Two psychologists from Cambridgeshire, in partnership with Cambridge University, have developed an app for the iPad and iPhone to help children learn to read. Cambugs Letter Sounds teaches children initial phonemes (letter sounds) which are the first step on their journey to become fluent, confident readers. All of the artwork for the app was drawn by primary school children aged 4-12 from the city.

Kirsten Branigan is discussing her work on this project with fellow psychologist Dr Shane Gallagher today at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Educational and Child Psychology in Bristol.

The app uses the Expanded Rehearsal Technique (ERT), which has recently undergone research and development in Cambridgeshire. This involves children learning new sounds alongside known sounds to develop their fluency and confidence in reading.

The app delivers a programme that children follow two or three times-a-day and can be tailored for each individual child. The app is somewhat unique in that it is intended to be used jointly by teacher/parent with the child. Therefore the adult is playing an active role in supporting the development of the child’s literacy skills. 

Kirsten Branigan, one of the psychologists who developed the app, says:

“The ERT has proved to be really effective in schools as a way of improving children’s reading fluency, so we have taken what is being done in the classroom and turned it into an app. Delivering the programme in this way makes it easier for teachers to measure children’s performance accurately and more fun for the children.”

You can read more about the app at on the Cambugs site. It is also available as a free download from the iTunes store - search for "Cambugs letter sounds".