Banter Speech & Language

Sydney speech pathologists helping adults and children speak for themselves.

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For students with spelling difficulties, where should we start?

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Spelling is hard. Lots of things can go wrong. To help students, you need to be able to spot, sort, and address their spelling error patterns. 

There are five types of knowledge needed for spelling, and 15 main error types:

1. Phonological (speech sound-related) errors, include:

  • omissions of vowels or consonants (e.g. “da” for “dad”, “sug” for “slug”, “mst” for “most”, “repile” for “reptile”);
  • additions of vowels or consonants (e.g. “filum” for “film”);
  • substitutions for consonants based on phonological processes (e.g. “bat” for “pat”, “tattle” for “cattle”, “wabbit” for “rabbit”, and “free” for “three”); and
  • substitutions of vowels resulting in non-words (e.g. “cortain” for “certain”).

Read more about common developmental phonological processes here.

2. Orthographic (spelling system-related) errors include mistakes about:

  • pattern frequencies (e.g. “aparrently” for “apparently”); and
  • rules (e.g. “morfed” for “morphed”, “hoping” for “hopping”).

3. Mental graphic representation (visual memory-related) errors include mistakes with:

  • exceptions to rules (e.g. “feild” for “field”); and
  • irregular nouns or verbs (e.g. “breaked” for “broke”, “mouses” for “mice”).

4. Morphological (root word/affix-related) errors include:

  • derivational errors (e.g. “scarely” for “scarily”); 
  • inflectional errors (e.g. “car” for “cars”, “walk” for “walking”); and 
  • contraction errors (e.g. “Im” for “I’m”, “dont” for “don’t”).

Read more about morphological awareness here.

5. Morphological-semantic (meaning-related) errors include mistakes with:

  • homophones (e.g. “bare” for “bear”, “new” for “knew”) – for more information about homophones watch our video here;
  • compound words (e.g. “over worked” for “overworked”);
  • word boundaries (e.g. “dairycow” for “dairy cow”); and
  • consonant/vowel changes resulting in real words (e.g. “angle” for “angel”).

Knowing these five kinds of knowledge needed for spelling – and 15 error types – can help educators, speech pathologists, families, and others to plan and implement interventions to help students with spelling difficulties.

For an accessible version of the infographic, watch our video infographic:

Key source: Koutsoftas, A.D., Srivastava, P., and Harris, S.B. (2020). Spelling as Part of the Writing Process in Intermediate-Grade Students. Topics in Language Disorders, 40(4), 375-388.

Related articles:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Five ways to help 11-14 year-old students to improve their vocabularies for school and life

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Vocabulary is essential to language development, and helps with:

  • the acquisition of academic skills;
  • early reading skills;
  • generating inferences;
  • reading comprehension; 
  • writing quality; and
  • the expression of experiences, thoughts and feelings.

Vocabulary plays an increasingly important role as students move into adolescence. Typically developing students learn about 2,000-3,000 words a year: approximately two-eight root words per day!

We have to choose which words to teach carefully for two main reasons:

  • Time: Vocabulary knowledge increases with how many times a word is encountered in context. It can take 8-20 exposures before a word is properly understood.
  • Bang for buck: Teaching words explicitly helps students read taught words. But it does not transfer to unrelated words. We therefore need to teach words that are used across the curriculum and in other important environments.

High quality reviews of general vocabulary research suggests that explicit instruction, careful word selection, instructional activities requiring active processing of words, morphological awareness training (teaching students root words and affixes), semantic network development, and rich and motivating language learning environments are good practices to promote vocabulary development. 

Vocabulary recommendations and resources for 11-14 year old students

  1. Teach vocabulary intentionally.  For example, select words from Coxhead’s Academic Word List, such as “explain” and other exam verbs, and Hiebert’s most common word families. See our word lists here, and exam and essay verb resources here.
  1. Teach independent word-learning strategies, including morphological awareness training, starting with inflectional suffixes (e.g. -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est), high frequency prefixes (e.g. un-, de-, pre-, mis-) and then derivational suffixes (-ous, -ity, -ably), e.g. see Banter high frequency prefixes. 
  1. Develop semantic networks and background knowledge: Use graphic organisers (e.g. from the Florida Center for Reading Research), and semantic feature analysis scaffolds (see our Word Learner and Semantic Feature Analysis resources). 
  1. Increase opportunities for group discussion and writing with the target words.
  1. Provide a motivating, rich language learning environment. Select interesting texts, model excitement, encourage collaboration and fun (including idioms and jokes), use technology (but don’t get carried away), include problem solving and practice activities, and award points for spotting target words outside of class (e.g. on TV, in movies, the Internet).

Evidence-based vocabulary programs for 11-14 year-old students include Word Generation, ALIAS, PACT, and RAVE.

Five ways to help 11-14 year old students to improve their vocabularies for school and life

Watch our video for an accessible version of the infographic:

Key source: Elleman, A.M., Oslund, E.L., Griffin, N.M., & Myers, K.E. (2019). A Review of Middle School Vocabulary Interventions: Five Research-Based Recommendations for Practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50, 477-492.

Related articles and resources:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

New Scatter-Slayer Adventure: The Awesome Australian Gore-Boar

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Introducing The Awesome Australian Gore-Boar:

“The Awesome Australian Gore-Boar unlocked his jaws and roared. You are not sure if the awful beast is sore at you or the witch.”

Learning to decode words using knowledge of the extended code doesn’t have to be dull.

In this, the ninth and latest of our select-your-sequel Scatter-Slayer series of adventure stories, we focus on words containing the “or” sound (aw, au, or, ore, oar).

We’ve added:

  • screen friendliness, so that our stories can be played on phones, iPads, other devices, laptops, and smart boards (as well as in print if you prefer);
  • simple sound effects and black-and-white animations (in Google Slides) to increase engagement without distracting readers from the text (or letting them guess from the pictures);
  • second person perspective, so readers are reading about themselves (“you”);
  • length (53 pages), so you can work on reading fluency (rate, accuracy, and expression) at the same time as word decoding;
  • text in a large, sans serif font with lots of white space and not too many words per page;
  • suspense, drama, intrigue, and silliness increases interest;
  • some Tier 2 vocabulary to help stimulate oral language development; and
  • choice, so readers (and parents, educators) are in control of which tale comes next.

We designed this inexpensive resource for students who are learning or revising the extended code, including older students with reading difficulties, and students who are interested in fantasy and adventure tales.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Here’s a preview:

We hope you like it!

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Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Can technology-based interventions help children with reading difficulties?

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Yes. 

In several studies, technology-based reading programs have showed a positive effect for a variety of students with different needs and skills, and some technology-based reading interventions have had positive effects for some struggling readers (e.g. Cheung and Slavin, 2013). 

But there are hundreds of reading apps, computer programs, and other technology-based supports on the market. Many feature slick websites and other marketing materials. Some make all sorts of outlandish claims about outcomes without even a hint of supporting evidence. Some are completely incompatible with the science of reading. 

So how should we evaluate reading apps? 

The same way we look at any other reading intervention or program. We should choose apps and other technologies that are: 

We should also look for apps and other technologies that: 

What is the goal of the technology: compensation for reading difficulties or improving reading skills? 

Technology interventions for reading difficulties come in all shapes and sizes. Many teachers and others focus on simple measures that help students compensate for their reading difficulties with text-to-speech tools, audiobooks, and video resources like YouTube. 

The focus of this article is on apps and other technologies that help students to improve their reading skills. Of course, no app works for everyone and a given app’s suitability for a particular student depends on the factors that are contributing to the student’s reading difficulties. 

Apps that are worth a look 

All of the apps and other technologies cited below are supported by at least some peer-reviewed, published research. Most are cited in a review of the scientific literature from 2010 to 2020 carried out by Saaed S.Alqahtani, and published in 2020 (see citation below). The quality of the study designs and the reported outcomes vary significantly from study to study, and it’s best to approach any app review with scepticism and caution. 

As you would expect (or at least hope), many evidence-based apps contain similar activities and elements to those contained in evidence-based face-to-face interventions. Apps and face-to-face interventions are not mutually exclusive. Many of the apps, for example, might be useful to add to face-to-face reading interventions, for example, as a way of adding variety to reading sessions, or as a way to provide additional practice between face-to-face reading sessions.

Technologies evolve quickly. It’s our intention to update this article at least annually. If you know of an evidence-based reading app or other technology that is not referred to below, please get in touch!  

(A) Phonemic Awareness 

  • Reading Doctor has been shown to improve pre-schoolers’ phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, and letter-sound recognition, as well as phoneme-grapheme conversion (Carson, 2020). Developed by an Australian speech pathologist, Dr Bartek Rajkowski, this collection of apps is very popular with many of my clients, especially for home practice of letter-sounds links, and early blending and segmenting tasks related to reading outcomes. 
  • Word Driver-1 has been shown to significantly improve nonword reading (e.g. Seiler et al., 2019). 
  • Lexia Reading Core5 has been shown to improve students’ phonological awareness and nonword reading (O’Callaghan et al., 2016).
  • Sound it Out has been shown to significantly increase early decoding accuracy (Donnelly et al., 2019). 

(B) Phonics 

  • GraphoGame has been shown to increase letter knowledge, reading accuracy, reading fluency, and spelling (e.g. Saine et al., 2011; Rosas et al., 2017). 
  • Tutoring Buddy has been shown to improve letter sound knowledge and fluency (e.g. Volpe et al., 2011). 

(C) Reading fluency 

  • Several Reading RACES studies have showed “a functional relation between computerised intervention and participants’ gains in fluency and comprehension” (e.g. Council et al., 2016, 2019; Bennett et al., 2017; Barber et al., 2019). 
  • Read Naturally Software has been shown to lead to “positive results for reading fluency and comprehension” (Gibson, 2011, 2014; and Keyes et al., 2016, 2017). 
  • K12 Timed Reading Practice has been shown to lead to improved oral reading fluency when combined with peer assisted instruction (Mize et al., 2019). 
  • Reading Plus has been shown to increase reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension on one test, but not another (Ruetzel et al., 2012). 

(D) Comprehension 

  • Kidspiration, an electronic graphic organising program, has been shown to improve reading comprehension (e.g. Wade et al., 2010). This app is very simple, and digitises well-known “pen and paper” strategies for helping children to learn sequencing, story grammar and other text structures, and note-taking through mind mapping and graphic organisers. 
  • Quick Reads – the software version of an intervention targeting fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, was as effective as the pen and paper version (Fenty et al., 2015). 

Watch this space! 

We know that many of our clients, including many people with developmental language disorder, dyslexia and Autism Spectrum Disorder are naturally more attracted to screens than to books. We also know that apps and other technologies have the potential to scale so that more people – including people who cannot for economic, geographical, or other reasons access quality reading interventions – can get help. 

When done well, technologies like apps and software can make reading instruction more fun, accessible and motivating for many people with reading difficulties. But we must ensure that the technologies we use with students with reading disorders are supported by evidence and consistent with what we know works. 

Universal literacy is a global education, health, and human rights priority. For people with reading difficulties, we can’t waste time on things that don’t work – even if they come in fancy packaging and were created with the best of intentions. 

Principal source: Alqahtani, S.S. (2020). Technology-based interventions for children with reading difficulties: a literature review from 2010 to 2020. Education Tech Research Dev (2020) 68:3495-3525.  

Key source for review of the Reading Doctor apps (not covered in the Alqahtani review): Carson, K.L. (2020) Can an app a day keep illiteracy away? Piloting the efficacy of Reading Doctor apps for preschoolers with developmental language disorder, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22​:4, 454-465, DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2019.1667438. 

Special note: We wrote this article in response to several requests from clients and their families about reading apps with an evidence-base. It is for informational purposes only and is likely to get out of date pretty quickly. We don’t recommend or endorse any particular app. We make no claims that this article is up to date or comprehensive. For the avoidance of doubt, we have no relationships – financial or otherwise – with any maker of an app or other technology cited above.

Related articles:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Another free sample: “How to Supervise Speech Pathologists Properly in Private Practice”

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Here’s a quick update about our supervision book: How to Supervise Speech Pathologists Properly in Private Practice.

We’ve finished the text, covering topics like:

  • the eight fundamentals of a good supervision system;
  • practical do’s and don’ts for supervisors when setting up supervision systems;
  • the two key functions of supervision;
  • flexible supervision practices mapped to different workflows, combining direct supervision and coaching approaches; 
  • using supervision to create a hospitable work environment for everyone;
  • how to stop micromanaging and under-supervising staff;
  • key strategies to reduce staff burn out, turnover and attrition;
  • practical strategies to manage stars, weaker performers, perfectionists, part-time and remote employees;
  • how to take feedback and to improve self-awareness about your supervision skills and systems;
  • common sense HR policies and practices; 
  • marketing good supervision as an investment and strategic advantage; and
  • executing supervision systems in private practice.

Up next, we’re editing the book to get rid of fluff, so it’s easy to read and to use in your practice.

We’ve also decided to pick a launch date!

The book will be available on 16 March 2021, so mark your calendars! 🙂

In the meantime, if you haven’t already signed up to receive updates from us, you can check out another free preview. This time we explain why we should adopt a more expansive view of what supervision is and involves in private practice; and why practice owners should lead the way. Sign up below for the new sample chapter.


As always, we’d love your feedback on what you’ve seen so far. Please reach out to me and let me know what you think.

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

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