Because some students learn through play, and others learn better in a highly-structured setting there are two separate areas on the CD - a play area and a teaching area. Both areas are fully-customized for each student. You have the ability to choose which words are taught, how they are presented, and how the student is reinforced and prompted. Skills taught include receptive noun and verb matching, sign language, word matching, and verb tenses.
Play Area: Students love the Play Area. Here they can scroll through 140 different videos of verbs and click on their favorites. Navigating is simple with the arrow heads at the bottom of the screen and the alphabet bar at the top. You can control how many verbs are in the play area, and whether or not the alphabet bar, related nouns, and sign language buttons appear. This program also works well with a touch screen if your student is unable to use a mouse. You simply touch a verb on the screen and watch it come to life.
Teaching Area: The Teaching Area can be fun too. You choose how the student is reinforced and how often. Students enjoy the animated reinforcers and sound effects. Prompts fade in or out depending upon the student's success rate. This helps to build the student's confidence and reduce frustration. For each skill taught, you specify which words the student should work on, whether an item is already mastered, and how the student is prompted, corrected and rewarded. The student's progress is tracked and new words are introduced when the student is ready.
In the receptive verb lessons, students are given a spoken command such as "find stand", "touch stand", or "where is stand?" Initally there will only be one picture to choose from, so the student should be able to answer correctly. After several successes, the number of choices will increase to two. If the student begins to have difficulty, the program will prompt the correct answer or reduce the number of choices. The number of pictures on the screen will increase up to a number which you specify (for example, 4).
The receptive noun lesson is set up like the receptive verbs program. The nouns that are taught are all related to verbs. For example, foods that you eat or things that you blow. As with the verb program, you can select the items that you would like to teach and the order in which they are taught.
In the verb sight words lesson, students drag the written word to the corresponding picture. As with the other lessons, initally there is only one choice on the screen. Choices increase as the student is successful.
The noun sight word lesson is just like the verb sight word lesson. Students drag the written word on top of the correct picture.
The verb tenses program teaches present, past, and future tenses. First a video will play either partially, half way through, or all the way. The computer will then ask, "What is he doing?", "What is he going to do?", or "What did he do?" Students must complete the sentence by dragging the correct word to the blank spot. As with all other lessons, you can select how often students are prompted and rewarded, and how quickly new verbs are introduced.
The sign language lesson plays a video of a noun or verb sign. The student must then click on the corresponding picture. As with all other lessons, you can select which signs are taught, and how quickly they are introduced.
System Requirements:
Windows 95 or higher, or Mac OS 8.1 or higher |
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