We have just made a free tutorial for teachers, teaching assistants and parents about Synthetic Phonics. It explains why the English language is difficult to learn to read and spell and why Synthetic Phonics is the most effective method to teach children reading and spelling. It also touches upon the role that decodable books have in supporting Synthetic Phonics teaching.
Here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG24BoekBGY
We hope you find it useful!