JCPSLP Vol 14 No 1 2012

Resource reviews

Speech pathology resources

29 A4 cards for each sound in the alphabet including the digraphs “sh”, “ch”, and “th” and a four-page instruction booklet. The CD has 29 separate tracks, one for

Love, E., & Reilly, S. (2009). Spot on speaking ; cards; A$33.50; www.loveandreilly.com.au Melinda Schambre

Spot on Speaking is an oral language resource published by Love & Reilly. It consists of a set of 70 cards designed for students in the early primary grades. The cards contain conversation starters or questions to

each sound and it is interactive in teaching

children the sound-letter link. Each track is sung to “Skip

to my Lou” and encourages the child to hear the sound, look for the letter (on the A4 card), trace and copy the letter, say the sound when they hear it, and recall the song without the CD. The child hears, says, and uses movement, touch, and visual cues to establish the sound-letter link. This multisensory approach to teaching sounds is ideal for children in mainstream school settings (prep to grade 3) or in special school settings. It may also be used for older children requiring revision of the relationship between sounds and letters. It is an excellent pre- and early literacy teaching tool that can be used for individuals (i.e., one-to- one therapy sessions), small group sessions, and a whole class approach to teaching sounds. This approach also ensures that children are learning in a fun and playful way, especially as some of the sounds are represented in amusing pictures and alliterative phrases. Particular phrases which always seem to amuse children are “dizzy dingo” and “ugly uncles”. The package is affordable and can also be purchased by parents and used in the child’s home environment. The CD is ideal to play in the car. Love, E., & Reilly, S. (2009). A sound way – 2nd edition: Phonological awareness activities for early literacy . Port Melbourne, Vic.: Pearson Rigby. ISBN 978 1 4425 0205 5; pp. 276; A$69.95 (book), A$99.95 (interactive whiteboard CD) plus postage; www.pearson.com.au/ schools Anna Mathison, Sara Wals, Laura Sonnet, and Meagan O’Halloran

promote the oral language skills of, recounting; vocabulary; attributes; reasoning; pragmatics; opinion, and imagination. Each card also contains an extra challenge as an option for extension as well as alternative examples. Spot on Speaking is designed to extend conversation and language skills in a structured way. Love and Reilly promote the extension of young children’s oral language skills as an essential component of their overall development and crucial to their ongoing learning. Their numerous resources all aim to support the development of oral language and literacy through games and activities. However, this resource does not work as well as other Love and Reilly resources as a stand-alone activity. Because the cards are not a game themselves, they work best with a board game or motivational activity to help keep children interested and stimulated. Even though the cards are designed to build oral language skills, the cards can also be used to: promote the generalisation of articulation skills into conversation, target fluency, as a rapport-building/ice-breaker activity, and to develop social skills. While aimed at lower primary students they are suitable for students in special schools and language impaired older students. In keeping with Love and Reilly’s aim to provide affordable resources, it is a well-priced resource. However, as with other Love and Reilly resources, the cards would benefit from being laminated or made hardier for use with children. Although not one of my favourite Love and Reilly resources, it does have many uses and is a practical addition to the speech pathologist’s resource cupboard. Over many years Love and Reilly have made a significant contribution to the speech pathology profession through their numerous products, commercial publications, workshops, newsletters, articles, website, etc. Thank you to Love and Reilly for providing us with so many terrific resources. Love, E., & Reilly, S. (2010). Singing alphabet ; cards, CD, and instruction booklet; A$35. www.loveandreilly. com.au/ Maria Kouspos The Singing Alphabet is a multisensory approach to teaching sound-letter links. The package consists of a CD,

Yet again Libby Love and Sue Reilly have produced a wonderfully practical, user friendly guide for parents, teachers and speech pathologists. A Sound Way – 2nd edition , as the title suggests, is an

updated version of their highly popular original phonological awareness resource for early literacy development, A Sound Way . This is an essential guide for early years primary school teachers and educational speech pathologists. This update brings an already superb resource into the technology world with its interactive whiteboard CD. One of the positives of this package is that the book and the interactive whiteboard CD are able to stand alone.

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JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 1 2012

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au