The Fundamentals of the Literacy Academy Program, Part 1

Part 1: The Four-Layer Pattern Progression

It's been almost two years since fully launching my Literacy Academy program. Two years of building a program with results that speak for themselves.

From its beginnings with just me and five students to what is now a comprehensive after-school and summer reading intervention dyslexia therapy program with a team of ten educators serving dozens of families on a weekly basis, my vision for methods and materials that will make those results duplicatable has begun to materialize in a way that has me burning the candle at both ends just to keep up. It's like the floodgates have opened and I don't have a clue how to shut them even if I wanted to.

I firmly believe that what we are doing is one of the most brain-aligned ways to build transfer: keeping the phonics pattern constant while gradually increasing linguistic complexity. This progression works because it allows students to reuse a stable orthographic pattern while the brain learns to manage longer words, stress shifts, and morphology without overload.

In recent months, I've seen this process not only remediate skill deficits but also accelerate skill growth. We have third graders with dyslexia successfully navigating lessons that I originally designed for our fifth graders with dyslexia.

I am excited to share a four-part series about the progression I've developed that is driving our intervention model, which we are currently implementing at the point when emerging readers have mastered CVC words.

Part 1: The Four-Layer Pattern Progression

Part 2: Relationship to Cognitive Load Theory

Part 3: Support for Scarborough's Reading Rope

Part 4: The Critical Role of Morphology through the Layers

The Core Principle

We don’t change what students are learning (the phonics pattern).

We change where they encounter it.

The spelling pattern stays stable.

The word structure grows.

This protects orthographic mapping while building complexity.

Stage 1: Simple One-Syllable Words

(Pattern Introduction)

Example: date

Instructional purpose

• Establish the phonics pattern (VCe = long vowel)

• Map the pattern cleanly and accurately

• Minimize cognitive load

  
  

What the brain is doing

• Bonding sound ↔ spelling ↔ meaning

• Creating the first orthographic representation for the pattern

  
  

Why this stage matters

If this stage is weak, everything later collapses.

Stage 2: More Complex One-Syllable Words

(Pattern Generalization Within the Syllable)

Example: crate

What changed

• Added a consonant blend

• Same vowel pattern

• Still one syllable

  
  

Instructional purpose

• Strengthen pattern recognition

• Prevent “pattern = one word” thinking

• Expand flexibility without adding syllables

  
  

What the brain is doing

• Applying the same pattern under slightly more demand

• Reinforcing that the vowel pattern is stable even when consonants change

  
  

This is controlled challenge, not a new skill.

Stage 3: Compound Words

(Pattern Embedded in Larger Meaning Units)

Example: liftgate

What changed

• Two known base words

• One base contains the target pattern

• Still fully decodable

  
  

Instructional purpose

• Teach students to look inside longer words

• Bridge from phonics to morphology

• Reduce fear of “long words”

  
  

What the brain is doing

• Reusing an already mapped word (gate)

• Processing meaning-based chunks

• Practicing flexible attention across word boundaries

  
  

This stage introduces structural reading without new decoding rules.

Stage 4: Affixed / Multisyllabic Words

(Pattern Survives Stress & Structure Changes)

Example: celebrate

What changed

• Multiple syllables

• Bound base + suffix

• Stress shift

• Reduced vowel (schwa) appears elsewhere

  
  

What stayed the same

• The VCe pattern in -brate

• The spelling logic

  
  

Instructional purpose

• Show that familiar patterns often appear in longer words

• Support multisyllabic decoding

• Prepare students for academic vocabulary

  
  

What the brain is doing

• Anchoring decoding to known spelling units

• Managing stress and syllable division

• Integrating phonics + morphology

  
  

This is where many students break down if earlier stages were skipped.

Why This Progression Is So Effective (Brain-Based)

1. It Preserves Orthographic Mapping

The pattern is mapped once and reused, not relearned.

2. It Manages Cognitive Load

Only one variable changes at a time:

• Not new sounds

• Not new patterns

• Just more structure

  
  

3. It Prevents “Big Word Panic”

Students learn:

“Long words are built from familiar parts.”

4. It Supports Dyslexic Learners

• Reduces working memory strain

• Encourages chunking

• Prevents phonetic guessing

Generalized Teaching Frame (Reusable)

Pattern stays the same.

Structure grows.

Cognitive load stays manageable.

• One-syllable → complex one-syllable

• Single word → compound word

• Compound → affixed/multisyllabic

Progressing from simple one-syllable words to complex words that share the same phonics pattern works because it allows students to reuse a stable spelling pattern while gradually learning to manage more advanced word structure and multisyllabic complexity—without overwhelming the brain.