Lorraine said the alphabet was still vital, but students learned the names of the letters and that they can be arranged in different combinations to represent different sounds. It's there and its not confusing for them. They don't have to learn spelling rules because with rules there are always exceptions. The spelling choice can only be one of those 44 boxes. Lorraine said it was important for students to learn how to access the chart.
Students learn that some sounds are spelled with more than one letter.
A single letter sound is a graph, a two letter sound is a digraph and a three letter sound is a trigraph. Students are taught these terms to help them understand the chart. She teaches students who have been excluded from school and can not otherwise gain access to education. A lack of literacy success is a big factor in lots of their behaviour. I've seen kids in the classroom struggling with writing and reading and, when they see successful literate kids, it erodes their self esteem.