Supporting literacy with ICT
1. Introduction.
Acquiring literacy skills is usually the key priority for dyslexic people. Carefully chosen programs can help dyslexic students in all areas of literacy.
The use of I.C.T programs to support literacy skills can offer opportunities for those with dyslexia to work independently and successfully, in education and home environments. This page will offer advice and guidance on the types of programs that can help teach and practise reading, spelling and phonic skills. There will also be advice on programs that can make “text talk”, or text to speech. These kind of ICT tools enable Dyslexic users the opportunity to access almost any text. At the end of the reading section is a section on software and strategies to relieve visual stress.
Using appropriate programs will provide opportunities to revisit, practice and learn skills. Good programs should provide an environment that encourages the dyslexic and offers dyslexic individuals the opportunity to succeed.
The section on supporting writing will offer advice and guidance on ICT tools and programs that support the writing process. No program can replace a skilled, specialist teacher, but many can offer support and practice on a regular basis.
2. Choosing software.
There are many programs available to support Literacy skills. It is important to select these carefully, so they meet the needs of Dyslexic users.
Important features and options to consider when choosing Literacy programs:
Full speech support, so that all text on screen can be seen and heard.
Text that is highlighted as it is spoken or when it is selected, is useful.
Spoken instructions.
Opportunities to listen again or repeat an activity.
A structured progression or word lists that can be selected to meet the needs of the user.
Easy navigation around the screen.
Help menus, with speech support
Spellings, phonics and word lists that are written in lower case, not CAPITAL letters.
An uncluttered screen with a clear focus on the task.
Options to record the user’s progress can be helpful.
Choices of screen backgrounds and colours can also be helpful.
NB: Make sure any software you choose is suitable for use on your computer and meets the hardware specifications.
Parents should seek the advice from the school or any teachers supporting their child. It is important to choose programs that complement any teaching program and to select an appropriate level word list.
Programs for home use should be fun and motivating and should only be done in half hour periods. Be mindful of the danger of over use and over enthusiasm with one popular program at home or school. This may eventually have a negative result.
3. Software to support phonics and spelling.
These kinds of programs usually offer a range of games or activities to practise skills in reading high frequency words phonics and spelling. They usually use selected lists or a structured program.
Many programs for children use lists that include words and phonics from the National Literacy Strategy (England).
Many of the programs cover a wide range of ability or skills. These programs will continue to meet individual needs as the skills improve and progress. Other programs may focus on one specific area or skill. It can help understanding if spelling programs offer individual words in a sentence context.
4. Software to support reading.
Together with programs that support word recognition and phonic skills, there are popular programs to support reading in the form of electronic or interactive talking books. There are many available to choose from, both fiction and non fiction. Some support specific reading schemes others are standalone stories.
For older readers there are abridged texts of well known stories and classic literature.
Talking books allow dyslexic students to read text in a supported environment and at a pace that suits their needs.
Talking books will usually highlight the text as it is being spoken, in words or phrases.
They usually allow users to click on any word or phrase to hear it spoken. Many talking books have additional, optional activities to support phonics, spelling, comprehension and grammar. Some include story writing activities too.
Useful sources of interactive books include:
- BDA Online Shop
- R.E.M
- Iansyst
- Sherston
- Crick Software
- Harcourt Ltd
- Inclusive Technology (includes Don Johnston books)
- Neptune Learning Library
There are a few programs that are not stories and just focus on reading for meaning or specific reading skills.
Some I.C.T tools will enable any text on screen to be heard. This may be a better solution for older dyslexic students, who wish to read a wider range of articles, for example from the World Wide Web or access texts that are from a scanner or word processor. These ICT tools can be loaded as an extra toolbar and many offer the facility to read text and pdf files. These types of programs use synthesised speech engines. Unlike the early robotic sounding voices most of the latest programs use excellent human sounding speech engines.
For examples of useful text to speech tools see:
See Supporting Writing for further information.
There is a wide range of suitable programs to suit all ages and abilities. The following suggestions of popular software suitable for Dyslexic users, are just a few:
Wordshark 4 (Age 5 - adult)
100s of word lists to use with over 40 motivating games to help reading, phonics, spelling and alphabetical order. The lists include the English National Literacy Strategy high frequency words and include phonic lists that support the latest “synthetic phonics approach”, based on Letters and Sounds and similar phonic approaches as used by many schools. There are also subject vocabulary lists for KS3. The programs can be used or modified to suit all ages from 5 years to adults. There are many user options and the facility to add your own word lists. Detailed records are kept and certain activities can be printed onto worksheets.
For further details go to the Wordshark website. Alternatively you can email them or telephone 020 8748 5927.
Xavier Programs.
This company has pioneered many programs especially for dyslexic users including:
- Sounds & Rhymes – games and activities for vowel and early blending skills
- Magic e; - a game to support the use of silent e.
See also Sentence Pumper, Suffix and Punctuate.
For further details go to the Xavier website Alternatively you can email them or telephone 01248 382 616.
Lexion
This is a wide reaching programs that can be used to improve and practise a variety of Literacy and associated skills from early years to 16 years or older.
The program has a variety of activities and exercises at a wide range of ability levels to support phonological awareness, reading, spelling and comprehension. It also includes activities to support Maths, direction and memory. It has an assessment facility that will generate a selection of appropriate activities from the results. All activities come with a range of options in both difficulty settings and personal user settings. Detailed records are kept of all use and progress.
For further details contact Lexion.
Word Track, Spell Track, Idiom Track and Alphabet Track.
These programs are part of a series that are particularly useful for primary age children who need to focus on a specific skill.
Other useful programs written by the same author include Letter Olympics ( b/d activities), Two Wise Owls (mnemonics for spelling) and Think About 1( Interactive stories).
There are many options to select content and level together with format and colour options. There are pupil tracking facilities in Spell and Word track.
For further details go to the Semerc website. Alternatively you can email them or telephone 0161 827 2719.
Catch Up 1 & 2.
Designed for primary age users, this motivating program takes the user through a range of exciting worlds to help them achieve reading and spelling 100 high frequency words in CD 1.
CD 2 covers similar activities in phonic skills.
For further details go to the Catch Up website. Alternatively you can telephone them on 01842 752 297.
Phonics CDs for Clicker 5
A set of 6 CDs to use with Clicker 5 that progress from early phonological awareness to simple blending skills. Designed for younger children but many activities, especially in the more challenging CDs, are suitable for older users up to 10years.
Available from Cricksoft.
Further useful sources of reading, spelling and phonic games and activities include:
Software to relieve visual stress
Many Dyslexics find the glare of text on a white background a cause of visual stress that makes it uncomfortable to read and can in some cases distort the text or cause it to move. To help relieve this problem coloured overlays are often used. The colour used is a personal choice to suit the individual reader. Where this is the case a similar “ virtual overlay” can be purchased to use on computers. When loaded , these will appear to float over the screen and can be moved using the mouse on most applications, programs and web pages to offer the same kind of relief.
These simple ICT tools offer users the choice of colours ; usually size and guideline options are included. Some come with magnifiers. Some programs do not offer an overlay as such but a simple menu to alter screen settings that affect the background of all menus and pages. This is a useful option when screen settings are shared by many users (see below).
Screen settings can be changed on the control panel of any personal computer to suit the user or simple changes such as colour background can be made in individual programs such as MS Word. However in schools or some business networks, where computers are being used by many users, it is not always possible to do this.
Useful sources of programs to relieve visual stress include:
Interactive Whiteboards
For teachers or businesses that use these on a regular basis it is worth changing the background colour to a shade other than white to reduce glare and visual stress of those reading from the screen.
Pastel colours, grey or dark colours with light text are often easier. Whiteboard tools such as screen reveal and spotlight (adjusted to a long rectangle), can support tracking and following the text. The screen magnifier can be helpful too.
