Jane Farrall Consulting

Word Families for Phonemic Awareness

Jul 20, 2026

I have blogged in the past about using word families to help emergent readers and writers to develop their phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is one of the important strands in literacy that emergent literacy learners need to start developing (Scarborough, 2001). To support people to do this, I have developed a bunch of resources to

Flip Keyboard Version 3: Updates to the Emergent Writing Tool

Apr 21, 20261 Comment

Flip Keyboard is an emergent writing tool. It can be used on any device with an internet connection and a browser. On an iPad you can also convert it into an app by sharing it to the Home Screen of your device (see the Instructions in Flip Keyboard for more information). In the most recent

Flip Keyboard Updates

Feb 14, 20267 Comments

In November 2025 I was very excited to share a new emergent writing tool – https://flipkeyboard.com/. It has been great to hear from those of you who are using it – and to get lots of requests for changes and additions. As a result, there are now a number of changes to the original version.

Writing Tools: Download or Customise!

Dec 11, 20252 Comments

Every year, I find I spend time creating custom resources for different writers I am privileged to work with. I truly believe that every writer has an appropriate writing tool – and sometimes we just need to spend time figuring out what that tool might be. It’s really important that the writing tool minimises the

The next Literacy Intensive

Nov 28, 20254 Comments

This is a really brief posting to let people know what is happening with the literacy intensive course. If you’ve already emailed about the course, then we should have responded. If we have missed responding to you then I apologise. Unfortunately, I have some personal issues which need to take priority next year – and

Flip Keyboard: A new option for Emergent Writers

Nov 20, 202510 Comments

I am very excited to announce the launch of Flip Keyboard – a new writing option for emergent writers. Flip keyboard provides access to the alphabet in groups of letters (similar to a non-electronic flip chart), with a range of settings you can use to customise for each writer’s needs. You can access Flip Keyboard

Phonics Implementation with People Who Need AAC: What Does the Evidence Base Say?

Apr 22, 20251 Comment

Today I had the pleasure of presenting a webinar with the awesome Nick Drover. We talked through some of what the evidence base says (and doesn’t say) about implementing phonics with people who need AAC. As promised, we recorded this session. The handout that goes with the video is below – and then the video

Writing Tools to Download, Share and Customise

Apr 5, 20258 Comments

For many of the students I work with, focusing on learning to write with traditional writing tools (pens, pencils, crayons, etc) can be a barrier in their writing development. Traditional writing tools are a physical barrier for many, due to the motor control required. For some students, having to hold pens and pencils is a

Free Online Session: Phonics Implementation with People Who Need AAC: What Does the Evidence Base Say?

Mar 31, 20258 Comments

Edited to add: This session filled up much faster than we expected! We will record the session and share it via this website afterwards. As shared back in March this year, Nick Drover and I were delighted to present a session about phonics implementation, and the evidence base with people who need AAC, at this

#AGOSCI2025 Day 3: Developing Print Concepts

Mar 15, 20252 Comments

Today was the third and final day of #AGOSCI2025. It was an outstanding conference with a very high standard of presentations – and, consequently, lots and lots of awesome information. Today’s highlight for me was Erin Sheldon and David Niemeijer‘s presentation on Aided Language Modelling. Entitled “Are we approaching AAC modelling all wrong? Lessons from