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eLr - What's New 2017 | |||
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Thirty-two new tasks have been added to "Phonology-Skills and Early Sounds" in the "Early Consonant Sounds" subsection. The new tasks aim to provide word based (in addition to the existing picture based) activities to strengthen production of words with the /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ sounds in the medial position of words. These activities may be useful for older learners who have specific challenges in the development of speech sounds, eg students with hearing impairment or developmental verbal dyspraxia.
Within each sound subsection there are two sets of words: an easier set (words that only contain early developing consonants) and a more difficult set (words that also contain later developing consonants). For example, in the /p/ subsection the easier set includes words such as "airport, hopping, mopping" (as /t/ and /m/ are earlier developing sounds and usually easier to produce), while the harder set has words like "supper, cheaper, chopping" (the /s/ and /ch/ sound usually develop later and are more difficult to produce for some people with speech sound disorders).
Four models are used for each set of words. The WordSearch model is a word search activity; SmileyMan is like a "hangman" game; MemoryWords a memory game; and ConnectWords ("Connect 4" type game). The aim of each activity is to provide an enjoyable way for the learner to practice production of the target sound in words.
These tasks are best used under the guidance of a speech pathologist. Following a speech pathology assessment the clinician is able to determine (a) the nature of the learner's speech sound disorder (b) appropriate strategies for individual learners, and (c) progression to use of target words in phrases and sentences. As with all eLr tasks the role of the clinician, teacher or support person is crucial in providing feedback about accuracy of production, and ways of encouraging extension activities. These may include a discussion about the meaning of the words and other modifications to help the learner generalise new skills to conversational speech.
We've fine-tuned our update of the PCS symbols (Picture Communication Symbols from Mayer-Johnson) used in eLr. Last month we directly replaced about 1,200 PCS symbols with the updated and often more specific versions. This month we've adjusted about 50 more to further improve specificity for words like "emu", "armchair", "sip", "proud" and "surprise". As always, if you happen to come across an image which you think could be better represented, we'd appreciate hearing from you.
We have finally completed a long-promised update of all (almost 1,200) PCS (Picture Communication Symbols from Mayer-Johnson) used within eLr. The new symbols have "cleaner" lines and are often slightly less ambiguous. For the most part we've simply made direct substitutions, but the new image set offered many more choices so "people" symbols especially (such as man, woman, boy, girl etc) now use more natural looking characters.
We know this update was long overdue, and apologise to those users who've patiently informed us of the "awkwardness" of some of the symbols we've previously used. As brief background, eLr began in 2001 using the Australian COMPIC pictographs, which some of you may remember, and in subsequent years we offered a choice of COMPIC and/or PCS, Finally COMPIC was removed as an eLr choice but the programming compromises we'd made to ensure roughly comparable images for both persisted until this revision.
eLr continues to rely heavily on PCS for pictographic representation of many items and concepts because these symbols are widely used in the world of speech and language therapy. We now have the potential of using a large range of new PCS pictograph choices. If you happen to come across an image which you think could be better represented, we'd appreciate hearing from you.
We have completed our revision of tasks within the "Consonant Digraphs" section in "Reading and Spelling". Twelve tasks using the Typing with Words model within the "sh, ch, tch, ck, ph, wh, and th" subsections have been revised to ensure that, where possible, the target words contain only short vowels.
These revisions will support use of a synthetic phonics approach to the teaching of early reading skills. This approach was recommended by national and international government-commissioned reports on reading instruction (Rose 2006) to target development of word reading skills: an essential component of early reading instruction which occurs within a language-rich reading environment.
The learner is initially taught to convert graphemes to phonemes using a part-to-whole approach for consonants and short vowels. For example, the letter-sound correspondences for a small set of letters that look and sound different (eg "m, s, a, t") are taught, and the learner is encouraged to sound out and blend to read words such as "mat, sat, at". Then more letter-sound correspondences are taught to expand the range of words the child is able to decode. After most of the single consonants and short vowels have been taught, consonant digraphs are introduced.
The tasks in eLr are now consistent with this approach. The teacher or support person is able to initially focus on words with short vowels (from 3-letter words, to consonant blends, and consonant digraphs), and then use a systematic approach to teach the range of spelling patterns for long vowel sounds and diphthong vowel sounds.
The Typing with Words model presents the learner with words (each one appearing on the graphic of a button) which need to be rearranged to make a sentence. The support person encourages the learner to read each word, then touch one button at a time to form a sentence which appears above the buttons. This activity provides practice at reading target words within the context of a sentence - reinforcing the orthographic (spelling), semantic (meaning), and syntactic connections to support sight word development.
This model compliments the range of other models within each of the subsections in "Reading and Spelling". Some models focus on single word reading (eg WordSoundButtons, WordSearch, SmileyMan, MemoryWords, and ConnectWords) while others provide an opportunity to read target words within a sentence based activity (Sentence Completion and Typing with Words).
As with all eLr tasks the role of the teacher or support person is crucial in providing feedback about accuracy of decoding and encouraging extension activities. These may include a discussion about the meaning of the words, generating other sentences which contain the target word, and talking about words which may have multiple meanings.
Rose, J (2006). Independent review of the teaching of early reading. See "Rose Report" on Wikipedia
We have continued to revise tasks within the "Consonant Digraphs" section in "Reading and Spelling", to ensure that, where possible, the words contain only short vowels. This allows a progression from teaching the learner to decode and spell 3- and 4-letter words with short vowels (ie consonant-vowel-consonant words, and words with consonant blends such as "sp, nt, bl"), to words with short vowels and consonant digraphs (eg "sh, ch, ck").
Our revisions in 16 tasks this month have focused on the ClueWords model within the "sh, ch, tch, ck, ph, wh, and th" subsections. This model displays a grid of words (either six or eight). The learner clicks or touches (in the case of an iPad) the Go button to display a clue, and then selects the word which matches the clue. This activity provides practice at repeated decoding each word, and links the word with its meaning to support sight word development.
The ClueWords model is best used in conjunction with the range of other activities within each subsection. These include activities focusing of single word reading (WordSound Buttons, WordSearch, SmileyMan, MemoryWords, and ConnectWords), as well as sentence based activities (Sentence completion and Typing with Words).
As with all eLr tasks the role of the teacher is crucial in providing feedback about accuracy of decoding and encouraging extension activities. These may include having the learner read each target word prior to viewing each clue, encouraging a discussion about the meaning of the words, generating other sentences which contain the target word, and talking about words which may have multiple meanings.
This edition continues our revision of tasks within the "Consonant Digraphs" section in "Reading and Spelling". We modified 12, and added 2 new tasks. Our aim is to ensure that most words used in tasks contain only short vowels. Consistent with a systematic synthetic phonics approach, this allows a progression from teaching the learner to decode and spell 3- and 4-letter words with short vowels (ie consonant-vowel-consonant words, and words with consonant blends such as "sp, nt, bl") to words with short vowels and consonant digraphs such as "sh, ch, ck".
Our revisions this month have focused on the Sentence Completion model within the "sh, ch, tch, ck, ph, wh, and th" sub-sections. This model displays several sentences (each with a missing word), on the left side of the screen, and a list of target words on the right side of the screen. The learner selects a sentence, reads the sentence, and then clicks on the word that completes the sentence. The complete sentence is displayed at the bottom of the screen, encouraging the learner to read the entire sentence. Within most sub-sections there are tasks which target words with the consonant digraph at the beginning and at the end of words. For example, within the "ch" sub-section there are tasks with words like "chin, chip, chop, chimp", and words like "branch, inch, lunch, much".
These sentence-based tasks provide a useful way to consolidate the learner's ability to read words within a meaningful context. Hence they are usually best presented after the learner has completed other models which focus on accurate reading and spelling at the single word level. These include:
- WordSound Buttons - provides material to teach sounding out and blend to read words
- WordSearch - encourages further practice at decoding and the development of orthographic representations for each word, ie, quick recognition of the words to support sight word development
- SmileyMan - provides a game format which encourages the child to recall the spelling of each word
- MemoryWords - supports sight word development for words that the child has accurately decoded in the previous models
- ConnectWords - is another game format which supports sight word development
As with all eLr tasks the role of the teacher is crucial in providing feedback about accuracy of decoding and encouraging extension activities. These may include having the learner read each target word prior to completing the sentence, encouraging a discussion about the meaning of the words, generating other sentences which contain the target word, and talking about words which may have multiple meanings.
This month we started a revision of the "Consonant Digraphs" section in "Reading and Spelling". We modified 60 existing tasks so that, where possible, all tasks now use words that contain only short vowels. The reason for this is that when teaching or providing intervention for word reading and decoding skills, a systematic synthetic phonics approach has been shown to be effective.
A systematic synthetic phonics approach was recommended by national and international government-commissioned reports on reading instruction (Rowe 2006) to target development of word reading skills: an essential component of early reading instruction which occurs within a language-rich reading environment. This approach involves teaching the learner to convert graphemes to phonemes using a part-to-whole approach. Initially, the child is taught grapheme-phoneme rules for consonants and short vowels. For example, the child is first taught letter-sound correspondences for a small set of letters that look and sound distinctly different (eg "m, s, t, a"), and is encouraged to sound out and blend to read words such as "mat, sat, at, sam". Then more letter-sound correspondences are taught to expand the range of words the child is able to decode. After most of the single consonants and short vowels have been taught, consonant digraphs are introduced. A consonant digraph refers to two letters which are code for one sound, eg "sh, ch, th, wh". Hence activities at this level are most useful if the words contain the newly taught consonant digraphs and previously mastered short vowels.
Our revisions this month have focused on five models that occur within sub-sections targeting "sh, ch, tch, th, ck, ph, wh" graphemes. The models include:
- WordSoundButtons - provides material to teach sounding out and blending to read words
- WordSearch - encourages further practice at decoding and the development of orthographic representations for each word, ie quick recognition of the words to support sight word development
- SmileyMan - provides a game format which encourages the child to recall the spelling of each word
- MemoryWords - supports sight word development for words that the child has accurately decoded in the previous models
- ConnectWords - is another game format which supports sight word development
We hope these revisions provide useful intervention activities, and we look forward to any feedback you may have.
Rose, J (2009) "Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties". An independent report from Sir Jim Rose to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. Retrieved from http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/14790/7/00659-2009DOM-EN_Redacted.pdf
In this edition of eLr, 20 tasks which contain nonwords have been revised to ensure that all nonwords in eLr are "legal". This completes our revision of tasks in the in the MultiWord Slideshow model which require the learner to read each item and detect which is the real word. The goal of this activity is to encourage the learner to use knowledge of letter-sound relationships to sound out and blend when reading unfamiliar words, thus strengthening decoding skills. As is the case in many eLr activities, the support person (teacher, parent, clinician) plays a key role - providing feedback about decoding accuracy and ensuring that the learner understands the meaning of the real word.
Our revision of tasks which contain nonwords continued this month. Thirty-two tasks in "Reading and Spelling" have been revised. The revised tasks are in the "Long vowel" sections:
And the "Diphthong vowel" sections:
- /ar/ sound spelled with "ar" (eg car)
- /er/ sound spelled with "er" (eg fern), "ear" (eg heard), "ir" (eg bird), "ur" (eg burn)
- /ee/ sound spelled with "ee" (eg feed), "ea" (eg seat)
- /oo/ sound spelled with "oo" (eg moon), "ue" (eg clue), "ew" (eg blew)
- /or/ sound spelled with "or" (eg cork), "au" (eg sauce), "aw" (eg hawk)
- /oa/ sound spelled with "oe" (eg toe), "oa" (eg foal)
- /ow/ sound spelled with "ow" (eg owl), "ou" (eg out)
- /oy/ sound spelled with "oy" (eg boy), "oi" (eg soil)
- /ay/ sound spelled with "ay" (eg day), "ai" (eg sail)
- /ie/ sound spelled with "ie" (eg tie)
Within each of these long vowel and diphthong vowel sounds there are additional spelling patterns which will be revised in the coming months.
This month we continued our revision of existing eLr tasks which contain non-words, and 32 tasks in "Reading and Spelling-Short vowel sounds - longer words" have been updated. The aim of this time consuming revision is to ensure that all non-words used in eLr are "legal", which means that the spelling of each non-word conforms to the spelling conventions of English (see the two previous newsletters for a discussion of the meaning of "legal", and how these tasks may be used within a Systematic Synthetic Phonics approach to early reading instruction).
The revised tasks this time target accurate decoding in "longer words" which are organised (like all vowel-sound sections) according to the vowel sound, ie the /a/ vowel (as in cat), /e/ (bed), /i/ (pig), /o/ (hot), /u/ (hug), and /oo/ (book). This subsection also has further sub-divisions because in longer words the short vowel sound may be spelled with a number of spelling options. For example, the /e/ sound may also be spelled with "ea" (bread), and the /o/ sound also with an "a" (watch).
Within "longer words", the instructor may choose a level of difficulty for each spelling option. The easiest words (level 1) are those for which, apart from the vowel sound, there is 1:1 letter-sound correspondence. For example, the level 1 word "head" has 1:1 letter sound correspondence except for the /e/ sound which is spelled with the digraph "ea" (a digraph refers to two letters which spell one sound). Level 2 words additionally include consonant digraphs eg "breath" (b-r-ea-th). Level 3 words are multisyllabic, for example the /e/ sound spelled with "ea" is found in words such as "ready, heavy, breakfast, instead, heaven, ahead" etc.
Removal of non-words from sections targeting irregular spelling patterns. Our review processes now rely on the ARC non-word database (Rastle et al 2002), a resource not available when we first created eLr non-word tasks in 2000-2001! Analyses reveal that there are no acceptable "legal non-words" for sounds with the irregular spelling patterns for these short vowel sounds:
- the /o/ sound (as in "not") spelled with an "a" (as in "watch")
- the /e/ sound (bed) spelled with "ea" (bread)
- the /u/ sound (sun) spelled with "o" (son, or "o_e" done)
- the /oo/ sound (book) spelled with "oo", "u" (bush), "ou" (would)
Hence we've removed 9 tasks which targeted spelling patterns often considered to be exceptions to the usual English spelling of a sound (irregular words). eLr sections covering these vowel sounds still contain activities using real words to support teaching of the patterns, for example, WordSoundButtons (to sound out the words), WordSearch , SmileyMan (encouraging retrieval of spelling patterns), MemoryWords (a memory game), and ConnectWords (a Connect 4 type game).
- Rastle, K, Harrington J & Coldhart M (2002). 358,534 nonwords: The ARC Nonword Database. Quarterly J of Experimental Psychology, 55(4)
This month we continued our effort to revise all tasks which contain non-words so that all non-words used in eLr are "legal" (see ELR-News Feb 2017 for a discussion on the use of non-words and an explanation of what is meant by "legal"). Thirty-one tasks were updated in four sections of "Reading and Spelling": "Short vowel sounds - 3 letter words", "Short vowel sounds - longer words", "Consonant digraphs", and "The "e" rule".
All of these updated tasks use the MultiWord Slideshow model. Four items (one real word and three non-words) are depicted on the screen. The learner is encouraged to decode each item (sound out and blend to read) and identify the real word. As in all eLr tasks the role of the instructor (clinician, parent, teacher) is critical. In this case, the instructor ensures accurate decoding has occurred and that the learner understands the meaning of the word, for example, by using the word in a sentence, and encouraging discussion about any background information which expands the learner's comprehension of the word meaning.
This month, rather than add new tasks, we have revised the content of 36 tasks in "Phonological Processing - Sound/letter links in words". All of these tasks involve "non-words" and the aim of the revision is to ensure that all non-words are legal, that is, that the spelling patterns occur in English.
The "Sound/letter links in words" section provides material to teach the ability to break words into sounds. There are two main sub-sections in "Sound/letter links in words". The first involves words with sound-letter correspondence (each sound is represented by a letter, eg c-a-t), and the second, words without sound-letter correspondence (some sounds are represented by more than one letter, eg m-oo-n, r-ai-n). Each of these sections is further broken down into "pictorial activities" (the child sees a picture, says the name, and sounds the word out), "word-based activities" (the learner may read the word or the teacher says the word, and the learner sounds the word out), and "non-word activities" which are done in the same way as the word-based activities.
The tasks that have been reviewed this month were originally constructed in 2001 - 16 years ago. Since that time, Toni has completed PhD studies which focused on decoding interventions for children with persistent reading impairment, in particular, those children with weak decoding skills. Hence, not only have we gained insights into the construction of material for reading and spelling, we have also obtained and developed tools which enable us to produce tasks which contain non-words with legal spelling patterns.
Twelve new tasks have been added to "Reading and Spelling - Other vowel sounds - Using Y". All of these new tasks use the MemoryWords model which is a word based memory game. The screen displays "cards" organised in a grid. Players take turns clicking (on a computer) or touching (on an iPad) cards to find matching pairs. The role of the teacher or support person is central to many eLr activities. In this case, the learner is encouraged to read the word out loud and receive corrective feedback from the support person to ensure that they have accurately read the word.
The focus of this section is to highlight the different pronunciations of the letter "y" when representing a vowel sound. Hence it is teaching "letter to sound" correspondence, that is, that the letter "y", when used as a vowel may be pronounced as /ee/ (as in story), as the long /i/ sounds (as in sky), or as the short /i/ sound (as in gym). This differs from most of the other eLr vowel sections which are organised according to "sound to spelling" correspondence. For example, within the "Long Vowel" section, the /ar/ sound is divided into the various spelling patterns for this sound (ie, "ar" as in hard, "a" as in fast).
In the early stages of learning to read and spell children need to master both sets of knowledge ("sound to letter" and "letter to sound") because in English, one sound may be spelled in a number of ways, and some letter/s have a number of pronunciations. Hence, when reading an unfamiliar word the child needs to know that the "ea" vowel digraph could be pronounced as a short vowel (/e/ as in bread), or a long vowel (/ee/ as in beach). Conversely when spelling, learners initially need to be aware that the /ee/ sound may be spelled in a number of ways (eg "ee" as in heel, "ea" as in pea, "e" as in she, "y" as in lady, "ey" as in key). Then, as the child's skills progress and clear mental images of words (mental orthographic images) are developed, the child masters the correct spelling pattern for each vowel, for example, that the correct spelling for the /ay/ sound is "rain" and not "rane").
While many approaches to reading and spelling focus on teaching "sound to spelling", it is useful at times to highlight words in which the same letter may be pronounced in different ways. Coincidently, in my own clinical practice with a 14-year old child who is profoundly deaf, we are working on this very issue (how to pronounce "y" as a vowel). Over the years this child has developed speech that is intelligible to most people, but has recently asked for a focus on how to pronounce "y" as a vowel. Being unable to easily hear words, this child often pronounces words as they are written; and the various pronunciations of the "y" spelling pattern has often caused difficulties. Hence these new tasks, combined with the other models in this section, will be of immediate use to this learner.
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