Reading, writing, spelling — It's about spoken language and building the brain for literacy…
…and so is SPELL-Links!
SPELL-Links uses a speech-to-print approach that leverages the brain’s innate, biological wiring and organization for spoken language. Unlike other literacy programs, SPELL-Links first helps students learn how to attend to the sound structure of spoken English words and then to connect and combine sounds (phonology), letter patterns (orthography), and meanings (morphology/semantics) and store and reliably retrieve words (lexical memory) to fluently read and write. This multi-component connectivity is exactly how the brain works in good readers and writers!
With SPELL-Links, students also develop meta-cognitive abilities and build executive function proficiency. This empowers them to apply their word study knowledge, skills, and strategies to successfully, independently read, write, and spell every day, not just during the classroom lesson or on the weekly test.
The Human Brain
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The Human Brain: Biologically Wired for Spoken Language
The brain is biologically wired only for spoken language—speaking, listening, and understanding—not for written language. There are no genes and no neurological or biological structures specific to reading and writing. To successfully read and write, each brain must “repurpose” regions biologically designed for other purposes and create new circuits and neural connections.
The Human Brain: Re-wired for Written Language
In order to successfully read, write, and spell, the human brain must “repurpose” regions of the brain biologically designed for other purposes, develop specialization of neurons, create new circuits and connections attuned to written language, and develop efficiency within these newly formed neural connections to achieve functional connectivity.
Learning to read and write is not just about acquiring knowledge, it’s about establishing the reading-writing network in the brain and developing functional connectivity within that newly created neural network. For most students, this re-wiring of the brain requires multi-linguistic, multi-modality literacy instruction using speech-to-print Connectionist Word Study instructional methods. SPELL-Links provides this research-based instruction.
The Five-Block Multi-Linguistic Model of Word Study
SPELL-Links combines its speech-to-print approach for reading and writing with a multi-component word study approach based on the most current reading and writing research. Students learn to connect and combine:
- Sounds (phonology)
- Letter patterns (orthography)
- Meaning (morphology)
- Meaning (semantics)
- Lexical storage and retrieval (orthographic representations)
This multi-component approach builds deep word knowledge and proficiency with reading and writing using instructional methods and activities that simultaneously develop, connect, and integrate the different processes and regions of the brain involved in effective reading and writing.
With SPELL-Links, students develop specialized knowledge and skill in the five language blocks of word study —phonology, orthography, semantics, morphology, and storage and retrieval of orthographic representations in long-term lexical memory. With SPELL-Links instruction, students engage, connect, and develop multiple centers of the brain to establish and strengthen the neural functional connectivity that is needed for efficient reading and writing.
Recent large-scale meta-analytic research (327 effect sizes across spelling interventions) shows:
- Multi-linguistic instruction works. Approaches that integrate phonology, orthography, and morphology produce strong spelling gains.
- Speech-to-print (spelling) instruction boosts reading. Interventions that include speech‑to‑print teaching—i.e., a focus on phoneme–letter correspondences for spelling—improve not only spelling but also word reading accuracy.
These findings reinforce decades of research and what we’ve seen in practice: when we teach spelling as a speech-to-print, multi-component language process — connecting sounds, letters, words, and meaning — we build deep word knowledge that fuels growth in both reading and writing.
And that’s exactly what SPELL-Links delivers. Our evidence-based approach, delivered either 1:1 or in groups, harnesses these research-backed methods, making it easier for educators to give students the tools they need to become strong, confident readers and spellers.
Scientific research has shown how children learn to read and how they should be taught. But many educators don't know the science and, in some cases, actively resist it. As a result, millions of kids are being set up to fail.
More than 60% of American 4th graders are not proficient readers. While many have accepted this as normal or attributed the issue to poverty, more and more educators are looking to brain research for answers. They are learning what speech-to-print enthusiasts already know — learning to read is not a natural process. The brain is wired to speak and must be re-wired to read.
American Public Media correspondent Emily Hanford dives deep into America’s literacy problem in her article, “Hard Words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read?” In it, she discusses how deeply-entrenched beliefs are preventing students from becoming proficient readers. We highly recommend this article to anyone on-the-fence about a speech-to-print approach to reading and writing.
“We read with our eyes, but the starting point for reading is speech.”
– Mark Seidenberg
“Children are wired for sound but print is an optional accessory that must be painstakingly bolted on.“
– Stephen Picker (in Foreword)
“We now understand why the whole-language method deluded so many psychologists and teachers.”
– Stanislas Dehaene
“Teachers and practitioners now understand that speech-to-print instruction is much more than spelling instruction – it is a powerful form of reading instruction.“
– Jan Wasowicz
“No one is wired for reading and writing…we’re biologically wired for spoken language. But most schools teach using a man-made system for print, for letters; it’s not a match to the system our brains come with.”
– Jan Wasowicz in Blame It On Gutenberg
It’s Time for SPELL-Links.
An extensive body of current reading and writing research conducted across multiple disciplines has shed new light on best practices for teaching students to become effective readers and writers. These leading researchers tell us that it’s time to shift away from traditional phonics word study methods and move towards speech-to-print, multi-component connectionist methods of word study instruction. The science of reading and writing tells us it’s time for SPELL-Links.
For powerful, individualized intervention: SPELL-Links to Reading & Writing.
For effective group instruction: SPELL-Links Wordtivities