AbstractA recent intervention study demonstrated a powerful method for helping children with difficulty in sound categorization to learn to read and to spell. The aim of this project is to explain the underlying reasons for its success. The project is divided into three stages, Pretests, Training and Post‐tests, which cover a period of 3 years. The subjects were young beginning readers, who were pre‐tested on the strategies used in the successful teaching method, and then followed in school for 3 years to see how their skill in these strategies affected their progress in reading and spelling. They were divided into four matched groups in the second term of the project for a short training study. Phonological awareness when the child started school proved to be critical for success in early reading, and in spelling 2 years later. Memory for letter strings becomes increasingly important for spelling. Beginning readers who were taught the connection between the two strategies made early gains in reading t