Tag Archives: Literacy
Simple English Wikipedia – what a simple way to create PDF books!
Posted in Tools & Resources
Katie Lyon May 17, 2012
Katie Lyon May 17, 2012
Simple English Wikipedia is similar to the Wikipedia we know and love, but it uses Simple English words and grammar. This is great for some of the people we support who have literacy difficulties or for people who are learning English. There are over 82 000 articles on the website – so heaps of topic areas relevant to …
TarHeel Reader Books: A great resource for iBooks on your iPad
Posted in Apps and Mobile Learning, Tips and Tricks
Barbara Landsberg December 8, 2011
Barbara Landsberg December 8, 2011
As the Spectronics consultancy team travel around Australia and New Zealand, they are often asked about how to create customised books and bookshelves on the iPad. Books which students can read in self-selected reading time or just for their own enjoyment. Jane Farrall, Spectronics’ Senior Speech Pathologist, recently wrote a helpful guide which steps you through the process …
Abilipad – the Write tool for the iPad
Posted in Apps and Mobile Learning, New Technologies, Teaching and Learning
Jane Farrall November 29, 2011
Jane Farrall November 29, 2011
Abilipad (formerly Intellipad) is a relatively new writing app available for the iPad. Developed by an Occupational Therapist who wanted a custom keyboard for her client – the App has become much more than a custom keyboard creator and is a very clever writing and literacy teaching tool. At the most basic level, Abilipad offers a keyboard with …
TarHeel Reader Books – a great resource for iBooks on your iPad
Posted in Apps and Mobile Learning, Tips and Tricks
Jane Farrall November 17, 2011
Jane Farrall November 17, 2011
Over the past few weeks I have presented quite a few workshops where I have talked about making custom bookshelves within iBooks for self-selected reading time – or just for making a range of books available for students to enjoy! One of the resources I have been using to contribute to custom bookshelves is TarHeel Reader books, imported …
Universal Access to Reading Software
Posted in Tools & Resources
Gerry Kennedy October 31, 2011
Gerry Kennedy October 31, 2011
1. Introduction Students live in a world of symbols, icons and words. Every day they process printed text online and in printed newspapers, journals and magazines, in school worksheets and handouts, in sports reports, recipes, product information, accounts, social web sites, text messages, online chat and/or emails. As emerging readers, they rely on their reading skills, comprehension and …
iPads in Special Education
Posted in iPad Basics, Workshops
Jane Farrall October 4, 2011
Jane Farrall October 4, 2011
This presentation was created for a series of workshops on iPads in Special Education in late 2011 held in Perth and locations in Victoria. The presentation uses links and information contained on our Apple and iPad information page at http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/blog/apple/.
TarHeel Reader – a fabulous literacy resource for ALL
Posted in Permanent Resources, Tools & Resources, Web links
Jane Farrall August 15, 2011
Jane Farrall August 15, 2011
I strongly believe that everyone has the right to learn to read and write and it is our role to make sure that every student we work with develops the best literacy skills possible. As part of this we need to have high interest texts on topics of their choice available to all the students we work with …
Literacy for All at Willans Hill
Posted in Latest News
Jane Farrall June 3, 2011
Jane Farrall June 3, 2011
In the middle of last year, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Lennon, Principal at Willans Hill School in Wagga Wagga when Chris attended the AGOSCI Literacy Intensive, which was led by Dr Karen Erickson and Dr David Koppenhaver. Chris and I fairly quickly hatched a plan – which was to roll the Four Blocks approach to …
Making Words – Accessible to all students through Boardmaker Studio
Posted in New Technologies, Techniques & Tips, Tools & Resources
Jane Farrall April 8, 2011
Jane Farrall April 8, 2011
Making Words is one of my all-time favourite literacy strategies. It has been fabulous for students just learning to spell and for those who think they aren’t good at spelling or phonics (and who have sometimes given up). I can’t thank Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall enough for publishing this activity for the rest of us to use! …
