How does the program work?
The program is designed to help students be able to read and spell confidently, using synthetic phonics. It is a linear program with 24 levels of learning and it takes the student through single letter graphemes and phonemes, moving on to blending and segmenting three and four letter words. It introduces digraphs (two letters that make one sound) and trigraphs (three letters that make one sound), along with high frequency words and words that cannot be decoded. There are opportunities to practice blending and segmenting techniques, both in single words and longer texts.
How is the program structured?
The computer program is the tutor and every hour of learning on this program is equivalent to an hour of 1:1 learning experience. For any person to learn to read and spell, they need to practice often, preferably daily. The more time spent on the Self Learn Read and Spell program, the quicker results will be acheived. Most students can complete the program in 35 hours while severe dyslexics can take up to 60 hours.
The program is a linear design; the student needs to achieve 80% in every test on each level before the program will allow him/her to move onto the next level. Any word in the test that he/she gets wrong is then automatically put into a Revision Folder (next to Games Zone on the screen) which he/she needs to learn at the beginning of the next level. At the beginning of every new level there is a ‘Quick Revision’ test that covers words from previous levels; just to refresh their memory.
Revision folder
The Revision Folder consists of three pages, red amber and green; should the student get any words wrong on the previous level tests, the words will automatically move onto the red page but once it has been correctly spelt, it will move onto the amber page and once it is correctly spelt on the amber page it moves onto the green page.
The student will need to visit the revision folder when leaving the last level; this is automatic and any words that are red must be turned to green as the program will stop the students moving forward.
Games zone
The Games Zone comprises of three different games that the student can access at any time provided he/she has built up a number of minutes from doing well in the tests. If 80% is scored in the test then 5 minutes of games time is gained, if 90% is scored then 10 minutes is gained and 95% gains 15 minutes. These minutes are accumulated so that they can be used in the game zone.
Parent/Teachers Back office provision
The program has a ‘back office’ where, with a personal access code, the teachers or students can view their progress.
- View the level they are working on.
- Look at their percentage test results.
- Time spent on each level.
- The running total of time they have spent on the program.
- It can also be used to see if a student is struggling with their visit to the program.
- To evaluate if they need extra support to keep them engaged in the program.
- Check if any homework in the case of school accounts has been completed.
- A printable report of each students progress within a class
Can you have fun learning to read and spell with this program?
Children love using their game consoles so with this in mind, games have been built into this program, working with them via a young person’s medium. This gives them a fun experience and to engage them to want to constantly use the program in their own time.
At the end of level 1, 2 and 3, the game is ‘Billy Bob’s Rifle Range,’ at the end of level 4, 5 and 6, ‘Escape from Planet Lexicon’, at the end of level 7, 8 and 9, ‘Dinnertime for Deep Sea Dora’ and at the end of level 10, 11 and12, ‘Sir Spellalot’s Big Adventure’. Reading and spelling are central to these games, so they are therefore an integral part of the learning experience.
The games have three settings – easy, medium, and difficult so the student can select the speed that suits them to be able to play successfully.