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COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER SOFTWARE GUIDE...

Simon S.I.O. gives systematic phonics instruction, starting at a very basic level. Students work at their own pace and get the extensive practice needed to develop phonological awareness.

Earobics contains 6 activities which train the ear and short-term memory, all designed to enhance phonemic awareness. The activities are fun. They include many levels of difficulty which automatically increase or decrease, depending on the user’s success-rate. Some learners have purchased a home version. See cogcon.com.

Reading S. O. S. (Strategy for the Older Student) is a large collection of activities for learning phonics and word-recognition. It has five levels of difficulty which automatically increase or decrease, depending on the user’s success-rate. It is also very clever about taking a user back for additional drill in any weak areas. There is a computerized diagnostic test (the Quick Reading Test) which can determine which activities a learner should work on. See LexiaLearning.com

Spell-It has six spelling games including a spelling bee and crossword puzzles and hundreds of word lists, graded for difficulty. People come back to Spell-It over and over for month after month.

WriteOutLoud is the talking word-processor. As a learner finishes typing a word, it speaks. When the learner finishes a sentence, it reads the whole sentence. Some learners have typed in large amounts of material. It can also be used when a learner gets stuck on a single word and just needs to hear it pronounced.

OMTI-Rogers has 109 lessons on letters reading, writing, spelling, language rules and dictionary skills. It teaches cursive writing and the series on dictionary skills is very good. Navigation is a little tricky and most learners need some guidance.

Ultimate Phonics has 262 lessons starting with the alphabet and introducing 4,500 words. No fancy graphics. User studies word lists at his/her own pace. Computer pronounces phonemes, syllables and whole words based on mouse movement.

WYNN is a text-accessibility tool designed for learning-disabled people. It can accept text in paper form through a scanner and from the internet or any word-processor using cut and paste. It can read the text aloud. It has a built-in spelling drill tool, a dictionary, and a syllabification-guide. It can make the text very large and allows the choice of a highly readable font.

Driver’s Manual is a text-based program with associated questions. The user reads the text, then types the answers.

Driver’s Education is a driver simulator which can also read aloud large amounts of text about the rules and regulations.

First Reader is a text-based, fill-in-the-missing word program, loosely correlated with Laubach 1.

Oakland Readers is a text-based, fill-in-the-missing word program that uses stories from the lives of Second Start students.

AplusMath.com is a web site with online flash cards and games for practicing addition, subtraction and multiplication and other math skills.

Mavis Beacon is a typing tutor. Lots of fun and very popular.

Print Master is popular for making greeting cards.

Start-to-Finish books combine text (about fourth-grade level) with graphics and sound to create a reading experience that holds the interest even of a struggling reader. We have books on Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Cesar Chavez, Anne Frank, etc.

Middle School Language Arts (grades 4 - 8) contains a large reading curriculum with built-in vocabulary tests and comprehension questions. Grade 4 starts with dinosaurs. Grade 5 has ancient history.

Phonics 4 Kids starts with letter recognition and goes through reading complete sentences. Four hundred activities.

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