ELR-News

ELR Software produces 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) and Word Meanings. 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. Additions to eLr
2. The ELR-SSP Progress Monitoring Tool Now Complete
3. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference
4. Other Independent Developers
5. Free Downloads
6. ELR 2023 Calendar

1. Additions to eLr

This month we've added a final 5 "Progress monitoring" tasks in the "Alternative spellings" subsection of "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills - Systematic synthetic phonics". The new tasks are for the graphemes "ow(cow), ir|ur, ew, au|aw" in nonwords such as "cowt, birm, hurp, fewp, chaut and chawn" All these "Progress monitoring" tasks are intended to provide a quick and simple nonword reading assessment/review of phoneme-grapheme knowledge and accurate decoding for the following groupings:

• Common spellings of the main sounds
  • "s, a, t, p, i, n"
  • "c|k|ck, e, h, r, m, d"
  • "g, o, u, l, f, b"
  • "ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or"
  • "z, w, ng, v, oo(room)"
  • "y, x, sh, ch, th"
  • "qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar"
• Alternative spellings
  • "a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e"
  • "ay|ey, oy, ea(dream), igh"
  • "ow(cow), ir|ur, ew, au|aw"

The tasks use the model SingleWord Slideshow which is a simple activity for displaying/reading a single word at a time. Each item (nonword in these tasks) appears on the screen and the client attempts to decode and read it. To move between items, click the [Forward] or [Back] buttons. The clinician/helper provides appropriate verbal response and records results as necessary.

We welcome your feedback about these tasks and any aspect of eLr, as well as your suggestions about additions and modifications to eLr.

2. The ELR-SSP Progress Monitoring Tool Now Complete

Our newly completed ELR-SSP Progress Monitoring Tool is consistent with research that highlights (a) the critical role of accurate decoding in the establishment of automatic word recognition, and (b) use of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) as the most efficient instruction and intervention approach in the initial stages of reading development (see references below).

The nonword reading assessment lists match the scope and sequence of SSP. No items are repeated between lists and each list has been organised to be at an equivalent difficulty level. This allows the instructor to gather baseline data prior to instruction and repeadedly monitor decoding accuracy at the same level. There are sufficient sets of tests to allow repeated testing using different sets until mastery has been achieved, at which point, you would usually move to the next level within the SSP scope and sequence.

The items selected for all these tasks are all drawn from the ARC Nonword Database www.elr.com.au/links/CVFJB, and are single-syllable, "legal" nonwords; that is, the spelling patterns are consistent with the English orthography (for example, "ck" never appears at the start of a word, however there are no legal nonwords for some of the vowel spelling patterns for two reasons:

• There is only one legal pronunciation for the following vowel digraphs:
  • - "oo" is pronounced as /oo/ ("room"), not /oo/ as in book
  • - "ie" as /ie/ ("pie"), not /ee/ as in chief
  • - "ow" is pronounced as /ow/ as in "cow", not /oa/ as in crow
• For some graphemes, there were too few available nonwords:
  • - "y" pronounced /i/ as in gym, and "y" pronounced /ie/ as in by
  • - "oe" pronounced /oa/ as in doe

While there are tasks within eLr designed to deliver all components of the ELR-SSP Progress Monitoring Tool, we have placed free response forms, and printable sets of the stimulus items, to facilitate delivery of these assessments at www.elr.com.au/links/NLBHY

References:

1. Biname F, Danzio S, Poncelet M (2015) "Relative Ease in Creating Detailed Orthographic Representations Contrasted with Severe Difficulties to Maintain Them in Long-term Memory Among Dyslexic Children", Dyslexia, published online
2. Biname F, Poncelet M (2016) "The development of the abilities to acquire novel detailed orthographic representations and maintain them in long-term memory", Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 143 (14-33)
3. Catts HW, Adlof SM, & Weismer, SE (2006). Language deficits in poor comprehenders: a case for the simple view of reading. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 49(2), 278-293
4. Coltheart M (2006) "Dual route and connectionist models of reading: An overview". London Review of Education, 4, 5-17
5. Cunningham AE, Perry KE, Stanovich KE, & Share D L (2002) "Orthographic learning during reading: Examining the role of self-teaching". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 82, 185-199
6. Gough, PB, & Tunmer, WE (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 6-10
7. Herrmann JA, Matyas T, & Pratt C (2006) "Meta-analysis of the nonword reading deficit in specific reading disorder". Dyslexia, 12(3), 195-221
8. Machin S, McNally S, & Viarengo M (2018). Changing How Literacy Is Taught: Evidence on Synthetic Phonics. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 10(2), 217-241
9. Share DL (1995) "Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition". Cognition, 55, 151-218

3. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference

   In May (21st to 24th), speech pathologists will gather in Hobart to participate in an exciting programme of papers and workshops. ELR Software will be sharing trade stands 11 & 12 with Coviu (www.coviu.com), a Sydney based company which has a particular interest in teletherapy in the healthcare environment. Come and say hello; share your experiences with eLr; and give us your feedback and suggestions, especially for your teletherapy needs.

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 -

• PELICAN TALK Speech Therapy Resources
• ReadingDoctor Software
• The MusicLanguage Series
• Cued Articulation Training
• Spelfabet
• Behaviour Help

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.

• eLr-Offline: A "universal" App version of the eLr which can be installed on any modern computer or tablet. Allows you to use all eLr activities anywhere access to the Internet is not possible or desirable.
• eLr  Directory: Summary of eLr Directory in print-ready PDF format. Contains all the classification information but no listing of actual tasks and task numbers. (The full version is available only to eLr subscribers.)
• eLr Fonts: 19 free symbol fonts as used in many eLr activities. Download the single zip file containing all fonts and install them on your own own computer.
• SSP Progress Monitor: A free monitoring tool for assessment/review of decoding accuracy within a Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) approach. Response Forms and lists of Stimulus Items are provided.
• APAR/PDF: APAR (Assessment of Phonological Awareness and Reading) in print-ready PDF format (zipped). Contains all the score sheets and stimulus cards.
• WordDriver: A web app developed by ELR Software for research entitled "The effectiveness of a computer-supported intervention targeting phonological recoding and orthographic processing for children with word reading impairment" (Curtin University thesis, 2015).



6. ELR 2023 Calendar

• May 2023
  Hobart, Tas

  • Speech Pathology Australia 2023 National Conference:
    Sunday 21st - Wednesday 24th
    We will be sharing trade stands 11 & 12 with Coviu (www.coviu.com), a Sydney based company which has a particular interest in teletherapy in the healthcare environment. Contact us for further details.

ELR Software offers 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. We are also offering free Coviu sessions to allow clinicians to get a feel for teletherapy, and in particular the advantages of using eLr for Coviu. Please contact us for details.

For a current listing and to register for one of our available, scheduled webinars, please see www.elr.com.au/support/events.htm

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You are receiving ELR-News because you are an eLr subscriber, or have expressed an interest in either eLr, Build-a-Sentence or Word Meanings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail with details to news@elr.com.au