Table 2 RECALL components and task progression

- This task targets verbal ELWM.

- The children listen to a short sentence, judge whether it is true or false and recall the last word of the sentence.

The number of to-be-remembered words increases from one word in week one to two words by week 6.

- This task targets visuospatial ELWM.

- The children look at three pictures in a grid, decide where one the odd one out is (left, middle or right), then recall the location of the odd one out picture.

The number of to-be-remembered locations increases from one in week one, to three or four by week 6.

There are four types of phoneme awareness task in RECALL, focusing on developing awareness of the initial sounds in words.

1. Alliterative matching: finding things that start with a target sound. E.g., “Book starts with ‘b’. Can you find the other things that start with ‘b’?”

2. Segmenting initial sounds: “what sound does ____ start with?”

3. Alliterative matching and blending the target to generate new words: “Find the one that starts with ___? Let us think of other things that start with _”

4. Blending sounds to identify words: “Look at these pictures. Can you find the b – all?”

The four tasks develop from the easiest (alliterative matching) to the most difficult (blending sounds) [75].

The difficulty level of the practice items in each task progresses from early to late developing phonemes based on typical speech sound development [76].

There is no direct training on fantastical play in RECALL. This is integrated into the programme through the use of a fantastical theme for each session, e.g. superheroes. However, the direct ELWM and phoneme awareness tasks incorporate the theme of each session throughout i.e., the words and pictures used relate to the theme.