively with children in a step by step and engaging way. Over the last 20 years, I have developed the TLT System®, and eight years ago I began a voluntary, collaborative education project with Raw Impact, a Cambodian based charity www.rawimpact.org. I devoted time and clinical resources, adapting the TLT System® to train teachers and children in Cambodian village schools to speak, read and write English.

I am qualified in Integrated Listening Systems (iLs), The Spalding Method®, parent-child interaction and completed the Defeat Autism Now (DAN) Practitioner training.

Erin Hopkins: Specialist Literacy Coach
If you would like extra support there is also the option of working with Erin, our specialist literacy coach who offers sessions over zoom. Erin has worked as a creative writing and high school English teacher, ESL teacher to both children and adults and is also a mindfulness teacher in primary school. She has two bachelor degrees in English and Communication/Journalism and Master's Degree in Education. Erin is also trained in Georgina Manning's Peaceful Kids Program.


 

Featuring 60 activity demonstration videos, dozens of beautiful PDF course materials and bonus content!

Course Curriculum


  Program Overview: Literacy Read and Write
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  Session 1 (Sound Cards 1–10)
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  Session 2 (Sound Cards 11–16)
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  Session 3 (Sound Cards 17–22)
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  Session 4 (Sound Cards 23–28)
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  Session 5 (Sound Cards 29–34)
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  Session 6 (Sound Cards 35–42)
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  Session 7 (Sound Cards 43–50)
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  Session 8 (Sound Cards 51–58)
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  Session 9 (Sound Cards 59–63)
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  Session 10 (Sound Cards 64–68)
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  Bonus Material
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What people are saying about Vicki

"My basic message is the course is fantastic!

As a mother, a primary school teacher and a homeschool parent, I feel so incredibly grateful that I have been able to support my son’s early learning and development through using the Literacy Fun-da-men-tools and Literacy Read and Write Online courses.

Vicki is a warm, enthusiastic and deeply knowledgeable guide.

It has been such a joy for me to watch my four-year-old son (who chose not to answer questions), develop language and literacy skills through The Language Tree, and blossom into a 6-year-old who happily engages in conversation and can confidently express and apply his knowledge of all 68 sound cards.

I have been blown away by how quickly these foundations built through the Literacy Read and Write course and are rapidly translating into a passion for reading and exploring language.

I have seen similar age children in my classroom struggle to gain these skills over years, while Vicki’s online course has provided this foundation through consistently using it over a four-month period. After re-assessment on standardised testing, I was astounded and thrilled to see that my son had made 16 months progress in his reading ability in just four months.

I would highly recommend both courses to any parent that wishes to support their child in learning to read and write through a journey that is engaging, enjoyable and effective.

I would also recommend these courses to teachers who teach young children to learn to read and write as the program really works."

- Nicolette, Auckland, New Zealand

"I can honestly say that for those of you who choose to participate in any of the Language Tree’s online programs such as Literacy Read and Write or Literacy Fun-da-men-tools, are choosing to give your children a gift that is priceless.

We call Vicki our fairy godmother, because our journey with the Language Tree has been nothing short of magical.

In reality, her magic comes from a lifetime of work. Vicki has accrued knowledge of language and literacy and collated and developed it, to create programs that simply work! Driven by her love of children and wanting to give something incredibly special back, she has achieved just that with the quality of her methods.

Her programs are rewarding, supportive, systematic, gentle on the children and build confidence and knowledge in abundance.

I’ve discovered through my time at the Language Tree that children simply do not need to struggle. Vicki's methods work!

My eldest child, who is currently thriving at school, would not naturally be in the top literacy group. He is simply a product of the eduction he has received from both Literacy Fun-da-men-tools and Literacy Read and Write. These programs provide building blocks for any child to understand language and literacy. It really is a magical process to witness and it makes me so happy to watch my child shine, succeed and ooze confidence in his class.

I will be running my younger children through Vicki's programs, even those without language difficulties, because it is such a great start to their education and they are fantastic tools to prime my kids brains' for reading and beyond."

Lisa, Sydney, Australia

"When I was a child, there was no formal method for learning the rules of English, other than "i before e except after c". What I've seen in this course from The Language Tree, is that Vicki’s designed all these magic things, for example, spelling rules for reading pronunciation, such as when a “c says s" as in city and a "g says j” as in gentle.

Vicki uses so many cool things to help children who have memory issues, such as a colour code, dots and underlining on the Sound Cards; personally I feel this is the genius part of her method! The Sound Cards are things that really wowed me!

They have helped my son recall his phonics with such ease, enabling him to read quickly and with confidence. Vicki’s method gives children tools to really work things out. The more tools we give our child to independently work things out, the better it is for them. Giving kids the gift of reading allows them to source so much information on their own and learn about things they're interested in.

It’s been such joy seeing my son going to bed at night and refusing to switch off the light so he can finish his book! A kid who can read a book will never get bored, and as my grandma liked to remind me, "if you've got a book you'll never be lonely!"

I can never thank you enough Vicki."

Robert, Sydney, Australia

"In short, Vicki's brilliant! Her program is brilliant and if you want to know more, read on . . .

I saw Vicki as a young adult for my own dyslexia when I wanted to get back into studying many years after leaving school. She taught me so much and gave me such confidence, but I never knew that 18 years later, I'd meet her again to help my little boy!

She still had exactly the same wonderful energy and passion for her profession, but obviously more years of experience; she is so skilled, so patient, so kind and clever.

Vicki’s methods are clear and engaging and even my younger daughter, who was only 3 years old at the time, would watch my son's sessions, and try to copy the Sound Cards.

My son now reads with confidence and joy, but needs help to write stories, so I took him back to Vicki's clinic for her story writing program in the recent Christmas holidays and his writing and expression is now moving to the next level.

Literacy has not been easy for him, just as it was a major struggle for me (I didn't read till I was 9 yrs old) but with Vicki by our side, we feel incredibly supported. Best of all, Vicki is brilliant at explaining the complexities of the English language with clarity and simplicity, so finally, I now understand things that were so baffling to me when I was growing up, such as silent letters, spelling rules and sound patterns.

Taking my son to see Vicki in the clinic, was a weekly financial commitment, as it is with any allied health professional (occupational therapist, chiropractor, etc), but how can you put a price on your child's literacy, learning and future?

Vicki shares in the triumphs my son makes and even with many decades in practice behind her, the thrill and excitement she gets for him when she sees the skills knitting together in his brain, is palpable.

When Vicki made her brilliant techniques available as the Literacy Read and Write online program, I jumped at the chance to use it with my younger daughter, as I still want to benefit from Vicki's expertise.

The online program costs much less than seeing Vicki in the clinic, but loses nothing in quality or value as her methods transfer beautifully to an online format.

Her online program is so fabulous, it's a major refresher for me - it has videos of Vicki in action and she clearly explains everything I learnt from her with my son a few years ago. I love doing Vicki's program online with my daughter, because we can replay the videos and absorb it at our own pace. We never tire of her friendly and warm manner.

If you are wondering how best to help your child learn to read and write, look no further.

As a person with dyslexia myself, I can highly recommend you buy this online program and give your child the wonderful gift of reading, opening their minds to the world of possibilities that await inside every book!"

Janice, Sydney, Australia

"Last year I had a feeling that my son was falling behind in his reading and writing. Despite several conversations with his teacher, I was assured that all was ok, but I still had a feeling that he was not where he needed to be at the end of Kindy.

Vicki's program was exactly what he needed. The "sound cards" opened up a whole new world that gave him the tools to break down words and sounds. His reading improved immediately! Teaching him all the different sounds for various letters made it very easy for him to decode words.

His reading improved so quickly and it was quite emotional to witness, as I knew he needed help, but I personally didn’t have the tools or skills, beyond basic phonics, to assist him. With Vicki as our guide, I became very knowledgeable and was able to help him with his reading and handwriting. He is now an efficient writer, his writing is neat thanks to Vicki's instructions on letter formation which are so consistent and clear.

Vicki's method makes reading and writing such a natural progression. It gives children the tools to be independent readers and decode the often very tricky English language in a very organised and fun way. I can see how all children would benefit from learning to read this way. My son has gone from strength to to strength. He is now more confident at reading and writing. I no longer feel stressed trying to work out how best to teach him, as I have the support and tools to ensure he continues to enjoy literacy. As a graphic designer, I really appreciate the quality and clear layout of the sound cards and all the wonderful materials Vicki has created such as the handwriting and blending sheets.

I wish all kids had access to this incredible program! I get so frustrated when I go into school and do reading groups with my son's class, as none of them have a clue about how to tackle reading. I literally want to buy this program for every child as Vicki's method is amazing!"

Kathryn, Sydney, Australia

 
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Frequently Asked Questions


How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own. If you have more than one child, you can also use it with your other children.
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts as soon as you purchase it and you can access it forever! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish. However for your child to get the maximum benefit, since it is a skill-building course, it is best to complete all 10 sessions within six months, to best support their literacy at school.
How long should the course take to complete?
You know your child best, so you can pace the course to suit their needs. Our recommended timeframe is to try to complete one session within one to two weeks (10 to 20 weeks for the whole course). If there is too long a gap between activities, your child might forget what they have previously been shown and their skills will not build so easily. As a general rule of thumb, "little and often" is best! However, as the course builds in complexity from session 6 onwards, it may take longer to complete these later sessions.
What specific skills do the activities in this course build?
This course is designed around six fundamental literacy skills, with an activity or game that aims to build competence in each of these areas: 1. Sound to Letter Correspondence (Sound Cards), 2. Letter Formation & Motor Planning, 3. Blending Letter Sounds, 4. Whole Word Reading, 5. Spelling Rules for Accurate Reading Pronunciation, 6. Reading Comprehension. These six skills repeat and build in complexity over the 10 sessions.
How easy is it to play the activities?
The activities are very easy to carry out, as they have instructional videos that accompany them, as well as simple to follow written instructions. There are also many videos of Vicki demonstrating the activities with a child to help you further. You will need a colour printer, plus a few counters, colouring pencils, a dice, a pencil. A full list is provided on each activity plan.
How much preparation time is required for each activity?
You only need a few minutes to prepare for each activity. All teaching materials are provided, so you just need to print these out, then follow the written instructions and / or watch the short instructional videos. At the beginning of each of the 10 sessions are all the materials you’ll need for that session. It’s a good idea to print the whole session in one go and keep these well organised in a file / folder.
Do I need to carry out the activities in a specific order?
YES! Please carry out the activities in the sequence provided as each activity gets slightly harder as the course progresses. The aim is that your child's skills should build comprehensively over time, enabling them to read more complex words with greater accuracy.
Do we have to carry out all the activities from each session on the same day?
No. You can take your time or repeat activities as many times as you wish before moving on to the next session or until you feel your child has mastered the content. Your child will need to practice saying and writing the Sound Cards on a regular basis to ensure they are embedding accurate sound to letter correspondence (which is the key to your child's reading success). On average, the children in my clinic learn all 68 Sound Cards within 8 to 12 sessions of weekly therapy, however to achieve this, in between their weekly therapy sessions, they practice for 10 to 15 minutes a day at home.
Is this course only available to parents or can teachers and speech pathologists buy it too?
This course is perfect for parents or professionals who want to teach children how to read and write with confidence and joy. Through face to face training workshops, Vicki has taught thousands of parents, plus dozens of teachers and speech pathologists how to use her methods. By creating Literacy Read and Write as an online version many more parents, teachers and speech pathologists can now access and benefit from Vicki's literacy expertise.
Can I buy this program as individual modules at different times?
No. This program is bought as a whole, since each session builds and relates to the previous one, in order to effectively develop your child’s literacy skills. As mentioned above, you can take your time or repeat activities as many times as you wish, as long as you carry out the activities in the session sequence.
I’m so busy, I have little time to spend with my child at home. How much time does each activity take to play?
Each activity lasts for approximately 10 minutes and the instructional videos are only 1 to 2 minutes long. This short timeframe has been designed specifically to take into account families with busy lives, as well as children's developing concentration, attention and early literacy skills.
Why did you create this course?
I created this course in response to requests from hundreds of parents, who have asked over many years, why my highly effective methods and quality materials were not more widely available. As such, Literacy Read and Write is the online version of the methods I've used for over 20 years in the clinic which have helped thousands of children achieve beautiful handwriting in just three to six hours, as well as 12 to 18 months progress in reading in only 12 to 24 hours of therapy. I find it heartbreaking to see children struggle unnecessarily to acquire reading and handwriting skills that can be taught effectively, simply, sequentially and systematically. In short, the aim of this course is to help children excel in literacy and thrive in school.
My child does not like to write and finds it hard to complete worksheets. Can we still do the course?
Yes you can, but you will need to modify one of the six components. For instance, if your child will not use a pencil, instead you can establish and develop their motor patterns for each letter shape by spraying shaving foam onto a large, flat tray and getting them to use their finger to write the letter shapes in the foam. It's a bit messy, but it's fun, creative and it works as they can still learn how to write their letters and Sound Cards. I've used this method with great success in the clinic! The other five components of the program do not actively require the child to write.
My child's spelling seems bizarre. Why is this and could your program help?
Bizarre spellings are usually attributed to two things: they either reflect a child’s pronunciation or the place in the mouth where similar sounds are made. For instance the sounds /p/, /b/, /m/ are all made with the lips and /t/, /d/,/n/ are all made with the tongue tip. So it is possible that these could be interchanged if your child isn’t using the full cues (voiced and nasal qualities of the sound or length of airflow) available to them, e.g: ‘bib’ might be misspelled as ‘pib’ or ‘pim’. Similarly, ‘bed’ might be misspelled as ‘met’ or ‘pen’. Speech pathologists have a clear understanding of the types of sounds and of their positions in the mouth and if viewed in this way, seemingly bizarre spellings may not be so odd after all. My Literacy Read and Write program uses "hand cues" to detail the relationship between the phonetic Sound Cards and lips, tongue, teeth, airflow and voice, which helps children understand the connection between what they hear and what they write, ultimately building strong auditory and kinesthetic pathways that lead to enhanced spelling ability.
My child can say the letters of the alphabet but doesn't always remember what sounds they make. Will this course help?
Children often learn their alphabet letters firstly in song and then as a rote sequence. However, they don't always understand the full relationship between each letter or letter combination and its corresponding sound or sounds. This comprehensive course will help as it teaches that relationship in great detail and is perfect for children struggling with this aspect of literacy, as it will deepen their knowledge, enabling them to decode and read words.
Is this course only suitable for primary aged children or can it help my older child who has developmental delay?
This course is perfect for both groups as it's designed to teach children to read and automatically form letters with ease. It will develop and strengthen your child’s decoding, blending, auditory sequencing and handwriting skills. If your child has any difficulties in these areas and is struggling to read and write, despite their chronological age, this course should help them.
My child can't blend sounds together. Will this course advance their blending and reading ability?
Yes, absolutely! This course is designed to teach your child all the letters of the alphabet as well as two-letter (ow, th, ph, kn), three-letter (dge, igh, ear) and four-letter (eigh) combinations in a step by step, fast-track way, through the use of Sound Cards which represent the sounds that English letters can make. For example: the letter "a" can say 'a' in apple / 'ay' in paper / 'or' in water / 'ah' in bath. Equally, the sound "k" can be represented by different visual letter combinations, eg. "k" in key / "c" in cat / "ch" in character / "ck" in duck / "qu" in unique. Your child will be shown how to accurately pronounce, recognise and write 68 Sound Cards and then how to blend these successfully in order to read.
Will this course confuse my child, or will it support what's being taught at school?
This course aims to develop your child's literacy skills in detail. All the activities are specifically designed to support, underpin and add to what your child should be learning at school. As such, this course should not confuse them, as long as you explain that they may be learning extra, cool tips about the English language, that their teacher may or may not teach them.
My child is currently seeing a speech pathologist/therapist. Could this course complement their therapy?
Children typically need face to face therapy to remediate any diagnosed speech, language or related issue. This course is intended to be used as a home program to support parents in teaching their children how to read and write and thrive in literacy at school. It does not replace assessment, diagnosis or treatment from a qualified speech and language pathologist/therapist. It may complement the therapy program your child is currently receiving, but it is always best to check with your speech pathologist/therapist first.
My child’s literacy is very poor. They are in Year/Grade 3. What should I do?
By Year/ Grade 2 research indicates that children should have well established phonological awareness skills (rhyme, syllable segmentation, first sound awareness and early blending), allowing them to begin to read with ease. If these underlying skills are not yet established, or if your child lacks sound to letter correspondence and has weak alphabet knowledge, it would be prudent to: 1. Try my online school readiness program, "Literacy Fun-da-men-tools" then try this online program "Literacy Read and Write". 2. Seek help from other professionals such as a: Speech Pathologist/Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Educational Psychologist, Paediatrician, Optometrist (including Behavioural Optometrist), and an Audiologist (including those audiologists who can check for auditory processing disorder).
Does this course offer good value?
Absolutely! There are 60, specific literacy skill-building activities to engage in throughout the 10 sessions (six activities per session). 1. Sound to Letter Correspondence (Sound Cards), 2. Letter Formation & Motor Planning, 3. Blending Letter Sounds, 4. Whole Word Reading, 5. Spelling Rules for Accurate Reading Pronunciation, 6. Reading Comprehension. These six skills repeat and build in complexity over the 10 sessions. If you and your child were to see Vicki face to face this amount of tuition would take 12 to 24 sessions to complete (depending on your child’s attention span and ability) and would cost between AU $1,860 to AU $3,720. The course price has been carefully considered to enable as many children as possible to have access to these vital, literacy skills.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
I would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact me in the first 30 days and I will give you a full refund. (Please note the cost of the Sound Cards and their postage would be deducted from this).

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