JCPSLP Vol 14 No 1 2012

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JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 1 2012 53
Resource reviews
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
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;
schools
Anna Mathison, Sara Wals, Laura Sonnet,
and Meagan O’Halloran
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.
Love, E., & Reilly, S. (2009). Spot on speaking; cards;
A$33.50;
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
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.
Maria Kouspos
The Singing Alphabet is a multisensory approach to
teaching sound-letter links. The package consists of a CD,
Speech pathology resources