ELR Software produces a range of computer programs designed by speech pathologists for speech, language & literacy intervention. Our programs may be used interactively within therapy sessions, to increase efficiency in service delivery, and to improve access to the Internet for people with special needs. We are also available as consultants to clinicians and research projects in the fields of literacy and accessibility issues associated with the Internet.
The aim of this newsletter is to inform you of developments and changes to our major products eLr (Extra Language Resources), Rude Readers, Word Meanings and EIA (Enhancing Internet Access). We welcome the opportunity for feedback and questions, and will be pleased to consider including reader contributions and announcements.
This Newsletter (and previous editions) as well as a "print-ready" PDF version of the current edition is available online at www.elr.com.au/news. An email version is also sent monthly to members of our mailing list (See Subscribing/Unsubscribing).
In this issue -
This month we have introduced Screeners, a new feature in eLr, located in the now expanded section of "User Guides & Screening Tools". The aim of these tools is to assist determination of client strengths and areas of weakness, and to guide your subsequent selection of eLr tasks. A number of people have requested this, and we know that some people use existing tasks to informally sreen for a particualr skill level. This new approach formalizes the process and provides a more efficient, comprehensive tool for this purpose.
The first Screener, in "Screening Tools - Literacy", is for phonological awareness and is broken into two parts. The first part focuses on letter/sound knowledge, and has 7 separate tasks for screening of letter names, letter sounds (single letters and digraphs), and the ability to decode and spell non-words. The second part has 8 task and focuses on the ability to break words into syllables and sounds, identify first/last and vowel sounds, and the understanding of rhyme.
Each component task has a "Practice" and a "Screener" version, and is accompanied by a description of the task with suggested instructions, and a "thumbnail" screen image for easy recognittion. Related eLr Directory sections are also listed, enabling you to quickly locate more activities in that area. A response form for each Screener is available in printable PDF format, allowing you to document the skill level of your client.
The actual tasks in these screeners use the standard eLr models, but they have been modified so that the client is not given feedback about correct or incorrect responses. This is consistent with the usual administration of any assessment task. During the screening process, the clinician is able to make decisions about when to discontinue the screening process, based on the responses of the client.
Feel free to let us know any feedback you may have about the "Phonological Awareness Screener". Over the next few editions, we will be developing Screeners for other areas of language and literacy skills.
We've had two reports recently from eLr users who also use the "ZoneAlarm" security suite on their computers. Their security scan apparently reports that eLr-Offline may contain a trojan and recommends deleting it! We believe this is a false alarm as our own tests with a variety of other security tools are unable to confirm any issues. It's likely that eLr-Offline's internal, "webtype" functions suggests to ZoneALarm that unusual activity is occurring. If you've had any problems like this, please contact us so that we can get a better overview of the problem and work out the best solution.
As an occasional feature of this Newsletter, we include simple, unpaid announcements of products developed by other small, independent developers, who, like ourselves, are practising clinicians who have put their ideas and experience into resource materials for general distribution. Links and brief information about these sites may be found at www.elr.com.au/links/developers.htm. To date we have listed -
If you would like your materials listed on this page (at no charge), please contact us.
ELR has a number of free or evaluation files available for downloading directly from our website. Please see www.elr.com.au/downloads.htm for specific details. For other supporting materials and documents available for free download, please see www.elr.com.au/support.htm.
ELR Software is now able to offer eLr support and short tutorials over the web. We can provide this sort of support to individuals, or to groups who would like to have an overview of eLr. Please contact us for details.
You are receiving ELR-News because you are an eLr subscriber, or have expressed an interest in either eLr, Rude Readers, Word Meanings, Build-s-Sentence or EIA. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail with details to news@elr.com.au
Copyright ©2008 ELR Software Pty Ltd
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