Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education
teacher from the UK. I share my passion for everything
communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson
ideas for my classroom of disabled pupils aged
4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in
the field answering your questions and sharing
our knowledge and experience working alongside
our beautiful young people. Let's get started.
Hello everybody and welcome to the Sensory Classroom
podcast. My name is Jordan and today I am joined
by Rachel from Funics Phonics. Rachel is a mum
to a teenage neurodivergent daughter and an early
years teacher of over 25 years and the co -founder
of Phonics Fun for Phonics. So I can imagine
you are wondering what we're going to be talking
about today. We are talking about phonics today
and early literacy skills. Hello Rachel. Hello,
lovely to meet you and thanks for inviting me
on here. It's wonderful to have you. Phonics
comes up a lot in my DMs. There are lots of teachers
and parents that follow me that are feeling a
little bit of pressure to do phonics. Do phonics,
whatever that means. Do phonics from their mainstream
school. And they're unsure of what that might
look like for their disabled and SEND neurodivergent
learners. So I suppose we're going to talk about
that today. Before we get into that, let's talk
about phonics and early years in general. Have
you noticed, because I've heard on the grapevine,
that there has been lots of changes recently
of children coming into early years and speech
and language needs in general just being higher
is that what you're seeing definitely definitely
yes definitely been higher in the last few years
it's been on the increase and i guess some of
that you can't blame the pandemic for everything
but you know it has had an impact you know children
have had less time to socialize less time to
maybe go to nurseries and, you know, at home,
maybe less conversation, no blame or anything.
But parents are working. You know, I was working.
If you're trying to work at home and you've got
a child at home, you cannot give them the attention
that they would have if they were in nursery
or at school if you've got to work because you've
still got bills to pay. So it's really hard.
It's been a hard juggle for people. And I think
the impact is still going on. But definitely
language is an issue and also vocabulary, but
also... There's a lot of Americanisms. So children
come to school and they use American words and
they all say Z, not Zed, because they've been
listening to a lot of American YouTube channels
over time as well. So that's been really interesting
over the last few years. I can imagine that is
the difference, isn't it? I think thinking about
when I was in early years, there's a few differences
there. Both parents didn't necessarily have to
work because the cost of living was just less.
So you would have a parent at home and you wouldn't
be in childcare all day. So yeah, now you're
literally bath, bed, you know, isn't it? And
you get very limited time with parents to kind
of have that input. We had a phased intake. So
those that started in September were just about
to turn five, but those that were... Five in
spring weren't starting until Easter. So they
had that kind of time to be nearly five. Whereas
now they're all starting in September and you've
got those that have just turned four. I know.
I know. And parents can get a bit worried about
phonics and about reading and about writing.
And, you know, even at this point, we've just
had parents evening and parents are like, are
they behind? Just like you have to remember that
your child is possibly. a year, almost a year
younger than another child. And if they're four
and five, that's a quarter of their life. And
that's a massive difference. And you just cannot
compare them. And you shouldn't compare them.
And that's without any special needs, right?
Exactly. So that's neurotypical. Just that huge
quarter of their life difference. How do you
manage that in a class? Well, I mean, yeah. Yeah,
it gets harder every year. Obviously, funding
in school is not brilliant. And I know you've
had people on podcasts before, I've listened
to a few of them, talk about EHCPs and how long
it takes to come through. Children are coming
into school with these needs and not necessarily
having one to one, not having the funding for
one to one, not having those resources in place.
So we're having to negotiate all that and find
our way around it while trying to teach everything.
I have to say we've had at my school, we've had
a new head and deputy and SENCO this year. And
it's been great because they really said. you
know, take a step back, make sure they're settled,
you know, because in the past it was like second
day in, phonics, phonics, phonics. And you just
think, you just don't know them well enough.
You don't know, you know, they need more time
really. So it's been really refreshing this year
that we've been allowed to take that time to
really get to know the children. And we've, you
know, only recently started phonics and that's
been great. No writing yet. I mean, that's, you
know, that's brilliant. They were still packed
up, right? I mean, we see in the Scandinavian
countries that they start way later and they
always catch up. It's not like first wins sometimes.
It's about confidence building, relationship
building, just building those fundamental pre
-skills that happened before academic learning.
I think if we think of Marianne Trott's Pyramid
of Learning. Academic learning happens right
at the top. So many things have to happen before
that. So gross motor skills, fine motor skills,
listening to and following instructions, managing
their body, moderating behaviour, sensory integration,
regulation. So many things have to happen before
they're ready for that. So if they're not getting
that preschool input. they're going to come to
you with needing all of that before they start
any academic learning. Yeah, and I think sometimes
as well with the preschools, I think they feel
that pressure as well. And some of them are starting
phonics and writing their names in nursery and
preschool. And then obviously then they come,
like you say, to reception class without those
foundational... skills that they really need
to build on to be able to read and write later
so you know then we're having to go back and
fit all those in as well as moving forward so
yeah it's it's it's a real juggle and I really
wish the education system was different and children
started later. There was less emphasis on the
literacy, not the literacy side of it, but the
reading and writing, you know, all the language
and being outside more. I'm really passionate
about children spending more time, excuse me,
and doing all those big muscle developments.
Because as you say, the fine motor, I don't know
whether your parents know this, but your child
develops their... fine motor from the gross motor
so you know when they're a baby you know if they're
neurotypical and they sort of roll over and then
they're sitting up and then they're crawling
all those kind of things impact on later writing
but if children are not having not crawling for
instance if they're walking then they haven't
got that left right coordination which is in
there you know that that that's Yeah, so that
left -right coordination is really important
to get both sides of their brains working. So
that's that bilateral coordination. So we want
to be able to use both sides at the same time.
You know, when you're reading, your eyes both
need to work at the same time. They're scanning
across a page. If you're, you know, if you're
able to write and you're writing across a page,
or even if you're on a screen and, you know,
scanning for icons to communicate that way, you
need to be able to scan across. a screen. And
so it's really important to be doing all that
left -right coordination. And I think sometimes
we're rushing children, they're walking and,
no, go back and do the crawling, go back and
do the crawling, do lots of activities. And if
your child wants to walk, do crawling games,
get tunnels out, go under tables and things,
trying to get them to do all those things. Don't
rush them ahead, go back and do all those skills.
You know, it's really important. It's really
refreshing to hear so often I get people coming
to me about, you know, how can I prepare them
for school? And my answer is never do reading
and writing and academics with them because they
learn that at school. That's what school is for.
It is all about getting ready for the transition,
getting ready to get dressed. going to the toilet
maybe, social skills, play skills, managing their
feelings, like more independence, I suppose.
All of those things, because that then makes
your job easier to then be able to teach them
the academics. Exactly. Without that, it's really
tricky. It is really tricky. Yeah, just little
things like, you know. If they're able to put
a coat on, you know, if you've got a class of
30 children and you have to put 30 coats on,
you know, OK, they can't do zip -zips, so we're
helping them to do that. But the more independent
with things like that, it makes it so much easier
for us. And actually, you know, I was talking
to a nursery recently and they were saying about...
parents like rushing in the mornings to get to
work so you know because we're always in a rush
we do a lot of things for children to be quick
don't we and so they're not learning those skills
we don't have the time to take to show them how
to put a coat on to do buttons up to do zips
And those fine motor skills impact on their writing
later. So actually, we're doing them a disservice
by not teaching them. So, you know, we always
say that, you know, parents, if you're working,
you haven't got time in the week, you know, we
understand that. But at the weekends, maybe,
can you spend a little bit of time, you know,
add an extra half hour onto your day so that
when you're going out, you can get them to be
independent, have a go at putting socks on, have
a go at putting shoes on. You know, it's... It's
hard. It's hard to do that. I totally agree with
ACND as well. We often, in classes like mine,
I think parents would admit this as well, we
get into just the routine of I put your socks
and shoes on or I put your coat on. And actually,
it's really refreshing when I have adults in
my room, new adults in my room question that
because it makes me think, oh, yeah, like, why
are we just doing it? Maybe we call it backwards
chaining. I don't know if you have that. term
in mainstream it's a really lovely term so backwards
chaining is you do all of it for them apart from
the very last bit so say for example socks is
a lovely example we'll put it all for them but
maybe they just do the little pop of their toes
right at the end and then we'll do and then once
they've got that we do all of it for them apart
from that little last pull up and then we do
all of it for them apart and then we go back
and back and back as chain until they are doing
the whole skill themselves it's a really lovely
way of building confidence and not letting them
fail, but giving them the opportunity to show
us what they can do whilst being successful.
And it's presuming competence, isn't it? And
it's something that I say all the time, but it's
something that we always fall back to is, but
they can't do that. Like, actually, we're just
doing it for them. I want to be helpful, especially
in my room. We've got lots of adults in my room.
You don't want to be seen as standing back and
not doing your job. But actually, sometimes that
means that we're actually doing. too much so
there's a balance there isn't there of definitely
not letting them fail and then not wanting to
do it and low self -esteem and all of those that's
it giving them the chance to succeed yeah exactly
so I think it can work in both settings really
that we can both fall all fall into that really
easily because it just becomes habit it just
becomes routine that that's that's what you do
And I think that, sorry, I was thinking as a
parent or as a teacher, you just have that caring
role and you want to do it for them because you
feel like you're helping them. But actually,
yes, you just need to give them that. It's hard
to see them struggle with something as well,
isn't it? Especially, I don't know, with my learners,
I feel so protective over them and their self
-esteem and their confidence. We work really
hard to, you know, boost their confidence. So
it's really hard. to stand back even if it's
just for seconds and let them try knowing that
they might fail it's really hard but it is really
important it is a muscle that you kind of have
to exercise and and we all as a whole room get
better at it the children and and the adults
get better at kind of sitting back and just seeing
you know maybe they won't do it our way but maybe
they find another way to try and do it and then
they'll feel even more successful because they
know they've done it on their own and stuff yeah
backwards training is a really lovely too i like
that if you know your children can't do the whole
thing you know they can't but actually backwards
chaining and it works with everything as well
that's how we teach symbol use that's how we
teach toileting it's how we teach everything
kind of backwards chaining in that way i like
that i'm gonna remember that too it wasn't my
term i can't i can't credit it i can't take credit
for it i suppose then What can parents also do?
So we've talked about independent skills. What
can they also do to support those early communication
and reading and writing skills? Say, if it is
just at the weekends and the evening, what kind
of things would you want to see for all learners,
regardless of ability? Yeah, all learners, I
would say, talk, talk, talk. talk more talk you
know if you can you know even from you know from
from when babies well when my daughter was a
baby I'd be narrating what I was doing all day
and it's just because when it's in context when
they see you doing things mum is just washing
up or I'm just going to put on my shoes or I'm
just going to hang this washing on the line you
know you're using all that language and you're
showing them what it is so it's all contextual
so they've got an understanding of it But language
is so important. And unless they see you doing
it and hear it all the time, it's a real struggle
for some children to have all that vocabulary.
And that really impacts on reading and writing
for children. And just that understanding and
that communication when other people are talking
and they say things, they actually don't understand
what you're talking about because they haven't
heard that vocabulary. Yeah, loads and loads
of talking, narrating throughout the day and
stories. Love a story. I like reading a story,
but I have to say my husband, we started reading
with Cora when she was, I don't know, a couple
of months old. He would be reading the Screw
Fix magazine at night. But it doesn't really
matter what you're reading, does it? It's just
that tone when you're talking. She'd be going
to sleep and he'd be reading that. And then as
she became one, we always read one story. And
then when she was two, he said, let's read two
stories and then three and then four. put a stop
to it when she was five because I thought we
can't read five stories a night but it's just
and she she loves stories she loves being read
to she loved audio books so we were doing all
those kind of things all the time and then she
went through a stage where she wouldn't read
to us and I have to say she didn't really enjoy
learning to read even though phonics is my thing
and i've read lots of stories to her she just
you know i said she she's got dyspraxia and and
hopefully being assessed soon for um autism as
well so we're still waiting on that that long
process yeah yeah but yeah so she went through
a stage and not liking phonics and not reading
but now she's gone back the other way and she
loves she's always reading and so i think sometimes
you know just phonics and reading isn't always
for every child But reading stories can be accessible
in lots of ways. You can read to them. You know,
at what age can you stop? You can stop. You can
keep reading until there is if you want to. You
can have family reading groups, you know. Reading
book clubs. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Reading.
You know, we always had audio. books in the car
and lots of nursery rhymes as well nursery rhymes
really great they're like mini stories you know
they have a beginning middle and end so lots
and lots of nursery rhymes and that also helps
with rhyme and repetition and that Often brings
in unusual vocabulary as well. Sort of Jack and
Jill went up the hill. I mean, what's a pail?
What's a crown? You're talking about all those
things. So you're introducing new vocabulary
all the time. So yeah, nursery rhymes and stories
and just talking, talking, talking, talking as
much as you can. I love that you said narrating
as well, because so often I see parents on social
media, I suppose, but also in person, always
questioning and testing and assessing their children.
So what's this? What colour is this? Because
they want... how they feel that they're teaching
them and I love that you said narrating because
it's errorless you're not asking the child to
do or say or understand anything you're just
doing it and they might absorb something almost
like without expectation and I love that you
said that rather than the questioning which if
a child doesn't know the answer could be quite
a demand and quite tricky especially for those
children with PDA profile that could be quite
a demand and they might close off and actually
don't want to communicate or have that conversation
at all because it's tricky it makes me feel bad
I don't understand it and it's a bit scary so
but narrating they can't lose at that they're
just absorbing it and there's no pressure on
them to answer you or anything like that you're
just narrating and I think actually if any parent
or teacher could do that no matter what ability
your your child is at it's a really lovely you
know way of them absorbing language without any
pressure definitely yeah Yeah. I suppose, well,
let's get on to phonics then, because we were
talking just before the recording about phase
one phonics. And lots of people don't really
understand that there is a phase one phonics
that doesn't really include any sounds or letters
at all. And I was thinking about how accessible
that is. Do you mind explaining a little bit
about what phase one is and what it means? Yeah,
I am all for phase one. Phase one is all it's
called is basically it's phonological awareness,
which is a bit of a mouthful, which is why a
lot of people just say phonics. And when I started
phonics, that was the reason why, because lots
of children were coming into school without having
done phase one. But actually. If you call it
phonological awareness, it doesn't ring. So we've
changed to phonics because it's more accessible
to people. But a lot of what we do is phase one.
So phase one is all the language, being able
to discriminate between sounds. You know, if
you hear, I don't know, like something being
rattled in a tin and something being rattled
in a cup. It sounds very different. It could
be slightly similar. And that's the same as when
you're then going on to phonics and you've got
letters like N and M, which make a very similar
sound. It's just a slight difference. And children
have to be able to distinguish between them.
So you don't need to be doing it with letters
first and sounds. You need to be doing it with
objects. You need to be listening to bird song
when you're outside. Can you distinguish between
different birds? You know, magpies are quite
distinguishing noise. got lots of them in our
garden so you can hear them you can use instruments
body sounds you know like poppy anything that's
making a noise you can make you know you go into
this you go into the park and you go down the
slide or i don't know yeah put a stick along
the trailing or something you know so all those
kind of things all that language will impact
on their phonics later. So you're introducing,
again, it's that narrating, it's that language,
just fitting it in where and when. So language
is really important. Environmental sounds, so
listening to, like we say, the birdsong, different
times of transport, all those kind of things.
Hearing somebody, I can hear somebody running
or I can hear, you know, a bell on a bike or
something, you know, just listening to all those
kind of sounds. It's just tuning children's ears
into a range of different sounds, really. So
that's really important. And then it's things
like, well, this isn't included in phase one,
but I always think it's really important, the
gross motor. Because if you haven't got that
gross motor that we talked about before, that
core motor to be able to, you know, I know some
children can't sit up, but if you want them to
be able to hold a pencil, they've first got to...
get control of their shoulders and then their
arms and then their fingers, you know, and okay,
we can modify it for some children, but they
still have to have some strength in there. So
don't go straight for fine motor activities all
the time. You want to do lots of things to strengthen
their arms and their shoulders as well, because
that will give them the control. with their fingers
to hold a pencil so that's really important towards
the end of phase one you can do things with sounds
and we call it oral blending and segmenting and
that doesn't mean that children have to be able
to look and recognize a letter a letter and you
would do this just before school if they were
going you know that if they're if they're at
verbal yeah if they're verbal yeah so if they're
verbal and if well if they're interested really
if they're not interested Then, you know, don't
battle with it because it's just pointless. But
if they're interested, you know, can you play
games and say, oh, I don't know. It could be
doing an action or it could be pointing to something
if you've got pictures or something. So you could
say, can you point to the hat? And then you say
hat. So you're not expecting them to be able
to put those words together. You're modelling
it so that later. They know that's what you do.
You say, hat, hat. Oh yeah, I can point to my
hat or I can put my hat on or something like
that. That's really important to be able to do
as well. But that is definitely at the end stage
of phase one. And those skills need to be in
place before you start reading and writing. Yeah.
So if you come to school and they're not there
yet, say if they aren't on speaking or they've
got mobility, kind of disability in some way,
then they're the skills that you need. You're
working on it. It's still working towards those
literacy skills. Exactly. It's a different step
and stage. And I suppose that is the benefit
and luxury of specialist education that mainstream
hasn't got the luxury of necessarily. We can
make it individual. individualized like that
so in one class with 11 children I had some that
had some phonic awareness and were learning to
blend and segment and write graphemes and those
kind of things I had also had some learners that
were working at around three months that were
working on their grip skills and letting go at
a certain time and they're listening to their
instructions and music cues and all those kind
of things all in one class and we could manage
that because I had the adults and the resources
um and equipment in order to do that I suppose
so it's tricky asking mainstream teachers which
are now getting no all teachers are SEN teachers
now tricky before these children are getting
AHCPs which is usually even if it started at
two and a half three are usually not getting
those until six now so usually the whole of early
years they are without that funding without that
support without that specialist setting and often
even when they get their AHCP there isn't a specialist
setting place available is also what we're finding
so it may it means that mainstream teachers are
having to upskill and find ways to fit in this
kind of individualized approach for these learners
which is really really tricky and i'm not you
know i would struggle with it i've been in scnd
for 16 years i'm a specialist and i would struggle
to teach a mainstream early years class and include
everybody within that same room within that same
lesson it's really tricky what i do really hard
at and I think lots of early years teachers are
fantastic at this is the making them feel like
they belong I think that's the start of inclusion
is making them to feel wanted and belong in the
class and celebrate all their achievements and
communicate with their parents and communicate
with your team about all those things but where
it becomes really tricky is actually fitting
it in and I think sometimes it can look like
exclusion and I think teachers are often really
worried about that and actually I think as long
as it is for the child's benefit so the disabled
child's benefit not the class's benefit it's
okay to have their own space outside of the classroom
to have their own space within the classroom
to go off on lots of walks and things like that
if it's for that particular child's benefit and
often it is because It can be really overwhelming
being in a class with 30 other children and lots
of sounds and not being able to understand. It's
overstimulating, yeah. I think people get really
stuck on the whole including thing. And actually,
you're not including them at all. In fact, they're
getting very distressed. I think that's because
we feel like they should be included, isn't it?
Yeah, because you have a heart for them, don't
you? You want to include them as much as you
can. You maybe feel like you're failing them.
if they're not in the room and that's I can tell
you now if you're listening to this and you're
a mainstream teacher and you're thinking they're
always in the corridors or wandering outside
and I need to do more for them just stop and
think why are they out of the class is it because
actually they're really distracting and I need
my my class to get on I've heard that before
you know my class and actually they're not included
in the turn my car so then that would be an issue
then we'd need to have a look at that but if
it's for the child's benefit if they are finding
the whole room overwhelming maybe the lights
and the sounds and the busyness even just being
close proximity to people is overwhelming then
maybe they need that break or maybe they need
more movement breaks or maybe they need their
own distract free area in order to learn maybe
the learning looks so different from what you're
doing in order for them to learn and thrive because
they're at a completely different stage to everybody
else that's okay actually you're meeting their
needs perfectly and that is exactly what inclusion
looks like that every child is thriving and that
can look really different yeah yeah Yeah. I saw
a little cartoon once about there was a picture
of a wall and children trying to look over. And
have you seen that one? And they said that, you
know, if you gave everybody the same, they'd
all have a step so they could look after, look
over. But if they're different heights, excuse
me, if they're different heights, they still
can't see over. So you have to give them the
height that they need. It has to be different.
It's different. It doesn't feel fair, does it?
It's not equal. no but it's equity so yeah your
five -year -olds that are five in september will
have a much higher chance than your four -year
-olds, which will also have a much higher chance
than your SEND children or your English as an
Additional Language children or visually impaired
children or all of that. We're all starting,
especially in early years, there's such a disparity,
isn't there? Because you haven't been given the
setting and the funding that you actually need
yet. You're still all waiting for all these kind
of things, aren't you? We haven't had the dyslexia
screenings yet. you know there's so many reasons
why a child would be at different level in early
years and you're having to manage that aren't
you and assess that and and add scaffolding to
kind of make support them to be have an equal
chance as possible but it doesn't look like they've
all got the same so not all children need movement
breaks between every five minutes not all children
need a fidget toy or resource not all children
need a colored overlay over their book and all
of those kind of things It's hard. I really,
really take my hat off to early years teachers
that you're... You're doing this for all 30 children.
I feel like by the time they get to year one,
you might have six children in your class. You're
still trying to work out. But early years, you
really are trying to work out everybody. And
on top of that, you're settling children who
can be still upset about leaving parents. Yeah,
absolutely. And anxious, yeah, exactly. I'm trying
to work out safeguarding things. You know, you
don't know the families yet. At least by year
one, you've had a year of knowing the families
and knowing who needs more support and things.
Just trying to work out all of that as well.
It's an awful lot. It is an awful lot, yeah.
And I think that's why, you know, we try to make
our phonics and within my company, Phonics, multi
-sensory. And we try to get lots of action in.
You know, and children, we have children, CND
children come to Phonics and, you know, or have
our boxes, which we'll talk about later. But
it's got to be accessible in some way for all
children. And it doesn't matter. how they do
it. It's just doing it and giving them those
opportunities. So, you know, we have at school,
we have visual things. We're listening with auditory.
We're moving around. We're doing actions. So
hopefully we're covering as much as we can within
the general classroom, which is just, you know,
we're doing that for all children. And then you
do extras on top for others. All children benefit
from that. They're not losing out on that. Well,
let's talk about it then. what is your offer
with funics what are you offering teachers and
parents to support with everything we've spoken
about so far so with well we have lots of things
funics classes are just local to where i live
in worcester we started that because we wanted
parents um were teaching children And they were
racing ahead because they thought there was this
pressure to do it. So we wanted to support them.
And the parents say it's a really supportive
setting. You know, there's no judgment, but we
just help them to understand, you know, let's
go back. Let's do all this. We do the gross most.
We do the fun things. We do storytelling. You
know, every week there's a story. It's interactive.
It's just lots and lots of fun activities. We
do something all together and then there are
lots of activities the children can move around
to. And one thing we find with parents when they
first start is they feel like they have to do
everything. And we say, no, it doesn't matter.
You know, if your child finds one activity and
they're engrossed and want to stay there the
whole time, that's absolutely fine because they're
getting what they need at that point. And it's
all about, you know, if there's a craft activity,
they feel like they need to do the craft because
they feel like it's the product they need to
go home with. But don't actually realise it's
that. that process that they're going through
that's really important so we're trying to educate
parents in that way really and you know trying
to make things accessible to all children I have
to say, we haven't had children in, you know,
with massively physical difficulties. So I haven't
had to negotiate that. But we definitely we've
had sort of, you know, speech and language. We've
had hearing, we've had autism, all those kind
of things. Well, let me know if you want to find
accessible ways. I'm sure there are really accessible
ways that you could include those children. Definitely.
Yeah, that's definitely something I'd love to
get involved with that. Yeah, no, that would
be brilliant because it's really important that
we improve ourselves and help more and more children.
Yeah, I love that. Yeah. And in school and the
other thing I started in school as well, because
I really want them to have movement breaks. So
I've got a, we call it, have you heard of funky
fingers? So funky fingers is when they're all
doing. It was a bit of a rave at schools and
they were all doing this fine motor. But again,
they were forgetting all the gross motors. So
we've now introduced mighty muscles. And so we
have like a physical activity in the classroom
because not many people do. They always think
physical has got to be outside. But you can have
something in the classroom. You can have something
in a group that is physical that they can do.
You know, it could just be balancing on a cushion
because that's an unstable. and stable surface
and actually that engages their core a bit more
and that supports then their fine you know their
fine motor as well so we we do lots of things
lots lots of physical things lots of practical
things and and just try and make it fun i mean
the children love apparently parents tell us
that children love funics come into our classes
so we have that in our classrooms and then obviously
we have those who can't come to classes because
it's just locally we have boxes so it's It's
kind of most of it in a box. And we have videos
of myself and Helen doing activities and children
can join in with them at home. And again, it's,
you know, children get out of it what they can.
You adjust it to what your child can do. There's
no right or wrong, really. It's just, you know,
everybody's just... being able to access as much
as they can with the activities. That's amazing.
And then you've got a subscription offer as well,
is that right? Yes. Sorry, yeah. And that's in
the boxes, yeah, the subscription boxes. Okay,
so does it keep getting changed over there? So
we've got a six -month subscription. We do have
letter cards. We've just won an award, actually,
for our letter cards because we've got rhymes
on it. But it's got QR codes on the back so children
can actually see. how to form a letter if they're
ready to form letters and they can actually hear
us saying the sound so they can say it clearly
as well so we've we've got those and we put those
in our in our boxes and then we have lots of
we have gross motor activities we have crafts
but it's all related around language and using
our fingers using our bodies just to you know
to get all those those skills in place really
and yeah it's really it's been really popular
it sounds fantastic and so accessible i love
your passion for inclusion and accessibility
it's really refreshing to hear actually especially
on the topic of phonics it can be quite exclusive
so that's really really lovely that yeah i've
everything i'm hearing i'm thinking well yeah
my class would Love that. So, yeah. And I've
got a very high needs class. So that's really
lovely to hear. Where can people find out more
about this? Where can people find out more about
your classes and your boxes and everything you
have to share? Okay, you can. Online, we have
a website called funics .com. So I'll spell that
because it's very, it's a very, it's basically,
it's fun with phonics. So it's F -U -N -I -C
-S. So funics. If you were online on the website,
rather. And then phonics .phonics. Sorry. It's
all a mouthful, isn't it, really? I know. It
looks great. It looks great written. It's really
hard to say, which is quite ironic, really, isn't
it? Yeah. Phonics .phonics on Instagram. Yeah.
yeah and we'd love to and you know if people
have got ideas you know to help us improve if
you've got children you think oh this would work
a better way you know we are really up for feedback
on things and because you know we want to get
better we want to improve we want to support
more and more children so you know we're happy
to try and add and adjust as we go along and
it really isn't it really isn't much to add it
might be things like raising the tough tray onto
a stand so that a wheelchair can get underneath
it might be adding some sensory elements to each
page of your story that you're reading you know
yes there are really accessible easy ways that
actually will support all children that we add
four of those PMLD learners so yeah we can we
can talk about that another time that would be
wonderful lovely thank you so much for joining
today it's been a really really important and
lovely conversation to have with you thank you
so much for having me I've really enjoyed chatting
with you Thank you.