ELR-News

May 2011

Newsletter of ELR Software Pty Ltd

ABN 67 090 738 702
http://www.elr.com.au
news@elr.com.au

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 -

  1. New eLr Materials
  2. Win an Apple iPad!
  3. eLr "Bug Fix"
  4. Other Independent Developers
  5. Free Downloads
  6. ELR 2011 Calendar

  1. New eLr Materials

    There are 22 new tasks in "Phonology - Later Sounds" in the "blends with S" subsection. These are a continuation of the updating process we've been doing in Phonology. Most of the new tasks use the LadderPics model, which is a game based on "Snakes and Ladders" and the others use SpinPics, MemoryPics and TicTacPics. These games provide additional variety in the Phonology section and add motivating ways to encourage your client to practice producing words containing particular sounds. There are a range of ways to encourage a person to develop a sound and start using it in conversational speech. Assessment and guidance by a speech pathologist is recommended.

    We've also added a new item to the "Where is? - locating common target areas" section in "User Guides". This section was launched recently to help users find particular sorts of activities. The first 5 target areas covered were "Blending and segmenting activities", "Basic concept words", "Similarities and differences", "Word finding" and "Categorisation". This month we've added "Verb tense" which covers areas relating to verbal production as well as teaching spelling of verb tenses. Please let us know of other areas you'd like covered.

  2. Win an Apple iPad!

    Entries for our Apple iPad draw continue to come in and time is running out. The winner will be drawn and announced at the Speech Pathology Australia 2011 National Conference in Darwin, June 26th-29th 2011. Our entry form (see below) asks that you leave us comments about "What do you like", "What would you like to see changed" and "What would you like to see added" to eLr. We've had some very valuable comments.

    To be eligible for the draw, you must have a current eLr subscription on 1st of July 2011. So any new subscribers in 2011 will be automatically eligible, as will current subscribers with an expiry date of July 2011 or later. Current subscribers whose subscriptions expire before June 2011 will also be eligible if they renew at any time before the draw. If you have a multiuser subscription, all those covered by the subscription may individually enter.

    Entries are open until June 28th 2011. To enter the draw, you must fill out and submit the electronic form at www.elr.com.au/ipad.htm. Or you can phone us on (03) 5156 8309 to give us your details. Several entrants have also asked for materials which we're continuing to cover in the new "Where is?" section (see above). There've also been some great positive comments, such as:

    "Kids are motivated by working on the computer. Makes it so easy to assign homework without photocopying reams of paper."

    "I use activities for speech sound practice games, similarities and differences, pronouns, prepositions, phonological awareness. So many different clients, so many ways to use eLr besides these frequently used features I have mentioned!"

    "It's entertaining (especially the "1 player vs 2 player" games) for school aged children".

    "I use all of it! Easy to quickly print and use activities in the clinic".

    More next month.

  3. eLr "Bug Fix"

    This month we've fixed a small "bug" in the model SceneTyper which uses colour coding for buttons to "type" the different parts of each sentence. It's possible for the user to choose to turn off this colouring, but the colouring incorrectly came back on when the buttons were released. This is now fixed and we're grateful to the subscriber who brought it to our attention. Such fixes are immediately available to all online users, and are included in the new version of eLr-Offline which is generated each month. We'd encourage users to regularly use the built-in updating process for eLr-Offline. Please contact us if you need more information about how to do this.
  4. Other Independent Developers

    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.

  5. Free Downloads

    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.


     
  6. ELR 2011 Calendar

    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.



Subscribing/Unsubscribing to this Newsletter

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 ©2011 ELR Software Pty Ltd

Postal ELR Software Pty Ltd
PO Box 1456
Bairnsdale
VIC 3875, Australia
Phone
 
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(03) 5156 8309
1800 018 309
+61 3 5156 8309
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