Spelfabet

Free Flex-It game, holiday assessments and spelling boosters

It’s the last week before our school holidays, a good time to play educational games, so I’ve just put a free sample Flex-It game in the Spelfabet shop.

Download and print it on 3 sheets of light card, laminate it if you like, and cut it up. Use it to explicitly teach learners to approach the letter ‘a’ flexibly in words of more than one syllable, trying the sound in ‘apron’ if the sound in ‘apple’ doesn’t yield a real word. The ability to think flexibly and try other plausible sounds is essential for successfully sounding out long words.

Hope you and your learners like it!

(The next part of this blog post is only relevant to people in Victoria, Australia)

Holiday assessments

The Spelfabet Speech Pathologists in North Fitzroy have some availability to do speech and language assessments in the school holidays, if you need a report to accompany a funding application, or are just concerned that a child might have listening/speaking difficulties. We can also screen a child’s hearing using the Sound Scouts app, and assess phonological processing and word-level reading/spelling skills.

We know there can be a long wait for school-based Speech Pathology services, and that many applications for extra support at school are due soon. Assessment cost depends on session length, but reflects the NDIS rate for therapists. Private health insurance rebates may apply, or GPs may provide Medicare Care Plans. Click here to make a referral.

Spelling boosters

It’s hard to enjoy writing when you’re struggling with spelling. Also in the school holidays, we’re offering a small number of three-hour individualised spelling booster sessions, to clear up misconceptions about spelling evident from writing samples and/or standardised tests, build spelling skills and confidence, play some games and have some fun. The cost is $650 including a report. Again, rebates may apply if you have health insurance or a Medicare Care Plan. Click here to make a referral.

That’s it! I’m learning to write short blog posts! Happy holidays!

Alison Clarke, Speech Pathologist