ELR-News

February 2019

Newsletter of ELR Software Pty Ltd

ABN 67 090 738 702
Web: https://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 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. New eLr Materials
  2. eLr, eLr for Coviu, and Teletherapy
  3. Other Independent Developers
  4. Free Downloads
  5. ELR 2019 Calendar

  1. New eLr Materials

    Forty-nine new tasks have been added to the "Systematics synthetic phonics" section within "Reading & Spelling - Early Skills". These new tasks continue our current focus, which is developing tasks to teach early word reading skills using a systematic synthetic phonics approach. The tasks are organised according to the Jolly Phonics scope and sequence. In previous editions we covered the first three sets: 1: /s, a, t, p, i, n/; 2: /c/k/ck, e, h, r, m, d/; and 3: /g, o, u, l, f, b/. This edition adds materials for the fourth set - /ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or/.

    Each of these sets is divided into two subsections. One subsection provides a range of tasks to introduce each grapheme (letter/s), and the second subsection targets all grapheme-phoneme relationships in the sets up to that level. A range of models (activities) are used within each subsection. The WordSound Buttons and WordSearch models encourage the student to sound out and blend the sounds to read each word; LookThenCover and SmileyMan support the student's ability to recall spelling patterns; and MemoryWords provides a fun activity to consolidate automatic recognition of previously decoded words (sight words). A further model, Typing with Phrases, provides sets of decodable sentences which encourage accurate decoding within context, and an activity (rearranging either phrases or words) to consolidate meaning and grammatical knowledge.

    As with all eLr materials, the role of the instructor is a central factor to encourage students to accurately decode, expand vocabulary knowledge, and increase automaticity of word and text reading. In future editions the Systematic Synthetic Phonics section will be extended to include materials targeting all the grapheme-phoneme relationships to support accurate word reading.

    Further discussion of how Synthetic Phonics "fits" within major theoretical models of reading development may be viewed in our newsletter for the December 2018 edition. Here are two key references to support use of Synthetic Phonics:

    1. Johnston R and Watson J (2005) "The Effects of Synthetic Phonics Teaching on Reading and Spelling Attainment", Insight 17, Scottish Education Executive. Available from: www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/ins17-00.asp
    2. Hempenstall K (2016) "Read About It: Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading", The Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)
  2. eLr, eLr for Coviu, and Teletherapy

    During 2018, in a collaboration with Coviu (www.coviu.com), eLr was integrated into the Coviu professional video consultation software as the eLr for Coviu "Add-on". This enables clinicians to deliver eLr based teletherapy to remote clients entirely through a shared screen. eLr for Coviu is not just screen sharing - every mouse action and screen response is synchronised, which means you and your client are able to see and talk to each other while interacting with an eLr task as if you were using the same device.

    Coviu is a Sydney based company which has a particular interest in teletherapy in the healthcare environment. They have been gaining increasing support and kudos, recently winning several major industry awards and gaining significant government funding for clinical validation. The platform provides seamless access across all devices, laptop, desktop, tablet or smartphone. You can email your clients an invitation to your online "Coviu room" and they simply meet you there on any device with the simple click of a link or button.

    We are planning further developments and demonstrations of eLr for Coviu throughout 2019. If you are interested in exploring teletherapy, please contact us to arrange a free, hands-on, introduction eLr for Coviu. Here also are two references to support use of Teletherapy for Delivery of Speech Pathology:

    1. Fairweather GC, Lincoln MA, & Ramsden R (2016) "Speech-language pathology teletherapy in rural and remote educational settings: Decreasing service inequities", International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18(6), 592-602.
    2. Wales D, Skinner L, & Hayman M (2017) "The Efficacy of Telehealth-Delivered Speech and Language Intervention for Primary School-Age Children: A Systematic Review", International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 9(1), 55-70.
  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 2019 Calendar

    ELR Software 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. 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.



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