ELR-News

February 2006

Newsletter of ELR Software Pty Ltd

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

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), Rude Readers, Word Meanings 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) is available online at www.elr.com.au/news and an email version is sent monthly to members of our mailing list (See Subscribing/Unsubscribing).

Season's Greetings, and we wish you all a safe and happy new year. And special thanks to all to have provided us feedback - always helpful!

In this issue -

  1. New and Changed eLr Materials
  2. eLr Workshops for 2006
  3. Other Independant Developers
  4. Free Downloads
  5. ELR 2006 Calendar

  1. New and Changed eLr Materials

    New Materials

    There are a total of 31 new tasks this month, and 2 new sub sections.

    There are 7 new tasks in "What's Missing", a new subsection in "Using Language - Differences". The aim of this subsection is to provide pictorial activities to encourage use of specific language. These tasks use the Picture Fixer model. A scene or picture is displayed on the screen, with a part(s) of the picture missing. The client is encouraged to identify the missing part. Depending on the goals of the session, other skills may be encouraged (eg description, explaining reasons, divergent thinking, explaining "what would happen if"). Following discussion and feedback, the client is then encouraged to click on the missing part to correct the error. For each picture there will be 5 to 7 errors, each shown by using the "Previous-Next" arrow controls.

    The level of complexity can also be modified by electing to display only one error at a time (easiest), up to 4 errors at a time, or all of the errors (hardest or most complex). All models in eLr have a "Help" section - click on the question mark at the top right hand corner. So far we have done 6 tasks in this section ("girl's face", "train", "man driving car", "woman flying plane", "mealtime", "horse", "bicycle" ) and we are working on more for next month's edition. Please contact us if you have any ideas about themes for these activities and we will most likely be able to provide materials to suit those needs. It's great if we can produce material that fits the goals for a range of client needs.

    There are 24 new tasks in "Multi-Clause Sentences", a new subsection in "Sentence Processing". Up until now "Sentence Processing" has contained a range of activities focussing on sentences that have one clause. We have now started to develop sections which provide material to strengthen the ability to process longer and more complex sentences. This month we have focussed on sentences which contain conjunctions ("and", "or", "because", and "since"). As we continue to develop this section, a bigger range of conjunctions will be included. Currently, there are a total of 240 sentences in the 2 new subsections. All tasks use the model, Typing with phrases.

    Changes to Typing with phrases

    This model has been modified so that it now contains 2 levels - rearranging phrases, and rearranging words. To select the level that is appropriate for your client, you select to "chunk" the sentence as "phrase" or "word" at the top of the screen.

    This model is also used extensively in other sentence processing activities ("Single Clause Active Sentences"). It provides material to strengthen the ability to rearrange phrases (and now words) to produce sentences which make sense. In many cases more than one sentence may be correct, so the clinician or helper is encouraged to provide feedback to the client as they rearrange the phrases or words in different ways to modify the meaning of each sentence.

    Up until now, we used two models to achieve these goals - Typing with phrases, and Typing with words. Within the "Sentence Processing" section a duplicated set of sentences occurred using each model so that your client was able to either rearrange phrases, or rearrange words. Now that Typing with phrases achieves both levels, you will no longer need to use the Typing with words model in this section. However, we will leave the duplicated Typing with words tasks within the "Sentence Processing" section for 6 months, so that no client is inconvenienced.

  2. eLr Workshops for 2006

    This year we aim to hold workshops at locations within Australia that suit your needs and schedules. So if you would like a workshop for your clinicians, staff, or families, please contact us. We are not planning to charge for the workshops, so to make our trip worthwhile, we would need:

    1. to have a venue provided - it is difficult to know the best locations in all areas.
    2. to be able to also hold a general workshop for other clinicians, parents or school staff in your area. It may suit you to have a specific workshop for your staff, so that you are able to "get the most out of" eLr. We would then like to hold a second workshop for any others who may be interested.
    3. to have assistance from you to publicize the workshop. As with the locations, it is quite difficult to know how the different services are organized in the various locations around Australia. We hope that you may be able to use your existing networks to let people know about the workshops.

    For non-Australian clients, please contact us so that we can also plan ways to demonstrate how eLr can assist in your service delivery.

  3. Other Independant 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 2006 Calendar



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Copyright ©2006 ELR Software Pty Ltd

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VIC 3875, Australia
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