Animals Galore (with COMPIC)
by Gerry Kennedy
Animals Galore (Featuring COMPIC pictographs)
For PC Compatible Computers running MS Windows 95/98
Four COMPIC Based Activities with Voice
A Curriculum Package – All About Animals!
This is the second innovative software package from Education by Design; a Melbourne-based software company. Animals Galore deserves a Triple “A” rating. Similar in design and programming style to Food For Thought, it features COMPIC pictographs. It has an ‘animals’ theme. The four captivating activities include COMPIC images of animals found in the zoo, on the farm, in the sea as well as typical pets. The rich multi-sensory components used throughout the program will appeal to teachers and parents alike. Students of all ages, but more especially younger children, will thoroughly enjoy the various multimedia aspects of the program. It is totally voiced, can be customised to suit individual users preferences and is easy to use.
Target Audience
It caters to children who are either learning and/or using COMPIC in special settings. It is ideal for children who are included in mainstream classrooms who have special needs, as well as catering to infant classrooms in the learning of numbers, animals, language, sentence construction and visual/auditory discrimination. Teenagers and adults with intellectual disabilities will also discover that Animals Galore will compliment their programs, especially if they have an interest in animals and pets. It incorporates activities that talk, auditory discrimination tasks that promote listening, counting games from 1-10 and from 11-20, and matching exercises. Children can succeed with appropriate task that can be both challenging and enjoyable, customised to meet their visual, access and learning requirements.
Featuring COMPIC
Animals Galore was designed to meet classroom needs. It is not as fully featured as the highly acclaimed Food For Thought. It definitely offers very good value for money though. The focus is on animals. It includes identification (visual and auditory, using voice, text and pictographs), exposure to the spelling of animal names, counting, listening to animal sounds as well as constructing sentences by selecting one or two words to complete a sentence. The young female voice heard throughout the activities is clear and well articulated. The instructions, directions, prompts and rewards are voiced using high quality reproduction, being digitised voice or “human quality” sound. In this delightful Australian software package, the spelling, pronunciations and cultural references adhere to the local market expectations.
Out of the Box
Packaged using a shelf-storage style box, two 3.5” PC disks are enclosed with an A5 sized User Guide. It has 14 pages, with contents page, system requirements and registration details. (Note: 5 and 10 user licences are available, which are competitively priced). The installation procedure, special needs features, hints on optimising MS Windows, activity outlines, and a “Getting Started” tutorial in 3 parts are well written.
A section provides information on customising the program, a section mentions using Animals Galore with IntelliKeys and external switches, as well as the entire Vocabulary List containing 65 words is listed. Number words 1 through 20 are also used in the Counting Activity. The combined 85 words can be used in Extension Activities on and off the computer and some of these are included in this very informative and practical “hands-on” User Guide. Information about the ‘EdbyDesign’ website, contact details and technical support information is accompanied with background information and the address of COMPIC. The software licence agreement fills a page. There are two blank pages for writing your own notes and teaching hints.
It’s …What You Need!
It requires MS Windows 95 operating system (or later), 4.5 Mb of hard disk space and a sound card. The program installation from two diskettes is performed 
as per normal Windows installation (i.e. locate the Start button on the Windows Taskbar, select Run, type A:Setup.exe then press the Enter key or click OK). You simply follow the onscreen directions. In two minutes, you can begin exploring any of the four fun activities, using one of the two levels.
Talk
A language activity: A number of leading and ending phrases can be selected from Levels 1 and 2. Users select a COMPIC from Level 1 options, including “I like …”, “I have a pet …”, “I saw a …” using singular and plural terms. The various animals are randomly displayed at the bottom of the screen in a “choice bar”. A “more” pictograph can be selected to provide different animal pictographs. Level 2 includes “On the farm, I saw a …”, “At the zoo”, “At the beach” and “In the garden”. The use of prepositions, descriptions of locations, concepts of place and position as well as examination of typical animal habitats and environments can be introduced in an entertaining fashion. The background can be changed to a solid colour or kept in the default mode.
Listen
In this activity, you choose the animal sound or you select an animal and listen. It promotes listening, assists in increases attention span and concentration on a task, with learning to “wait”. Children learn to discriminate between sounds and identify the correct animal by matching the word/pictograph to the appropriate sound that’s heard through the speaker or headset.
Count
Using numbers from 1 to 20, you choose from Level 1 or 2. The voice directs you to place animals in various environments, such as “Put 6 horses on the farm”, or “Put 6 elephants in the zoo”. There are four different environments from which to choose, including the zoo, garden, farm and sea, each with their own colourful background graphic. This activity aids in developing counting skills, number recognition and one-to-one correspondence. Maths concepts are introduced in a fun way, with children keen to participate and learn.
Match
In the first level, you match the pictographs with an auditory and visual cue. Level 2 has no cues and so it is more challenging. Match helps develop visual and auditory discrimination using words and pictures.
Using Animals Galore in Different Settings
Trainers in adult settings will quickly realise the many practical uses and applications using this software with adults who have intellectual and/or physical disabilities. In some activities, Animals Galore provides opportunities for clients to select and match their favourite pets and animals. Access is solved due to various settings available. Users can use either mouse, the standard QWERTY keyboard (i.e. using arrow keys and the space bar) or by scanning (using the spacebar or alternate input device such as IntelliKeys, Concept Keyboard, TouchWindow or a Discover:Switch). Scanning times of 2, 5, 10 and 20 second delays can be set to accommodate clients who have a physical disability. They can elect to press their mouse button, space bar or switch (using IntelliKeys).
This easy to master program can help teachers and parents introduce animal names, their associated pictographs, as well as exposure to the spelling of words. The figure ground employed throughout the program is well designed and uncluttered. The background colour can be maintained as per the default, filled in a solid colour or textured. This feature caters to users who are vision impaired. The COMPIC pictographs are consistently placed in the choice bar, and are accessed in each activity in the same manner, dependent on the input device chosen.
Using Alternate Devices
Using IntelliKeys, the two switch ports can also be programmed in a manner of minutes, with Port 1 being the spacebar, and Port 2 being an arrow key. Similarly, Concept Keyboard overlays can be created using Informax or Concept Plus overlay designer programs. Children who use a touch screen can begin work immediately. Onscreen keyboards can be positioned to provide access for mouth or head pointers, using software such as Switch Clicker 3. These programs can emulate keyboard presses, providing access using a single switch. Discover:Switch from Don Johnston, can be programmed to enable interaction using a simple scanning array.
Animals Galore offers four entertaining and exciting activities using the animals theme. The package is suitable for a wide range of users, and caters to many abilities, yet is aware of users who have special learning and access needs. It is a voiced program designed in Australia, and assists in teaching COMPIC. It is ideal when used with other resources. It does not have facilities for printing as it has been designed to provide “on computer” learning experiences.