ELR-News

April 2016

Newsletter of ELR Software Pty Ltd

ABN 67 090 738 702
Web: http://www.elr.com.au
Email: news@elr.com.au
Follow: @ELRsoftware

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. Free eLr Training Webinars
  3. Other Independent Developers
  4. Free Downloads
  5. ELR 2016 Calendar

  1. New eLr Materials

    The April 2016 edition contains 14 new tasks which have been added to "Phonology - Skills and Early Sounds - Long vowel sounds". Over the past few editions we have been adding material targeting accurate production of vowel sounds in short CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. This edition sees the completion of both the short vowel sounds (/a/ as in cat, /e/ bed, /i/ pig, /o/ hot, /u/ hug, and /oo/ as in book), and the long vowel sounds (/ar/ hard, /ee/ key, /er/ bird, /oo/ food, and /or/ as in fork).

    The new tasks in this edition use the MouthSounds model and target the long vowel sound - /or/ as in fork. The MouthSounds model is designed to be used within interventions for people who have delays or impairments in use of sounds, that is, articulation or expressive phonology disorders. The default presentation displays three faces on the screen depicting the three sounds in the word. The learner is encouraged to say each sound and blend to produce the target word which appears as a segmented word with the spelling pattern representing each sound under the appropriate MouthSound (a minor modification to the model in this edition is that the complete target word also appears on the screen). Following feedback from the communication partner about accuracy of production, the learner may repeatedly click the "Go" button to change the first sound in the word (eg "board, cord, poured"), or the last sound in the word (eg "fourth, fork, fall").

    This model includes the option to depict a male or female face for a child or an adult. Hence it may be useful for children with speech sound disorders, as well as adults who have severe impairments in speech production (eg, people who have verbal dyspraxia following a stroke). As with all the materials in eLr, we appreciate your feedback - how useful you may have found particular tasks, any suggestions for changes or new materials, and of course, any errors you may notice.

  2. Free eLr Training Webinars

    Our free, regular eLr tutorials (webinars) are now underway. Some sessions are intended primarily for new eLr users, and people just interested in finding out more about what eLr offers. For example, one regular session is called "What is eLr and how do I use it?". Other sessions are intended more for existing subscribers and will target specialized topics such as "How to provide free eLr for home practice" and "eLr and literacy". Please see www.elr.com.au/events for details and to sign up for those which are of interest to you.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.


  5. ELR 2016 Calendar

    ELR Software also offers regular, free eLr 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 see www.elr.com.au/events 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-a-Sentence or EIA. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail with details to news@elr.com.au

Copyright ©2016 ELR Software Pty Ltd

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