Structured Literacy Programs For Dyslexia: How To Judge One

A structured literacy program looks much the same from week to week: a short review, one new step taught directly, practice reading and spelling words that use only what has been taught, and a check. What changes is the step. Structured literacy is the teaching the dyslexia treatment guide sets out the evidence for. Across 22 randomised controlled trials, phonics teaching of this kind was the only approach whose effect on reading and spelling was statistically confirmed.

What is taught first, and in what order?

Structured literacy starts with the sounds a child can hear in spoken words, and links each sound to a letter early on. AUSPELD, the national federation of SPELD associations, describes the usual order: listening for the separate sounds in spoken words, then one way of writing each sound, beginning with common consonants and short vowels. Next come consonants side by side (as in "st" or "fl"), then pairs of letters that make one sound (as in "sh" or "ee") and long vowels. Later the work moves to syllables, prefixes and suffixes, and to sentences and meaning.

The exact order differs between programs. What matters is that there is an order, and that it is written down.

What happens in one structured literacy lesson?

A structured literacy lesson opens by going back over earlier sounds and patterns, then teaches one new thing directly. The teacher shows it, says it and has the child try it straight away, with feedback. The child then reads words and short sentences built only from what has been taught, and spells the same words. AUSPELD calls reading and spelling "reversible processes" that need to be taught together.

The reading material is controlled on purpose. AUSPELD's guide says a child should never be asked to read something that is too difficult for them, which is why these programs use books written with only the patterns taught so far. The guide to decodable readers explains how those books are matched to a program, and spelling help shows the same order used for writing.

How is review built in?

Review is built into every structured literacy lesson, not saved for the end of a term. AUSPELD lists "regular systematic review of concepts and over-learning" among the features of a successful program, and says new material is best reviewed in frequent sessions, preferably daily. That is why a program with one lesson a week also sets short practice between lessons. AUSPELD calls this cumulative teaching: each week builds on the last, so a gap left early shows up later.

How does a program decide when to move on?

A structured literacy program moves on when the current step is secure, and goes back when it is not. It finds out through regular checks of what has been taught. AUSPELD lists regular ongoing assessment of what has been taught as a feature of a successful program. The starting point comes from what a child can already do, not from their year at school.

What is not structured literacy?

Some common reading approaches and reading intervention programs are not structured literacy, even when they include some phonics. Learning Difficulties Australia excludes approaches that teach children to guess a word from the picture, the first letter or the sense of the sentence (often called balanced literacy or the three cueing system). It also excludes asking children to memorise lists of words before they have been taught the sounds and letters. AUSPELD reports little evidence that Reading Recovery, a well known program of this kind, remediates significant reading difficulties. Programs that train memory or other brain processes in place of teaching reading are outside it too.

Structured literacy, synthetic phonics and MSL describe overlapping parts of the same kind of teaching, which is why parents meet all three in one conversation.

Is synthetic phonics the same as structured literacy?

Synthetic phonics is the core of structured literacy, not all of it. In synthetic phonics, letters and their sounds are taught in a set order, and children blend the sounds together to read a word and pull a word apart into sounds to spell it. Systematic synthetic phonics means the same thing, with the emphasis on the planned order. healthdirect says structured synthetic phonics programs are evidence based. Structured literacy covers that and goes further, into syllables, word parts, sentences and meaning. The older alternative, analytic phonics, starts from whole words and their first sounds.

What is MSL?

MSL stands for multisensory structured language. It is the term the Australian Dyslexia Association uses for teaching in the Orton-Gillingham tradition, and its fact sheet says the two names are generally interchangeable. MSL is structured literacy taught with sight, sound, touch and movement used together, such as saying a sound while tracing its letters. The Orton-Gillingham guide covers its history and the published reviews.

Does multisensory learning help a child with dyslexia?

The evidence does not show that the multisensory part is what helps. AUSPELD says multisensory approaches are not well validated in current research, and a 2021 review of Orton-Gillingham studies found that current research does not show that using the senses at the same time improves reading. That does not make tracing letters or using letter tiles a bad idea. What the research supports is the structured, explicit teaching underneath.

Does the program brand matter?

The method matters more than the brand. The two Australian bodies that list programs both say their lists are open. AUSPELD's guide for parents names more than 20 structured phonics programs and says the list is not exhaustive. Learning Difficulties Australia's 2015 statement gave examples that "include but are not limited to" the programs it named. Both point to the same features: explicit teaching, a set order, blending and segmenting, constant review. AUSPELD adds that a program works only when a skilled person teaches it as designed. Two tutors using the same program can teach it very differently, so the questions above apply to the person as well as the product.

Which program does Dr Lauren teach from?

Dyslexia Therapy names no reading program as Dr Lauren's. Dr Lauren Crumlish (PhD), Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, plans her teaching from her own assessment of a child's reading, spelling and the spoken language underneath. She works with children and teenagers up to 18, online. Every child starts with an assessment. Where reading or spelling is the concern it is $890 or $1,290. If a particular program matters to your family, for example one your child's school uses, say so in your application. What the teaching covers is set out on dyslexia tutoring with Dr Lauren, and how reading is taught step by step is on reading help.

Sources

• AUSPELD, Structured synthetic phonics: a guide for teachers and parents
• AUSPELD, Selecting a successful intervention program and What does the research tell us about different interventions?
• AUSPELD, Examples of high quality, evidence-based phonics programs
• Learning Difficulties Australia, Approaches to reading instruction supported by LDA (2025) and Approaches to reading instruction (2015)
• SPELD NSW, Effective reading instruction
• healthdirect, Dyslexia
• Galuschka and colleagues (2014), treatment approaches for reading disabilities , PLOS ONE
• Stevens and colleagues (2021), the evidence on Orton-Gillingham reading interventions , Exceptional Children