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), Build-a-Sentence, Word Meanings, Rude Readers 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 -
Yes - it's finally happened! We know a lot or users and families have been waiting a long time to be able to to use eLr from an OS/X Mac, or Firefox, Safari or Chrome browsers. We appreciate your patience.
In the early years of eLr, the website would work for both Windows and Mac using Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) as the browser. And in those years a Mac version of MSIE was available, however there's been a gap during which there was no current version of MSIE for Mac, and the other browsers such as Safari and Firefox didn't support certain key elements of eLr - in particular the coloured, often draggable icons (such as the animals, vehicles, dinosaurs etc) which are commonly used in eLr tasks. These are actually special "embedded fonts" we made for the purpose, and the good news is that in recent months other browsers have finally begun to support these mechanisms.
So this month we've updated the entire eLr web site and it works almost perfectly with MSIE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome on Windows and Safari, Chrome and Firefox on OS/X the Mac. I say "almost" because there are a few small bugs yet to resolve, especially for the Mac browsers. We're still working on some spacing and placement issues, and the icon "dragging" is not fully resolved at the time of this newsletter. Hopefully fixes will be in place over the next week, but if you find any issues with using a Mac or non-MSIE browser, please let us know.
This month we have added 10 new tasks in a new subsection in "Semantics - Concepts - Spatial" called "Through and Around". The activities use the IconPositioner model and provide materials to teach the concepts, "through" and "around".
The IconPositioner model allows the clinician or carer, to modify the task depending on the goals and level of the client. For example, you may be working on the client's ability to comprehend the concepts. In that case you could introduce one concept at a time by selecting only one of the concepts.
Or you may wish to focus on expressive language. This model places icons on the screen in the locations that match the concept you are working on. For example, if you are focusing on "through", all the icons will be in a "through" position. The role of the clinician or support person is a critical element. The client is encouraged to use expressive language to tell you where the icon is, for example "the rabbit is walking through the forest".
You can also use this model to add other variations to the activity such as reinforcing the use of plurals. By selecting "1", "2", or "many", and "accumulate", the number of icons that appear can be changed. This allows you to reinforce concepts such as "one", "few", "many", "some", "all". And finally, these tasks can be used as "free form" activities by clicking and dragging the icons to any other position on the screen.
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
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