You asked, and we delivered! For years, educators have been requesting a more comprehensive product that includes letters alongside the original Bjorem Speech Sound Cues by Jennie Bjorem, M.A., CCC-SLP. We are excited to announce the upcoming release of the Bjorem Better Letters® Educator Edition.
This innovative tool is designed to demystify the spelling and reading rules that educators know but often find difficult to explain. For instance, did you know that the letters "ck" produce the "k" sound immediately after a short vowel in a one-syllable word?
Or that the vowel team "ay" makes the long "a" sound at the end of a syllable, while "ai" does so at the beginning or middle of a syllable?
And did you know that the digraph "ch" can make three different sounds?
The Better Letters® Educator Edition is crafted to make learning the rules of English less intimidating and more accessible for parents, teachers, tutors, and SLPs. Children need explicit instruction when learning to read and spell, and this deck goes beyond basic phonics rules to help educators teach a variety of reading and spelling rules. It can be used for assessment, documenting progress, and as a tool in reading instruction and intervention.
Designed by children's literacy and speech sound specialist Dr. Kelly Farquharson, PhD, CCC-SLP, literacy specialist Lauren Kline, M.S., CCC-SLP, A/OGA and childhood apraxia of speech specialist and author of the original Bjorem Speech Sound Cues, Jennie Bjorem, M.A., CCC-SLP, these beautifully illustrated, double-sided cards provide clear visual cues without obstructing letter formation. This ensures that students can easily see the letters without being distracted by the illustrations.
The cards include both SLP and teacher-friendly terminology and are categorized to help students learn not only the graphemes but also their corresponding categories, such as six syllable types, consonants, digraphs, short/long vowels, and silent letters. The intuitive environmental associations of the sound cues help anchor abstract concepts to tangible rules, eliminating the need for lengthy explanations or booklets.
With the Bjorem Better Letters® Educator Edition, teaching the phoneme-grapheme correspondence becomes straightforward and engaging, making it an invaluable resource for educators and speech-language pathologists alike. Stay tuned for the launch and prepare to enhance your reading and spelling instruction with this comprehensive and user-friendly tool.
