Jane Farrall Consulting

Balanced Literacy for all: Guided Reading Resources

May 13, 20141 Comment

This is a very quick blog post to let you know that I have recently added a bunch of new resources about Guided Reading onto a new Guided Reading page on my website. (Edited: This is now renamed comprehension instruction) Guided Reading at Adelaide West Special Education Centre Guided Reading Resources Guided Reading: Learners with

Letter Writing: Writing for Real Reasons

Apr 4, 2014

Writing is a very complex task in literacy. It has many components. Whenever we write, we need to think of an idea, then think of the language to describe the idea, then we need to think of the words and how we spell them – and finally we have to think about how we are

Word families and Onset Rime: early literacy instruction with learners with CCN

Mar 27, 20148 Comments

As we learn to read, word recognition plays an important part in our literacy journey. Automatic word recognition is essential for fluent reading. We need to be able to recognise words quickly to be able to read quickly. However, word recognition isn’t just taught via whole words. One of the ways we learn to automatically

Too late to learn to read & write? No!

Dec 16, 20138 Comments

Last week I had a wonderful experience. I’ve been smiling ever since. Then yesterday I read a blog post by David Koppenhaver and decided that I needed to write about my experience. One of my favourite quotes is from Dr David Yoder. “No student is too anything to be able to read and write.” I

Big Mouth Camp 2013 – The Pirate Edition

Oct 3, 201314 Comments

Big Mouth Camp is a camp for school aged students who use speech generating devices and their families. I started Big Mouth Camp in 2003 and this year was the 8th camp (we have had a couple of years off). I am very lucky to have a fabulous committee who help with the organisation –

How do I use a switch with an iPad? iOS 7 Overview

Sep 29, 201375 Comments

The latest operating system for the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch, iOS 7, has introduced some major changes to the accessibility of these devices. In particular, switch access is now built right into the accessibility options, providing operating system level alternative access to these tablet devices for the first time – and this update is the main purpose

Symbol Supported Text: Does it really help?

Jul 13, 201315 Comments

The introduction above has been written in symbols. Did you find it easy to read? Did you struggle to read it? Is the version below easier? When I first started working as a speech language pathologist, nearly 25 years ago, we were all using symbol supported text to help our struggling readers and writers. We

Literacy Lab: a great tool for quality literacy instruction

Jun 18, 20135 Comments

Please note: this resource has been discontinued. Literacy Lab is a fabulous piece of software for use as part of balanced literacy instruction from Mayer Johnson. The software is aimed at emergent readers and writers, providing a range of simple, easy to use highly motivating activities. I have been using it for a few weeks

Zybox for iOS – updated and upgraded!

Jun 8, 20131 Comment

Please note: this product has been discontinued The Zybox for iOS is a switch interface from Zygo that uses VoiceOver to control the iOS and any VoiceOver compatible apps on your iPad or iPhone. I reviewed it earlier this year and posted a blog about it on the 31st of March. However, the Zybox has

Predictable Chart Writing: Group Writing for All

Jun 6, 201315 Comments

Recently I have been talking a lot to teachers about doing group writing in their classroom. As teachers implement a balanced literacy program in their classrooms, it is important that writing happens daily – and that writing happens for real reasons. Writing is one of the most complex tasks that we ask students to do.