Jane Farrall Consulting

Emergent Writing: Focus on Function

Apr 22, 20188 Comments

This is the first of a series of blog posts about writing – and about assisting all students to become stronger writers. Let’s start by talking about the very beginnings of writing. Early Emergent Writing: Focus on Function Mathilda is 17 months old. She loves drawing – and her parents are pretty happy when she

Phenomenology and AAC: Learning from people who use AAC

Apr 18, 2018

Two years ago at the ISAAC Conference in Toronto I attended my first ever presentation about phenomenology. A phenomonological approach is where individuals tell their stories to make meaning of their truths, realities and experiences. Phenomenology then allows researchers to interpret the meaning of the experiences through hearing and observing the words and descriptions of

Literacy for All: An Introduction to Balanced Literacy

Nov 5, 2017

Upcoming Adelaide Workshop 23rd of January, 2018 8:30am to 3:30pm The Grove Education Centre 39 Leslie St West, Woodville SA 5011 Workshop Description Including the diverse range of students in special education settings in a literacy program can be extremely challenging. This presentation will outline a balanced literacy approach that can be used with ALL students to actively intervene

ASSERT Communication and Literacy Conference 2017

Jul 23, 2017

In May I was lucky enough to attend the ASSERT Communication and Literacy Conference in Coventry in the UK. The conference ran for three days – and I promised I would share my presentations on my website. To those who attended – my sincere apologies that it has taken me so long to get this

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

Why Do I Believe in Literacy for All?

Feb 13, 201730 Comments

Let’s imagine that you are a toddler. Someone says “I don’t think xxx Is ever going to read.” And you don’t. This is due to a simple cause and effect. You “aren’t capable” – so therefore people don’t read books to you; they don’t provide letters for you to play with; they don’t assume competence

Targeting Onset Rime with Emergent Literacy Learners

Feb 10, 20178 Comments

Phonemic awareness is an important skill – it is what we use to hear sounds in speech. Without phonemic awareness, we cannot break words down and decode them to read unfamiliar words. We also find it extremely hard to re-code words to spell them. Therefore, phonemic awareness is a very important skill in learning to

Word Walls: Using the Word Wall

Feb 1, 201712 Comments

Last month I wrote about getting your word wall ready for use. Now they are ready – we need to use them. There is no point having a word wall that you don’t use! Word Walls are an important resource for conventional readers and writers. Our job, as educators, is to teach them how helpful

Word Walls: Getting the resources ready

Jan 13, 201717 Comments

In the next couple of weeks in Australia and New Zealand, our schools will finish their summer holidays, and students and teachers will return to the classrooms. This means that lots of teachers are currently getting their resources together for the new school year ahead – including me. For students who are conventional readers and

Literacy for All: An introduction to balanced literacy

Nov 13, 20162 Comments

Upcoming Adelaide Workshop 27th of January, 2017 8:30am to 3:30pm Adelaide West Special Education Centre 12 Moldavia Walk Taperoo SA 5017 Workshop Description Including the diverse range of students in special education settings in a literacy program can be extremely challenging. This presentation will outline a balanced literacy approach that can be used with ALL students to actively intervene