Contact
Telephone
01 853 5108
Location
St Mary's, Room 235
Rannóg
Department of Arts, Literacy & Early Childhood
Role
Lecturer
Biography
Dr Jennifer O’Sullivan is a lecturer in literacy in Marino Institute of Education. Prior to joining the staff in MIE, Jennifer taught in a DEIS primary junior school. She is the co-author of the Sounds Like Phonics programme and the sole author of the phonological awareness programme A Sound Beginning for Reading, both of which are classroom resources aimed at junior infant to second class children. She is also the co-creator of The Literacy Channel, which has over one thousand subscribers. The YouTube channel was created as a means of sharing evidence-based literacy practices and strategies with teachers.
Jennifer is an executive committee member and past-president of the Literacy Association of Ireland. She was co-principal investigator on the Entreprise Ireland ALPACA project. The project, which stemmed from Jennifer’s doctoral studies, received a commercialisation grant of €330,000 to create and design a digital early literacy assessment tool for use in classrooms. The tool was trialed in over thirty schools across five countries (Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, USA, UAE and Malaysia).
Qualifications
PhD in Ed. (Phonemic Awareness and Early Reading Development), Trinity College Dublin
M.Ed (Literacy), St Patrick’s College, Dublin City University
Grad. Dip in Ed. (Primary Teaching), St Patrick’s College, Dublin City University
BA (Humanities) Psychology & English Literature, Oscail, Dublin City University
Teaching
B.Ed: ED8318 – Literacy Education: Teacher Competence and Knowledge — Module Coordinator and Lecturer
B.Ed: ED8303 – English Methods — Module Coordinator and Lecturer
B.Ed: Research Dissertations — Dissertation Supervisor
B.Oid: ED8318 – Literacy Education: Teacher Competence and Knowledge — Module Coordinator and Lecturer
B.Oid: BO8303 – English Methods — Module Coordinator and Lecturer
B.Sc ECE: EC8106 – Literacies in the Early Years: Language Acquisition — Module Coordinator and Lecturer
ORCiD
Publications and other outputs
Books
Devitt, A., O’Reilly, C., & O’Sullivan, J. (2026, in press). Implementing Design-Based Research in Education: Practical Tools and Strategies. Routledge.
Fiorentini, C., & O’Sullivan, J. (2026, in press). Read Aloud with INTENT: A Framework for Purposeful and Powerful Read-Alouds. Just Rewards Publications.
Book Chapters
O’Sullivan, J. (2017). Phonemic awareness: A sound beginning for reading. In B. Culligan & G. Mehigan (Ed.), Exploring the Literacy Landscape: Celebrating 40 Years of Research and Practice (pp. 95-103). Literacy Association of Ireland.
Journal Artciles
O’Sullivan, J. (2026, in press). Rethinking intervention policy in Ireland: Evaluating the case for moving beyond Reading Recovery. Irish Educational Studies.
Petscher, Y., O’Sullivan, J., Catts, H.W., Edwards, A., & Fitton, L. (2026). Evaluation of the consistency of a speech verification system with human raters in early literacy screening assessments. Frontiers in Education, 11:1671946.
O’Sullivan, J. (2026). From decoding to understanding: Building background knowledge and inference skills in early readers. The Reading Teacher, 79(e70037), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.70037
O’Sullivan, J. (2025). Prevention over Intervention: A New Paradigm in Addressing Reading Difficulties. REACH: Journal of Inclusive Education in Ireland, 38(2), 73-79. https://reachjournal.ie/index.php/reach/article/view/610
Educational Resources
O’Sullivan, J. (2021). Sound Beginnings for Reading: A Phonological Awareness Programme. CJ Fallons.
Cura, M., Fiorentini, C. M., Mehigan, G., & O’Sullivan, J. (2019). Sounds Like Phonics Programme, (four classroom textbooks, teachers’ manual and digital interactive component). CJ Fallons.
Professional Journal Articles
O’Sullivan, J. (2024, July). Navigating cut-point scores for diagnosis of dyslexia: Challenges and recommendations. Dystinct Magazine, 22, 28-35. https://on.dystinct.org/navigating-cut-point-scores-for-diagnosis-of-dyslexia-challenges-and-recommendations-dr-jen-osullivan/?_gl=1*eqa351*_ga*MjExMzUxMzQyOS4xNzI0NjEyMjIw*_ga_TE9N15KP6L*MTcyNDYxMjIyMC4xLjEuMTcyNDYxMjQzNy4wLjAuMA..*_ga_KK2PK6NJ17*MTcyNDYxMjIyMC4xLjEuMTcyNDYxMjQzNy4wLjAuMA
O’Sullivan, J. (2023, Jan/Feb/March) Proactive and Preventive: The role of literacy leaders in the early years. Literacy Today: International Literacy Association, 40 (3), 44-46.
O’Sullivan, J. (2023, January) ALPACA: Assessing Phonemic Awareness and Letter Knowledge Classroom App. Exploring EdTech in Ireland. 6, 11-15.
Edited Conference Proceedings
Concannon-Gibney, T., O’Sullivan, J., & Dunne, C.(Eds.). (2024). Celebrating Language and Literacies: Unpacking Practice and Exploring Possibilities. Proceedings of the 48th Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Dublin.
Conference Contributions
O’Sullivan, J. (2025, November 9). Mixing oil and water? Examining balanced literacy in the Irish context. Paper presented at the 50th Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Dublin City University, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2024, 2024, November 8-9). Cracking the code: The use of decodable texts in early reading instruction. Workshop presented at the 49th Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2024, June 24-26). Reading achievement in Ireland: What is going well and what still needs attention. [Paper presentation]. The European Literacy Conference, Crete, Greece.
O'Sullivan, J. (2023, November 10-11). A proactive and preventive approach to early reading difficulties. [Paper presentation]. Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Marino Institute of Education, Ireland.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O'Sullivan, J., & O'Toole, D. (2023, November 10-11). Reading achievement in Ireland: What's going well and what still needs attention. [Paper presentation]. Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Marino Institute of Education, Ireland.
O’Sullivan, J. & Devitt, A. (2023, April 2-4). A proactive and preventive approach to early literacy intervention. [Paper presentation]. World Literacy Summit, University of Oxford, Oxford.
O’Sullivan, J. (2022, October 20). Assessing early literacy skills: ALPACA. [Paper presentation]. Learnovation Conference, Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, November 12-13). Exploring the science of reading. [Paper presentation]. Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, Ireland.
O’Sullivan, J. (2020, September 3-5). Prevention is better than cure: Phonemic awareness and early reading. [Paper presentation]. Educational Studies Association of Ireland Conference, online.
O’Sullivan, J. (2019, November 8-9). Close encounters of the visual kind: Visual literacy and close reading. [Paper presentation]. Literacy Association of Ireland Conference, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
O’Sullivan, J. (2017, July 14-17). Close encounters of the visual kind: Visual literacy and close reading. [Paper presentation]. International Literacy Association Conference, New Orleans.
O’Sullivan, J. (2016, May 27). The impact of definitions of phonemic awareness on professional content knowledge. [Paper presentation]. Kaleidoscope Conference, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
O’Sullivan, J. (2016). Phonemic awareness: A sound beginning for reading. Paper presented at the Literacy Association of Ireland, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2013). Comprehension strategy instruction using wordless picture books. Paper presented at the Reading Association of Ireland, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2008). Teaching children to become visually literate. Paper presented at the Teachers as Researchers Conference, Dublin City University, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2008). In other words: Reading the visual. Paper presented at the Reading Association of Ireland Conference, The Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin.
Symposia
O’Sullivan, J. (2025, December 9). Strengthening the Foundations: Embedding Explicit Phonemic Awareness Instruction in Early Literacy Curricula. Invited guest at the Northern Ireland Department of Education TransformEd Literacy Symposium.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2025, September 13). Plan With Me and the Primary Language Curriculum.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2025, March 8). Assessment in Literacy. Guest speaker: Dr. Jan Hasbrouck.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2024, September 21). Comprehension and complex texts. Guest speaker: Prof. Timothy Shanahan.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2024, March 9). The Science of Reading in Ireland: Picturebooks.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2023, September 2). The Science of Reading in Ireland: 'Caught or taught?' Exploring Evidence-based Spelling Instruction.
Bowe, T., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, J., & O’Toole, D. (2023, May 20). Scarborough's Rope and The Primary Language Curriculum.
Seminars
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2024). Design-based research in education. Staff Seminar: Marino Institute of Education.
O’Sullivan, J. (November, 2019). Sound foundations for reading. Portlaoise Education Centre, Laois.
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2019). Laying the foundations for early reading. Spring seminar presented on behalf of the Literacy Association of Ireland, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2018). Sound beginnings for early reading. Seminar presented to speech and language therapists as part of the In-school and Pre-school Therapy Support Demonstration Project.
O’Sullivan, J. (2015). Foundations for beginning readers. In-service summer course provided to teachers, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2014). Phonological awareness development in the classroom. Seminar presented on behalf of the Literacy Association of Ireland, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2013). Questioning the visual. Seminar presented in The National Gallery, Dublin.
O’Sullivan, J. (2012). Reading the visual. Seminar presented in The Ark, Dublin.
Podcasts
Demystifying Dyslexia. (2025, December 2). That’ll Teach You podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aNu8bqYzIAJnF6cJjBZTA
Inferences in the Early Years. (2025, July 7). Reading Road Trip podcast. International Dyslexia Association Ontario. https://reading-roadtrip.castos.com/episodes/s4-e2-inferences-in-the-early-years-with-dr-jen-osullivan
Assessing Children’s Writing. (2024, August 26). That’ll Teach You podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mlmfGgp8vV9DOtcR2ub3r
Read Alouds in the Classroom. (2023, August 22). That’ll Teach You podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/18DXA3E6UOvKsQM2mVpERg
Delaney, S. (Host). (2020, November 14). Teaching Reading [Audio podcast episode]. Inside Education. https://insideeducation.podbean.com/e/podcast-408-jennifer-osullivan-on-teaching-reading-14-11-20/
That’ll Teach You podcast series. (2023, August 22). Read Alouds in the Classroom.
Webinar
O’Sullivan, J. (February, 2026). Teaching Spelling in the Senior Classes. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (February, 2026). Introducing Recount Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (January, 2026). From Scribbles to Sentences: Teaching Sentence Structure. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (January 2026). Implementing Early Reading Interventions. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (November, 2025). Identifying Reading Difficulties. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (November, 2025). Growing Children’s Vocabulary. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (October, 2025). High Frequency Word Instruction. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (October 2025). Systematic Phonics Instruction. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2025). Developing Phonemic Awareness. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2025). Beyond Word Lists: Effective Spelling Instruction in the Early Years. Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2025). Laying the Foundations series: Thematic Planning for Effective Literacy Instruction. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (August, 2025). Laying the Foundations series: Planning for Effective Literacy Instruction. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2025). Writing Genres in the Early Years: Persuasive Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2025). Writing Genres in the Early Years: Narrative Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (February, 2025). Writing Genres in the Early Years: Procedural Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (January, 2025). Writing Genres in the Early Years: Report Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (January, 2025). Writing Genres in the Early Years: Recount Writing. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (October, 2024). Interactive read-alouds to support vocabulary development. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (October, 2024). Reading difficulties in the early years. Carlow Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2024). Fusing phonemic awareness with phonics instruction. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2024). Getting started with phonemic awareness. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (August, 2024). Identifying reading difficulties in the early years classroom]. Sligo Education Centre.
Barnes, E., Dunne, C., Fiorentini, C., O’Sullivan, C., & O’Sullivan, J. (2024, October 22). Covering all bases: How can we ensure breadth and depth in how we teach literacy. Literacy Association of Ireland.
O’Sullivan, J. (February, 2024). Identifying reading difficulties in the early years classroom: Early Intervention. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (February, 2024). Identifying reading difficulties in the early years classroom: Early Identification. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2023). Identifying reading difficulties in the early years classroom: Early Intervention. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2023). Identifying reading difficulties in the early years classroom: Early Identification. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2023). Reading difficulties in the early years. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2023). Implementing science of reading practices in the early years. Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (January, 2023). Combining phonemes and phonics. The ALPACA Project.
O’Sullivan, J. (November, 2022). The science of reading. Sligo Education Centre.
Fiorentini, C., & O’Sullivan, J. (August, 2022). The science of reading: Phonics instruction. The Literacy Channel.
Fiorentini, C., & O’Sullivan, J. (August, 2022). The science of reading: Phonological awareness instruction. The Literacy Channel.
Garforth, K., & O’Sullivan, J. (2022, April). Right to Read Inquiry: An Irish perspective. Presented on behalf of the Ontario Right to Read Initiative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LlxpSDEKhU&t=46s
O’Sullivan, J. (October, 2021). The science of reading. Carlow Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (October, 2021). From phonemes to phonics. Marino Institute of Education.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2021). Phonological awareness. Waterford Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (September, 2021). The science of reading: Early literacy instruction. Athlone Education Centre.
Dunne, R., O’Sullivan, J., & Watkins, N. (2021, May). Distance education: Pedagogy, partnerships and responsive professional development. Presented on behalf of The Literacy Association of Ireland as part of the FELA (Federation of European Literacy Associations) webinar series.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, April). Phonological Awareness Webinar. Presented on behalf of Donegal Education Centre.
Fiorentini, C, McCauley-Lambe, S., & O’Sullivan, J. (2021, January). Online Literacy Learning Webinar. Presented on behalf of The Literacy Association of Ireland.
Concannon-Gibney, T., Dunne, R., Mehigan, G., & O’Sullivan, J. (March, 2021). LAI Connects: A closer look at early literacy instruction. The Literacy Association of Ireland.
Concannon-Gibney, T., & O’Sullivan, J. (June, 2020). What matters most … in early years literacy instruction. The Literacy Association of Ireland.
Fiorentini, C. M., & O’Sullivan, J. (April, 2020). Literacy in the kitchen [Webinar]. Trinity College Dublin webinar series Literacy on the Loose.
Substack Blog
A professional literacy blog examining early reading development and research-informed instructional practice with over 850 subscribers.
https://readwritejen.substack.com/
Other Outputs
O’Sullivan, J. (2023, March). Reading difficulties in the early years. Presented on behalf of Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (2023, March). Implementing science of reading practices in the early years. Presented on behalf of Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (2022, November). The science of reading. Presented on behalf of Sligo Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, October). The science of reading. Presented on behalf of Carlow Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, October). From phonemes to phonics. Presented on behalf of Marino Institute of Education.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, September). Phonological awareness. Presented on behalf of Waterford Education Centre.
O’Sullivan, J. (2021, September). The science of reading: Early literacy instruction. Presented on behalf of Athlone Education Centre.
Burke, P., Mehigan, G., & O’Sullivan, J. (2021, April). LAI Connects: A closer look at the science of reading. Presented on behalf of The Literacy Association of Ireland.
Concannon-Gibney, T., Dunne, R., Mehigan, G., & b (2021, March). LAI Connects: A closer look at early literacy instruction. Presented on behalf of The Literacy Association of Ireland.
Concannon-Gibney, T., & O’Sullivan, J. (2020, June). What matters most … in early years literacy instruction. Presented on behalf of the Education Centres of Ireland and the Literacy Association of Ireland.
Invited Contributions
Invited to contribute to the National Center for Education and the Economy’s (Washington, DC) research on Ireland’s school education system, Learning First report (June, 2025).
Literacy Association of Ireland webinar, invited panel guest. A Closer Look at Dyslexia (May, 2025).
Dyslexia Ireland webinar, invited panel guest, What To Look For When Selecting Interventions For Dyslexic Learners: Guidance for Schools (March, 2025).
DCU Invent, Guest speaker at Lunch and Learn for DCU Researchers. Exploring new ways to create impact from your educational research - A Case Study. (DCU, June 2024).
Invited to contribute to Dr Jennifer Buckingham’s Winston Churchill report An Investigation of Literacy Instruction and Policy in the United Kingdom and Ireland (April, 2024).
Invited to serve as a judge for the International Literacy Association’s Diane Lapp & James Flood Professional Collaborator Award Committee (2023-2025).
MEd in Early Intervention (Trinity College Dublin). Guest lecturer, Reading Difficulties: Dyslexia (March, 2023).
Doodle Den (Childhood Development Initiative, Tusla). Presented on Early Signs of Reading Difficulty in Young Children (March, 2022).
Doodle Den (Childhood Development Initiative, Tusla). Invited to present at The Great 8: Literacy from Birth to 8 conference (September, 2021).
Staff CPD, Our Lady of Victories School, Ballymun. Presented on Phonemic Awareness in the Classroom (August, 2021).
Doodle Den (Childhood Development Initiative, Tusla). Presented on The Science of Reading (May, 2021).
MEd in Early Intervention (TCD). Guest lecturer, The Impact of a Phonological Awareness Intervention (Feb, 2021)
Education Consultancy
Invited by the Childhood Development Initiative to contribute to a Round Table discussion on evidence-based literacy instruction to support their Doodle Den Early Literacy Intervention (2026, Feb 26).
Dr O’Sullivan was an invited member of Dyslexia Ireland’s Science of Reading Aligned Programmes to Support Dyslexic Students at Primary Level working group. This collaboration culminated in the publication of school-focused guidelines entitled What to Look for When Selecting Interventions (2025).
Dr O’Sullivan contributed her expertise as a literacy consultant to the Educational Research Centre, playing a key role in the development of their early literacy assessment (2024).
Dr O’Sullivan served as an educational consultant with Soapbox Labs, an award-winning Irish company pioneering children’s speech recognition technology. In this role, she contributed her literacy expertise to support the integration of cutting-edge voice technology into educational products used by companies and learners both nationally and internationally.
Grants
Recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award (to research at the Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, May to August 2022).
In 2021, Dr O’Sullivan, as inventor and co-principal investigator (with Dr Ann Devitt, Trinity College Dublin), secured a €330,000 Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund award to design and develop ALPACA, a digital early literacy assessment tool grounded in her doctoral research. She led an interdisciplinary team of eight specialists over an 18-month development phase. In 2022, the ALPACA project was shortlisted for the IBEC Outstanding Academic Achievement of the Year (Technology) award. The innovation has since progressed to campus spin-out status.
Professional Collaborations
Jennifer has led a sustained international collaboration with IPABO University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam over the past four years at MIE. Through this partnership, she has hosted visiting student teachers and lecturers, fostering meaningful academic exchange and dialogue between students from both institutions on key issues in literacy education across the Irish and Dutch contexts.
Jennifer hosted Professor Hugh Catts (Florida State University) during his two-week residency at Marino Institute of Education, facilitating opportunities for academic exchange and collaboration.
Jennifer collaborated with inter-governmental departments and the National Council for Special Education on the pilot In-School and Early Years Therapy Support Demonstration Project. As part of this initiative, her phonological awareness intervention programme, A Sound Beginning for Reading, was implemented in a number of schools and preschools across Dublin, supporting early literacy development in diverse educational settings.
Jennifer has collaborated with Dr. Marlene Correia of Bridgewater State University on an international partnership that brought together student teachers from both institutions in virtual forums to engage in dialogue on early literacy and teacher education.
Jennifer partnered with academic staff from the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences at Trinity College Dublin to design and host an innovative inter-professional practice initiative, bringing together student teachers and student speech and language pathologists to collaborate on supporting children’s language and literacy development.
Professional Membership
Jennifer served on the Executive Committee of the Literacy Association of Ireland from 2014 to 2024, including as President in 2021, where she played a leading role in shaping national conversations on literacy policy, research, and practice. During her presidency, she organised the Association’s national literacy conference in 2021, bringing together researchers, teachers, and policymakers to engage in evidence-informed dialogue on literacy teaching and learning.
Jennifer is a member of the International Literacy Association (ILA), Literacy Research Association (LRA), Literacy Association of Ireland (LAI), Dyslexia Ireland (DAI), and the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR).
Research/Professional Interests
Early reading development, assessment of reading, reading difficulties, application of technology to support reading instruction/assessment.