Short A: one sound at a time
The biggest course in the library, built on the words your child already knows.
Ten minutes at the kitchen table. Your child answers out loud, you read from the page or press play, and nothing needs writing. 366 exercises sit behind this course, and three to five of them is a full session.
This course is part of All Access. One membership opens this course, the rest of the Word Ladders library, and everything else Learning Success publishes. The first seven days cost nothing.
What your child practises here
One thing, from three directions. Your child holds most of a word steady while a single sound moves. CAT becomes BAT. The A and the T never move. Only the front changes.
That sounds small. It is the exact operation a fluent reader performs without noticing, every time they tell cat from cot at a glance. A child who struggles with reading is usually not failing to hear words, and not failing to see letters. They are failing to connect the two. This is that connection, practised on purpose.
Change One Sound
Your child hears a change and produces the new word. 100 narrated ladders, ten to thirteen steps each, every one circling back to where it started.
Spot the Change
Your child hears two words and works out which letter changed and where it sits. 133 pairs. The printable shows the pair when your child wants to see the letters.
Hear the Difference
Ears only. You say two close words, your child finds the differing sound with no letters to lean on, and the printed word appears afterwards. 133 pairs.
Why this vowel, and why now
Short A words are the ones a child meets first and hears most. That makes this the course where the routine gets built, while the sounds themselves stay easy. Everything your child learns about how to work a ladder here carries into the other four courses.
How a session actually goes
No preparation, no training, and no curriculum to follow. Here is the whole routine.
Ten minutes
- Press play, or open the printable. Both cover the same material.
- Do three to five exercises. The order is easiest to hardest, so stopping early always stops in the right place.
- Let the pauses sit. Three or four seconds of silence is where your child does the thinking.
- When they are stuck, tap the sounds out on your fingers and ask again. Give the scaffold, not the answer.
- Stop while it is still going well. Ending on a success is what makes tomorrow easier.
The single most useful thing you will do in these sessions is say nothing for three seconds. The urge to fill that silence is strong, and filling it takes the exercise away from your child. The pause is not dead air. It is the whole exercise.
What is inside this course
Module 1 is the foundation module and it is ready now. Every lesson carries narrated audio and a printable practice pack you download and work from anywhere.
Module 1 at a glance
- Change One Sound. 100 narrated ladders. Your child produces the new word.
- Spot the Change. Worked by ear, with the printable as backup. 133 pairs across the 5 word families in this course: AT, AN, AP, AD, AG.
- Hear the Difference. 133 pairs worked by ear alone, then revealed on the page.
Modules 2 through 4 follow, covering where sounds sit inside a word, growing and shrinking words, and reasoning about which words connect to which. They arrive at no extra cost while your membership is running.
If you are starting anywhere, start here. Most families do.
Laura Lurns
Common questions
Common questions from parents
- How do I get this course?
- It is included with All Access, the Learning Success membership. The first seven days cost nothing, and you choose monthly or yearly after that.
- What else comes with the membership?
- The rest of the Word Ladders library, the core Learning Success programs, and the bonus modules. One membership covers everything, so you are never picking between your children or between skills.
- What if it does not suit my child?
- Cancel inside the first seven days and you pay nothing. You keep your Learning Roadmap either way.
- What age is this for?
- Roughly four to six, or any child working at an early reading stage. Some older children who missed this foundation do the Kindergarten courses and benefit from them, and the tone is not babyish.
- Do I need to know phonics to teach it?
- No. Every instruction you need is printed on the page or spoken in the audio. Your job is to read it, wait, and respond.
- How much time does it take?
- Ten to fifteen minutes, three to five exercises. Most days, briefly, beats a long session once a week.
Ten minutes is enough to start
Your child’s first ladder takes less time than finding something else to do instead.
$0 today · Monthly or yearly after the trial · Cancel any time
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