We can teach reading to anyone at any age. The challenge is often to provide the learner with suitable texts that they can read independently from the start.
To address this need, SPELD (SA) coopted friends, family and students to create short, illustrated texts with three different audiences in mind: children, young adults and people with English as a second language. They have been called SPELD (SA) Phonic Books.
Regardless of age or circumstance, the best way to teach someone to read is to start by systematically and explicitly teaching the relationship between letters and their sounds. Many schools now follow an intensive, synthetic phonics program.
The SPELD (SA) Phonics Books follows a structured synthetic phonics sequence, introducing new letter sounds in a progressive manner.
The books are free to download from the SPELD (SA) website, however they do request users make a small donation to contribute to the development of this fantastic resource.
Click here to go to the SPELD (SA) Phonic Books Page
Assistive Technology
The Regional Support Centre for Scotland North and East
provides a series of free software downloads to assist with writing and reading. In particular, we recommend the MyStudyBar and the AccessApps.
NaturalSoft Software
Free Text To Speech software can be downloaded from NaturalSoft. NaturalReader is easy to use software with natural sounding voices and it can convert any written text (such as MS Word, PDF files, emails and webpages) into spoken words. NaturalReader can also convert any written text into audio files such as MP3 or WAV for your CD player or iPod.
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