Legacy in Motion: A 4-Part Series

 Cracking the Code: Why The Alphabet System™ Works

Legacy in Motion: Part 1

Cracking the Code: Why The Alphabet System™ Works

When I think about how The Alphabet System™ began, it wasn’t from a textbook or a graduate course. It was born from a hallway conversation, a promise, and the aching question no one seemed to be answering: “Why are our students still struggling to read?”

Years ago, when Alex and I were teaching high school in Bend, Oregon, we found ourselves face-to-face with students who had made it through years of school —-without ever being taught how to read. It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t their teachers’ fault. It was a system problem—and we didn’t yet have the tools to fix it.

Then came Gail.

A speech pathologist with her special education endorsement, Gail welcomed us into her reading room and taught us what we didn’t know. We learned the LiPS model, the Vowel Circle, and—most importantly—how to see the patterns behind the sounds. Those two years of training changed everything. We went from feeling helpless to feeling empowered.

And I knew I could never go back.

A Promise That Became a System

Fast forward to Saudi Arabia, during the pandemic. Alex had two fourth-grade students who needed phonics help. He asked me to work with them.

But I remembered my promise to those twenty high school students I had taught to read: “I won’t pull another student out of the classroom to learn how to read. I will find a way to include them—where they already are.

”And so, The Alphabet System™ was born.

Not as a pull-out program, not as a label-based intervention. But as an inclusive, playful, structured approach to decoding that students could learn together—and that teachers could teach confidently, even without years of training.

The Power of the Six Syllable Types

At the heart of the system are the six syllable types—what I call the code behind the code.

Once students understand these patterns, reading no longer feels random. It feels possible. Predictable. Even fun.

They begin to see:-

Why “hop” and “hope” sound different-

Why “bird” and “birthday” feel bossy-

Why “table” has a bubble at the end

It’s like a light comes on—and with it, a sense of pride.

The Invitation

The Alphabet System™ is not about perfection. It’s about access. It’s about turning mystery into mastery—not through more pressure, but through more connection.

When a student says, “Ohhh, I get it now,”—that’s the moment we know:The code has cracked. The heart has opened. The legacy has begun.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in the Legacy in Motion series:“10 Minutes with Tammy™: A Promise Wrapped in Play.”