Samantha Woods is the author of Write2Spell2Read. Sam is an Occupational Therapist (B.Occ.Thy.) with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (University of Queensland, 1990) and she is a certified Neurodevelopmental Therapist. Sam owns an allied health private practice ‘Therapy Works CQ’, in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, Australia. Sam has over 30 years experience assessing and treating clients with a variety of diagnoses, including literacy difficulties (writing, spelling, and reading). She has specialist knowledge of treating dysgraphia, dyslexia and working memory difficulties.

After working alongside Speech and Language Pathologists – and with an ever-increasing waiting list of children with literacy difficulties for whom other supports and programs had failed – Sam authored Write2Spell2Read. Sam’s neuroscience training has produced a highly effective, evidence-based literacy program based on current neuroscience research. Write2Spell2Read is a ‘sound to print’ literacy program where students learn the 44 sounds of the English language, and how to write these sounds with the alphabet letters. What differentiates Write2Spell2Read from other programs is that students learn at the same time the English language sounds and how to write these sounds, rather than learning these skills separately, as is often taught. The student learns to blend these sound/letter groups together to read and spell words fluently. Write2Spell2Read teaches these sound/letter groups in a clearly defined developmental sequence, using lots of visual memory prompts. 

Sam’s extensive clinical knowledge has produced a simple to use, visually and phonologically organised, true multisensory program that addresses working memory difficulties. Her aim was to author a literacy program that was fun and engaging, simple for teachers and parents to implement, and could be used as a consistent whole primary school approach for the teaching of handwriting, spelling, and reading from Beginners to Year 6.

Angus joined the Write2Spell2Read team in 2019. Believing a free app would assist more students to access and benefit from the Write2Spell2Read literacy program, Angus led the development of Write2Alphabet – our first interactive alphabet app for iPad and Android tablets. His goal was to digitize Write2Spell2Read’s workbooks to help more children learn to read and write the English alphabet by creating a free app that removes the need for a teacher.

Angus also led the establishment of partnerships between Write2Spell2Read and two Queensland primary schools. These partnerships were established to provide resources, teacher training and intervention to increase student literacy levels. These partnerships achieved measurable improvements in writing, spelling and reading results amongst the students from Kindergarten to Year 6. Teachers also reported an increase in knowledge and capacity from these supportive partnerships.

Angus graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Harvard University, 2021.

 Email: anguswoods@write2spell2read.com