Overview of the Kingston Programme

Children with specific problems in reading, writing and spelling do not learn in the way most children do. They require a method containing strategies for learning and for retention and recall.

The Teaching Reading Through Spelling Programme is a PSYCHO-LINGUISTIC MULTISENSORY TRAINING PROGRAMME which not only incorporates PHONICS but also ARTICULATION and SPEECH TRAINING, ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE, DEVELOPMENT OF SYNTACTIC and SEMANTIC KNOWLEDGE and THE USE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE LANGUAGE.

It is a STRUCTURED and SEQUENTIAL programme which begins with the most frequent sounds of the letters of the alphabet and extends to include more complex structures and forms. The purpose of this is to explain to the child why words have the spelling they do.

This is achieved by developing a LOGICAL approach to the understanding of ORTHOGRAPHY. Such an understanding requires the pupil to use reasoning skills and abilities at all levels of teaching and learning. It is incumbent on the teacher to ensure that the presentation of material is in fact LOGICAL and that the pupil is not required to do anything for which he or she is not adequately prepared.

The programme is therefore CUMULATIVE and each new level draws on skills and abilities already developed and thus allows for new knowledge to be incorporated into old. 

The main emphasis of this programme is placed on the development of SPELLING SKILLS. The reasons for this are twofold. At the practical level it would seem that writing reinforces the sound-symbol link and helps to focus attention on the structure of words. This is very important because the main problem for pupils with reading and spelling problems is linking sound to symbol.

More significantly, Ffrith (1980) indicates that spelling skills are directly related to the pupil's METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS, i.e. the acquisition of language skills in relation to the culture and development of language to talk about language. It is only a small step to argue that training in spelling skills provides training in metalinguistic skills which in themselves will have important ramifications for the development of reading – if not for language skills generally. 

Hence the Kingston "TEACHING READING THROUGH SPELLING" programme, in which an understanding of the SPELLING SYSTEM of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE is made explicit in order to overcome the basic disability in the pupil's implicit processing abilities.  

This multisensory programme shows how a hierarchy of meta-linguistic skills may be built up from nothing, how the teaching of reading and spelling can be responsive rather than ritual, and how the programme may be entered at any stage or level.