Category Archives: Alternative Access

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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

2025 Literacy Intensive

Nov 18, 20243 Comments

We’re excited to announce the details of the 2025 Literacy Intensive Course. The course will be held in July next year, at Glenroy Specialist School, in Melbourne. The course is a 5 day deep dive into comprehensive literacy instruction for all students, with a focus on students with significant disabilities. The course includes units on:

Tools for Writing 2024 Style: A suggestion and selection guide

Jun 22, 20241 Comment

Learning to write can be really challenging – and teaching it can be really challenging too! When I started implementing Comprehensive Literacy Instruction, it was the area that I struggled most to implement. Some of the students I was working with weren’t able to hold a traditional pen or pencil – and some of them

Communication Access for ALL Students – RICAA 2023

Jun 11, 2023

Communication Access means that “everyone can get their message across, no matter how they communicate.” (SCOPE, Australia) In 1948 the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights recognised communication as a fundamental right and freedom for all of us. Communication Access is an important follow-on from this declaration. By aiming for communication accessibility, we recognise that

Writing with All Tools Continuum Webinar

Oct 21, 20226 Comments

Today I had the pleasure of running a webinar about the Writing with All Tools Continuum. The session included a run through of the continuum, a discussion of some of the documents supporting the continuum and a short moderation at the end. I’m delighted to share the video of the webinar, as well as the

Writing with Adults: Predictable Chart Writing

Oct 14, 2022

One of the different types of writing that we want to do every day with every emergent student is Writing with Adults. This is where literacy learners and educators write together as a team to successfully publish a text, which can then be shared with others. One form of Writing with Adults is known as

The Problems with Hand-Over-Hand

Dec 1, 20214 Comments

Please note: an updated version of this is available at https://janefarrall.com/the-problems-with-hand-over-hand-v2-0/ Last week, I made an infographic called “The Problems with Hand-Over-Hand” and shared it on my Facebook page. I’ve had a few requests from people who couldn’t find it on Facebook – and so I’ve put it up here for easier access. Thanks to

Tools for Writing: a Suggestion and Selection Guide

Jan 30, 201919 Comments

For many of the students I work with, some of whom have complex communication needs and/or relatively limited experiences of generating language, writing presents many challenges. To develop writing skills they need to learn to generate an idea, to think about language, think about the words, the spelling, controlling their “pencil”, etc. For many people,

AGOSCI 2017 Presentations

May 18, 20172 Comments

Today I went to one of my very happy places – an AGOSCI conference. I love AGOSCI. The Australian AAC Community is so inclusive and supportive – and extremely clever! The AGOSCI 2017 conference was fabulous as always – and I’m just sorry that for the first time in 25 years I’m not attending the whole

Tar Heel Gameplay – accessible video games!

Jun 8, 20164 Comments

I’m very excited to say that there is a new option in the Tar Heel family – Tar Heel Gameplay! Tar Heel Gameplay lets you create a timed switch version of most videos. You can link to a video on YouTube and create a switch, touchscreen, keyboard or mouse accessible version of the video in