(2 devices required)

Reading with Monty is a linguistic phonics program that was developed in response to a child who could not read simple CVC words such as ‘pot’ or ’can’. Reading with Monty may help if your child struggles with:
- phonological awareness e.g., if you ask them to say ’steamboat’ without the ‘boat’ they struggle to say ’steam’
- phonemic awareness (cannot delete or substitute phonemes) and/or difficulty distinguishing sounds in English e.g., they cannot replace the ‘a’ in ‘cat’ with an ‘o’ to make ‘cot’, or if you ask them to say ’stink’ without the ’t’ they cannot say ’sink’ or they cannot hear the difference between ’ship’ and ’sheep’ or ’three’ and ‘free’
- paying attention to individual phonemes and guesses words e.g., they may read ’stream’ as ’steam’
- reading digraphs or trigraphs e.g., they will read ‘dear’ as ‘d’ ‘e’ ‘a’ ‘r’ and cannot combine ‘ear’ to make a single sound.
- swapping letters within words, reads them back to front or upside down, or confuses similar-looking letters e.g., confuses 'p' and 'q' or ‘f' and ’t' or may confuse words such as ’sang’ with ’snag'
- reading anxiety
- gamified apps that they cannot win resulting in a loss of confidence

Reading with Monty is a new app that incorporates
- decoding
- spelling
- minimal pairs
- nonsense words

DECODING
This activity requires two devices (instructor and child app work together) Reading with Monty is mapped according to the phonetic chart rather than the alphabet. This important distinction allows children to learn the sounds of Australian English prior to spelling. The spelling for each sound (phoneme) is introduced gradually using a color-coded font. Your child has the option to decode in either phonetic script or normal spelling. The phonetic script is suggested for children whose reading level is extremely low and your child is not responding to other methods. Download the app and listen to the decoding introduction video for an in-depth explanation of these two options. The decoding activity also offers a timed option so your child can try to beat their previous time. The timer is not visible on the child’s app and they will only receive notification if they beat their previous time. This may help improve their word reading fluency as well as their confidence and motivation when they receive this positive feedback.

SPELLING

The spelling activity is also mapped according to the phonetic chart. Spelling options for each phoneme are gradually introduced over ten levels to finish by aligning with Year 3 spelling. Your child can skip or repeat levels as required.

MINIMAL PAIRS
This activity is frequently used when teaching English to speakers of other languages who may struggle to distinguish similar sounds in English. For example, some cannot hear the difference between ‘grow’ and ‘glow’ or ’sit’ and ’seat’.
Young children also sometimes struggle to hear the difference between these sounds which can impair their ability to read.

NONSENSE WORDS
Parent and child work together again in this activity (requiring two devices). The child reads a nonsense word (written in color-coded font) which is based on the sounds introduced in the decoding activity for that level and the parent chooses whether the child is correct or incorrect. This activity can help children who have mastered the art of guessing words. As there is no context or semantic cues, your child must pay attention to every phoneme to read the word correctly. Audio support is provided for the instructor in this activity.

See the FAQ section on the website for answers to some of your questions” https://www.readingwithmonty.com/general-5