ACQ Vol 11 no 2 2009

62 / 68

124 ACQ Volume 11, Number 2 2009 ACQuiring knowledge in speech, language and hearing
Crosbie, S., & Wandschneider, S. (2008). Sea words:
Phonological awareness. Springwood, Qld: Grow Words;
pp. 140; A$60.
Katherine Osborne
This blackline reproducible resource book
contains pictures and activities for developing
phonological awareness at syllable, onset-rime
and phoneme levels. All activities relate to the sea
and the beach. Extensive activities are provided
at each of these levels. At syllable level, activities
focus on syllable segmentation (up to three
syllables), syllable deletion, syllable blending, and
syllable identification. For example: Syllable
identification: tentacle/barnacle: Are any parts the
same? Syllable deletion: e.g., hammerhead: If I
take away head in hammerhead, what’s left?
At onset-rime level, activities develop
rhyme recognition, rhyme detection (odd one
out), rhyme generation, and written rhyme identification
focussing on the endings: ig, un, ip and ing. At phoneme
level, activities develop skills in initial and final phoneme
discrimination and picture to letter matching, medial vowel
identification and letter matching, and segmentation and
phoneme blending up to five phonemes.
The wide variety of activities allow for a variety of response
types from the student. These include clapping syllables,
word search, writing medial vowel letters, matching pictures,
colouring, circling pictures, circling final consonants, writing
the number of syllables, picture blending, oral blending.
The resource book has similar positive features as its
companion Sea Words: Vocabulary. That is: four types
of record forms for monitoring progress at individual,
group and class level; clear and unambiguous drawings;
photocopiable pages; a broad range of activities and games,
and competitive pricing. It also shares a negative feature,
which is its lack of explicit labelling on worksheets as to the
specific skill being targeted. This may be bothersome when
selecting activities and when reminding the facilitator of the
desired goal. Nevertheless, along with its companion, this
spiral bound book would be a valuable resource for teachers
and speech pathologists working in schools.
Speech Pathology Australia
National Database
Use the online Speech Pathology
Australia National Database when
searching for Speech Pathologists
Search For
A Speech
Pathologist
Online Speech Pathology
Australia National Database
Don’t forget to use and refer your clients to the online
Speech Pathology Australia National Database which is
currently available on the Speech Pathology Australia
website. On the homepage you will find a button on the
bottom right hand corner titled ‘Find a Speech
Pathologist’ click this button to be linked to the Database.
The online Speech Pathology Australia National Database holds information on all our members, both private and public speech
pathologists, Australia wide. If you are looking for a speech pathologist in your local area, it is as simple as entering your Postcode, and
ticking the ‘Search surrounding suburbs’ box.
Speech Pathology Australia members are encouraged to keep their practice information up-to-date as much as possible either via your
online ‘User Profile’ or by contacting National Office. The information you submitted at the time of renewing your membership is
entered into the Database. This information will be available online unless you have indicated ‘I do not want these details used for
public referrals, private practice directory listings or online searches’
Remember this referral information is both a service to the public and a benefit to the marketing of your own practice/services.