About

Reading with Monty is a small one-woman show (along with her bestest, goodest girl, Monty the maremma X) run from the Great-Southern region in Western Australia. Keeping things local-ish, the app software was developed by a Perth company (Redi Software Solutions). The idea for Reading with Monty began circa 2017 when Helen was teaching a child who could not blend sounds to make simple words like "hot". She noticed that words like "sheep" or "feet" were not difficult for her to blend orally as the sounds can be drawn out with no gaps between them but the spelling was more complicated than words like "cat". Helen drew on her experience as a languages teacher to create the mnemonic-assisted, colour-coded script that underpins the Reading with Monty method.

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As her idea developed and was trialed with children in the classroom, it became evident that it could potentially help those with various reading difficulties. ​Helen began a Doctor of Education to study the effectiveness of the Reading with Monty method in 2021 but had to put her studies on hold. During this time of study, Helen learnt that despite her method being borne through observation in the classroom, it was supported by research in the literature. The unique blending of different types of visual support means that Reading with Monty has become greater than the sum of its parts. Helen still hopes to go back and complete her doctorate soon so her findings can be shared. In the meantime, we hope that our Reading with Monty app will help your child read!

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