Literacy Sources

Written by: Brianna Guild, MHSc SLP(C)

Date: January 24, 2025

The top questions I get asked by other professionals are what literacy training I’ve done, what books I’ve read, and what I would recommend to others pursuing training and continuing education in literacy. My number one recommendation is always this: get your information and training from more than one reputable source!

The knowledge that I have gained and share on my website, social media, podcast interviews, and presentations is pulled from a variety of sources. This accumulation of more knowledge over time has also resulted in me shifting my literacy instruction to a speech-to-print/structured linguistic literacy (SLL) approach.

Here’s a running list (will be updated over time) of trainings I’ve completed, books I’ve read, and select articles (because there are truly too many impactful articles to list and I’m trying to keep this concise):

Literacy Training

(ordered based on when I took the course, with the most recent at the top)

• Sounds-Write Trained Practitioner (in progress) - Sounds-Write

• Reading Simplified Expert - Reading Simplified Academy

• Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction - International Dyslexia Association Ontario

• SMARTER Intervention Reading & Writing Curriculum - Ascend SMARTER Intervention

• ABC and Beyond - The Hanen Centre

Literacy Books

(ordered based on when I read the book, with the most recent at the top)

• Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

• Mesmer, H. A. (2024). Big Words for Young Readers: Teaching Kids in Grades K to 5 to Decode―and Understand―Words With Multiple Syllables and Morphemes. Scholastic.

• Sedita, J. (2022). The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects. Brookes Publishing.

• Lewis Hennessy, N. (2020). The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text. Brookes Publishing.

• Rasinski, T. V. (2019). The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension. (2nd ed). Scholastic.

• Blevins, W. (2016). A Fresh Look at Phonics: Common Causes of Failure and 7 Ingredients for Success. Corwin Press Inc.

Select Literacy Articles

(ordered based on publication date, with the most recent at the top)

• A Speech-to-Print, Linguistic Phonics Approach: What Is It and How Does It Compare to Orton-Gillingham? (Miriam Fein, The Educational Therapist, 2023).

• Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2018).

• How Spelling Supports Reading And Why It Is More Regular and Predictable Than You May Think (Louisa Moats, American Educator, 2005).

Still looking for more sources? Check out Dr. Mark Seidenberg’s list of Reliable Resources about the Science and Its Connection to Reading.

I hope this helps give you some reputable sources to explore if you are seeking more information about literacy!

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