Educational technologies can be used to support students with literacy difficulties by providing opportunities for individual and independent practising of skills. The use of audiobooks, electronic books (including talking books), online texts and specific reading skill activities and programs can complement and reinforce focused teaching in the classroom.
Audio books
Audiobooks can be used in conjunction with written texts to reinforce reading behaviours. Audiobooks may be used to scaffold students to access texts that are above their reading level and may be of particular benefit for older students to support positive attitudes to reading.
Electronic texts
Electronic texts are presented visually and may incorporate illustrations and text enhancements which provide definitions of words or background information.
These texts can be modified to suit the needs of the reader, for example increasing the size of the font or colour of the text. Online texts often contain hypermedia including links to text, data, audio or video to support the reader.
Electronic talking books contain embedded speech. Ebooks provide students with immediate access to the pronunciation of specific words within the text and may offer features such as enabling students to control the speed that the text is read.
Specific reading instruction programs
Reading instruction programs provide activities that range from letter recognition to vocabulary building exercises.
FUSE (Find, Use, Share Education)
FUSE provides access to relevant, informative and exciting online educational resources from around the world. Primary and secondary students and teachers can search for websites, images, audio and video as well as other online resources. All resources are recommended and reviewed by educators and tagged according to audience.
Additional Learning Needs: literacy - A collection of resources relating to books, stories and reading. Includes links to eBook sites.
Additional Learning Needs: dyslexia - A collection of resources relating to dyslexia. Includes teacher reference sites, news and links.
Additional Learning Needs: games- A collection of games resources suitable for Primary students and those with special needs.
Additional Learning Needs - A range of useful websites to improve the teaching and learning of students with special educational needs.
Additional Needs: software - A range of apps and software which could be used with children with special needs.
Additional Needs: switch use - A switch is an input device used to control assistive devices and computers. Switches make activities easier and are ideal for people who struggle with motor control issues.