ELR-News

July 2001

Newsletter of ELR Software Pty Ltd

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

The aim of this newsletter is to inform you of developments and changes to our major products eLr (Extra Language Resources) 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 is available online at http://www.elr.com.au/news and an email version is sent monthly to members of our mailing list (See Subscribing/Unsubscribing).

In this issue -

  1. New eLr Tasks
  2. eLr Changes and Corrections
  3. Speech Pathology Australia Conference - Melbourne
  4. Student Presentation - Charles Sturt University
  5. Free Downloads
  6. ELR 2001 Calendar

  1. New eLr Tasks

    A total of 182 new tasks have been added to the Directory this month and a new model, a memory game called "MemoryPics", has been developed, prompted by a suggestion from a subscriber - thanks Nancy (we're back in action after the conference!).

    We've used MemoryPics first in Phonology with 113 new tasks appearing in all the subsections of Phonology - Later Sounds. It's a fun game, and as therapists, it may be helpful to know that each game starts off with a standard layout of cards (hint, look for the geometrically opposite cards) - so if you like to cheat, you have an advantage. We felt this predictability could be useful. You can play the game as is, or you can shuffle the cards by selecting shuffle, and then reset using the VCR arrow on the top left hand corner.

    In Phonemic Awareness there are 24 new Nonsense words activities in Sound Letter Links in Words under the With sound/letter correspondence and Without sound/letter correspondence sections. The new tasks use the "Word sound buttons" model to highlight the sound and letter correspondence in sets of nonsense words.

    In the Reading and Spelling section, there are 45 new tasks, also focussing on nonsense words. The model used is "MultiWord Slide Show". Four words are presented to the student, who reads each word, and identifies which word is the real word. The tasks have been added to the sub sections of Three letter words, Four letter words, The "e" rule, Consonant digraphs, and Long vowel digraphs. Similar tasks will also be added to Short vowel digraphs and Diphthong digraphs. We had been aware that eLr had few such tasks, and several therapists at the conference mentioned that they would appreciate materials to reinforce both the "sounding out" of nonsense words and "detecting real words".

  2. eLr Changes and Corrections

    There have been minor modifications to the following tasks: 1012-143, 1020-105, 1034-107, 1027-243 and 1003-340. These changes were mostly to do with small typographical errors, so thanks to those people who have notified us. The best way to let us know of an error, is to email us, giving us the task number and the nature of the error. We also appreciate feedback about things that may not be actual errors, but suggestions on ways to improve the task, eg better vocabulary selection.

  3. Speech Pathology Australia Conference - Melbourne

    The Conference in Melbourne was a wonderful success. Hats off to the organisers and helpers. It began with the most amazing display of the terrific range of talent speech pathologists possess in a humourous musical depiction of the professional experiences of a speechie! The singing and the humour set the scene for a relaxed attitude amidst the professionally stimulating program.

    We presented our paper which outlined the results of our "Service Delivery Project". The project began late 1998 and involved various forms of feedback from therapists about issues in the use of eLr within service delivery in the educational settings. The paper has been submitted to be included in the Conference Proceedings, but in a nutshell, it was found that -

    • a) the content of eLr was consistently rated as good to very good
    • b) the Internet was not always reliable for use by clinicians
    • c) eLr-Offline (which was developed in response to the previous finding), solved the issues of Internet unreliability
    • d) computers are sometimes not located in appropriate places for therapy sessions
    • e) eLr was estimated to have to have increased service delivery by 14%, reduced therapy preparation time by 18%, and to have increased provision of home programs by 23%.

    The ELR stand at the conference was an exciting place to be. We enjoyed meeting a number of existing subscribers who had often only been names and "User ID's" until now, as well as many other therapists who came and sampled the program, and gave us ideas for further developments. Many took advantage of the conference specials, which were either in the form of a 3 month trial CD, or an extended, full subscription. Although most people were able to get some hands-on time and "new user" instructions, if you are experiencing any problems please contact us and we'll endeavour to help you out.

    We were also able to show some of the other products of ELR Software - the EIA Web Browser, and "WordCue" - a program which will be included in the EIA browser and provides on line assistance for people with literacy problems.

  4. Student Presentation - Charles Sturt University

    eLr was used as part of a final year student presentation at Charles Sturt University. We are grateful to Rachel Ducat and Jim McCartney who organised the presentation, and also for the combined effort of the student group. They provided us with written feedback on suggested improvements. Thank you for the time and effort involved in compiling your thoughts on a "User Friendly Guide" ie hints about getting started etc. We realise it's essential that we get feedback like this, as computer programs and Internet sites are not always as obvious to get around as the developers think! We plan to work on your suggestions and incorporate them into the overall package. We are happy to assist other groups and students should you wish to run similar sessions or in-service training activities

  5. Free Downloads

    For other supporting materials and documents available for free download, please see http://www.elr.com.au/support.htm.

  6. ELR 2001 Calendar



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Copyright ©2001 ELR Software Pty Ltd

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