MyWordz®: The First Bi-Directional Word Mapping Tool That Makes Sense of Phonics, from Speech to Print AND Print to Speech

In the fast-evolving world of literacy technology, tools that claim to help children read unfamiliar words are becoming increasingly common. These word mappers, however, almost exclusively work in one direction: print to speech. In other words, the child sees a word on the screen and is given visual or auditory clues to help pronounce it. While this can be helpful if designed by those who understand the Universal Code (many words are not mapped correctly), it only addresses one half of the reading and spelling equation.

Enter MyWordz®: the world's first truly bi-directional word mapping tool.

MyWordz® supports learners both ways: from print to speech (decoding) and from speech to print (encoding or spelling). And it is the latter that makes this tool truly groundbreaking. Most children who struggle with reading and spelling are not primarily confused by recognising printed words. Instead, they struggle to map the sounds they hear and say to the letters and patterns used in written English.

Synthetic phonics instruction in England focuses heavily on decoding, teaching children how to read letters and letter groups to produce a word. But when it comes time to write or spell, the demands increase. Now the learner must hold the entire spoken word in working memory, isolate the individual sounds (phonemes), and then choose the correct graphemes to represent them. This is a far more demanding cognitive task.

This is where MyWordz® changes the game.

With MyWordz®, learners can click or type the sounds they hear and see the corresponding graphemes immediately. The tool reveals the full structure of the word, not just common phonics patterns but the entire code, including the 350+ grapheme–phoneme correspondences skilled readers know. It offers clarity that goes beyond what synthetic phonics programmes provide.

And it does this in real time, without needing adult mediation. Whether a child is trying to read a new word or spell a word they've heard or said, MyWordz® is there to show the correct mapping either way.

Why does this matter?

Because the part of literacy that fails at least one in four children is not the ability to sound out simple words from print. It is the ability to spell words based on speech. This is a foundational skill for written expression and independent writing. And current tools rarely address this need directly in ways that embrace learning differences.

MyWordz® embraces linguistic and neurodiversity, ensuring that no child is left behind because the code was not easy for them to understand. We make it visible to them. For children with dyslexia, speech and language difficulties, or those who simply have not responded well to phonics, the word mapping mastery tools makes word mapping accessible, intuitive, and genuinely inclusive.

This is not just assistive technology. It is liberatory.

By giving learners the ability to move between speech and print independently, MyWordz® builds the self-teaching behaviours that are crucial to becoming a fluent reader and confident speller.

In a world full of one-way solutions, MyWordz® offers both directions and a path forward for all learners.

Mapping words in both directions!