ACQ Vol 10 No 1 2008

peech

athology

ustralia

De La Bedoyere, C. & Lowry, C. (2007).

School start.

Programmes for language and sound awareness

Brackley, UK: Speechmark. £33.99 / US$61.25.

Chyrisse Heine

Although originally based on work by SLPs, this resource is

primarily aimed at school staff, specifically teachers, school

aids/teaching assistants working with 4–5-year-old children.

It consists of 4 parts: an introduction, group session sheets,

resource templates and program delivery templates.

The book begins with an 11-page introduction which

provides information regarding a proposed timeline for the

program, how the group sessions should be run, the possible

team members involved in the delivery of the program, brief

details regarding the implementation of the program (includ

ing meetings, the use of checklist and the need for evaluation)

and software requirements for use of the CD-ROM.

Part 2 is an extensive compilation of group session sheets

targeting language (30 sessions are provided) and sound

awareness (30 sessions are provided). Each sheet outlines the

learning objectives, activities to be completed and resources

to be used. Spaces are available for noting children’s progress.

An example of a plan for a group session is:

■

Learning objective (four are provided), e.g., To work as

part of a group, taking turns and sharing.

■

Activities (four are provided), e.g., A toy is passed around

the circle. When the bell rings, whoever is holding the toy

says his name.

■

Resources: A number of options are provided, e.g. Toy

such as teddy, doll or puppet.

Part 3 contains the resource templates which are selected

weekly, to correspond to the resources identified in the

target week. Resource templates vary and include:

■

Pictures (e.g., for week 1, eight pictures of everyday

objects are provided)

■

Yes/No cut-outs

■

Filling in the missing part (e.g., for week 18, the resource

is the outline of a boy)

■

Sentence lists (e.g., for week 19, a two word sentence is

‘He jumped’)

Templates are large black and white, easily identifiable,

pictures and/or written words or sentences.

Part 4 contains the program delivery templates which

include checklists, tips for conducting the programs and

teacher handouts.

For SLPs, this program would be a valuable, quick resource

to use as an adjunct to therapy or as a program to recommend

for teachers to use to promote children’s language and sound

awareness skills.

On the practical side, this program is spiral bound with a

soft attractive cover. ACD-ROM is provided to aid replication.

Overall, this resource is easy to use, provides valuable

instruction material for 4–5-year-olds, is well structured and

well presented.

Love, E., & Reilly, S. (2006).

Story talk: An oral story

telling kit

. Camberwell, Vic.: Speech and Language

Products. $49.50 (including GST).

Ruth Nicholls and Jemma Skeat

Story Talk

is designed to promote oral narrative skills, includ

ing knowledge and use of story grammar, planning and

sequencing, understanding of causality and vocabulary. The

kit (which comes in a carry case) includes some magnetic

shapes, brief instructions and two figurines (‘Smiley’, a character

to be used in stories, and ‘Story Star’, a soft toy to support

turn-taking). There is also a CD containing an electronic

manual (PDF of 77 pages), which includes instructions, activities,

story starters, black-line masters, awards, prompt cards and

photographs.

Story Talk

would be suitable for use with junior and middle

primary school age children. For older primary school or

early secondary school students, some elements of the kit

could be utilised with modification (e.g., exclusion of the

figurines). Although designed to promote oral storytelling,

this kit may also be useful to support the development of

written narrative skills with older primary school children.

The CD includes a variety of activity ideas suitable for work

ing with individuals or small groups. The various elements

(e.g., figurines, magnetic shapes and pictures) support

multiple learning styles.

Our impression was that this resource requires careful

thought and time to prepare, prior to use. In order to select

appropriate activities and materials, clinicians need to read

through the lengthy electronic manual, which we found dif

ficult to navigate on the computer screen. Other materials,

such as the magnetic shapes (to support story sequence/

grammar), would require pre-teaching in order for children to

understand what each shape represents.

The pictures provided on the CD are in colour and lose

some detail if printed in black and white. We also wondered

how much of a story some of the pictures would trigger (e.g.,

notice board, ATM, choosing an electrical cord). We were not

particularly taken with the ‘Smiley’ figurine although young

children may find ‘Smiley’ more engaging than we did.

Story Talk

brings together various elements to support oral

storytelling such as pictures, activity ideas and ‘characters’

and may provide fresh ideas for those who work in this area.

However, many of the elements are available in other resources

and

Story Talk

may not provide anything new for some

clinicians. While the kit is not expensive at $49.50, clinicians

may need to factor in the costs of printing the manual and

colour pictures.

Speech Pathology Week

Sunday 24 August to

Saturday 30 August 2008

The theme for this year is ‘Communication – more than just words’

For more information see