ELR-News

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, Coviu, and WordDriver for Coviu
3. Other Independent Developers
4. Free Downloads
5. ELR 2019 Calendar

1. New eLr Materials

   Forty nine new tasks have been added to the "Systematic 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. We have now covered the first four sets. 1: /s, a, t, p, i, n/; 2: /c|k|ck, e, h, r, m, d/; 3: /g, o, u, l, f, b/; and 4: /ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or/. This edition adds materials for the fifth set - /z, w, ng, v, oo (book), oo (room)/.

   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.

2. eLr, Coviu, and WordDriver-1 for Coviu

   Over the past 12 months, ELR Software has collaborated with Coviu, a Sydney based company that has a particular interest in teletherapy in the healthcare environment. As a result, eLr is available for use on this teletherapy platform (as an "Add-on"), which means eLr subscribers are able to deliver eLr based teletherapy to remote clients entirely through a shared screen. Recently, another ELR developed software program called WordDriver-1, has also been made available as an "Add-on".

   WordDriver-1 was developed as part of Toni Seiler's 2015 PhD research which focused on intervention for children with severe word reading impairments (those children who have persistent word reading difficulty despite receiving previous intervention, ie students requiring Tier 3 intervention). WordDriver-1 is based on theoretical models and research which have shown that:

   • While the main aim of reading is to comprehend the information we read, reading is a complex skill which involves two inter-dependent skills - (a) the ability to accurately read words (word reading), and (b) the ability to understand the meanings of words and oral language (listening comprehension). This is called the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). However, most children with reading comprehension difficulties have impaired word reading skills (Catts et al 2003).

   • Skilled word reading involves two routes: a lexical route (automatic recognition of a word) and a non-lexcial route (use of grapheme-phoneme translation - sounding out) to decode unfamiliar words. This is the Dual Route Model of skilled word reading (Coltheart 2006). Most children with word reading impairment have problems with the non-lexical route - the ability to sound out words (Herrmann & Pratt 2006).

   • In early word reading development, children progress through phases (Ehri's phase model of reading development). Initially the child is able to read a few words within predictable contexts, by sight. Gradually they learn grapheme-phoneme relationships which enable them to gain skills in sounding out, and eventually this leads to automatical recognition of parts of words and whole words - sight word development (Ehri 2005).

   • The mechanism that allows progression through these phases is described by the Phonological Recoding Theory (Share 1995). This influential theory has been supported by many research studies which have shown that phonological recoding (sounding out and blending) acts as a "self-teaching" mechanism. In other words, sounding out and paying attention to the internal structure of words (phonological recoding) supports further learning of grapheme-phoneme knowledge, which leads to formation of automatic recognition of words - sight words. The key role of phonological recoding as a basis of orthographic learning has been demonstrated for typically developing children as well as children with severe word reading impairment - dyslexia (Biname et al, 2015; 2016).

   WordDriver-1 is based on these theories and research studies. Its focus is to support teaching of accurate phonological recoding to children with severe word reading delays. The results of Toni's research (Seiler et al 2015, 2018) showed that, irrespective of their language, intellectual, and phonological processing profiles, within a short period of time, all participants made significant gains in their decoding skills. Though there were trends for gains on standardised measures of word reading, severe delays in orthographic knowledge, particularly for vowel spelling patterns, were a possible factor in their reduced generalisation. These results suggested that, following in-depth diagnostic assessment, an intervention which specifically targets decoding (the non-lexical route) may be an effective component within reading interventions, but that some children may also require further specific intervention targeting gaps in orthographic knowledge.

   During 2019, further research is being undertaken to examine the effectiveness of WordDriver-1 when delivered via teletherapy (using the Coviu platform). An expanded version of WordDriver (WordDriver-2) has also been developed to examine whether this targeted intervention results in gains in orthographic learning, with a focus on vowel spelling patterns. The results of this research will be published via conference presentations and publications as they become available.

   WordDriver-1 is available free for clinical or research use on the website (www.worddriver.com), and as an Add-on to Coviu subscribers for delivery via teletherapy. Please contact us if you'd like more details.

   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. Coltheart M (2006) "Dual route and connectionist models of reading: An overview". London Review of Education, 4, 5-17
   4. 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
   5. Ehri LC (2005) "Learning to read words: Theory, findings, and issues". Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 167-188.
   6. Herrmann JA, Matyas T, & Pratt C (2006) "Meta-analysis of the nonword reading deficit in specific reading disorder". Dyslexia, 12(3), 195-221
   7. Kyte CS, & Johnson CJ (2006) "The role of phonological recoding in orthographic learning". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 93, 166-185
   8. Seiler AM. (2015) "The effectiveness of a computer-supported intervention targeting phonological recoding and orthographic processing for children with word reading impairment". Curtin University.
   9. Seiler T, Leitao S, & Blosfelds M (2013) "The effectiveness of a computer-supported intervention targeting orthographic processing and phonological recoding for children with impaired word identification". Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, 15(1), 13-18
   10. Share DL (1995) "Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition". Cognition, 55, 151-218

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 -

   • News Talk CD
   • PELICAN TALK Speech Therapy Resources
   • ReadingDoctor Software
   • The MusicLanguage Series
   • The Building Language Series
   • Online Cued Articulation
   • Spelfabet
   • Looking Learning
   • Behaviour Zen

   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.

   • Products: The current ELR Software - Product Brochure, in PDF format.
   • eLr-Offline: Compiled, "mirror" version of the eLr (Extra Language Resources) website which you may download and run on your own PC. Allows access to the eLr Directory and all tasks from locations where regular access to the Internet is not possible.
   • 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.
   • Build-a-Sentence: An interactive program to strengthen labeling of nouns, verbs and objects and production of 2 & 3 part sentences.
   • Word Meanings: Volume One. Trialware, Interactive Language Program designed to build understanding and recall of words by strengthening semantic processing, based on the therapy manual Building Language: Word Meanings by Robyn Dower and Jan Mackey's, Helios Art and Book Co, 1996.
   • eLr  Directory (Summary): 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.)
   • APAR/PDF (zipped): APAR (Assessment of Phonological Awareness and Reading) in print-ready PDF format (zipped). Contains all the score sheets and stimulus cards.
   
   

5. ELR 2019 Calendar

   • June 2019
     Brisbane, Qld

     • Speech Pathology Australia 2019 National Conference:
       Sunday 2nd - Wednesday 5th
       We will have trade stand #50 at this conference. Contact us for further details

   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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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