I’m very excited to let you know that the online training Developmental Writing Instruction v2: Writing Assessment, Development, Teaching & Learning. Version 2.0 of the course uses the Writing with All Tools Continuum as a framework to support writing assessment – and also a framework for intervention helping us to teach each student to the next group. It also contains updates from writing practice – both from writing research and from my experiences working in classrooms and with students each week, which continually provides further insights and information around writing intervention f ..read more

I’m very happy to let you all know that version 1.2 of the Writing with All Tools continuum is now available. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback and suggestions for the continuum – please keep them coming!! The main changes for v1.2 are: Updated text for some descriptors to clarify some of the questions that have been asked about this. The majority of these are for Group G and above. Updated writing sample examples for some descriptors, again to clarify questions that have been asked. Again, the majority of these are for Group G and above. Following multiple requests, there is now an ex ..read more

Like many people working with individuals who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood, I regularly make PODD books and other more complex low tech AAC resources. In May this year, I was involved in running an AAC camp in France. For this camp Helen Tainsh, Mathilde Mella and myself produced a bilingual English-French PODD that we could use to support us all to communicate better! That bilingual PODD was made in Boardmaker 7, which is the platform I have been using to make PODD books since it was released in 2021. Initially, making PODD books in Boardmaker 7 was extremely problem ..read more

There are many different models of reading in English. Each of these has been developed in an attempt to explain the very complex skill of reading.  Earlier this year I was introduced to a model of reading that I am very excited about – The Active View of Reading – and that I want to share with you.  But before I do that, I want to talk about some of the different reading models out there, which will help to explain my excitement. In English speaking countries, most of the models currently in use are based on the Simple View of Reading.  The Simple View was developed by Gough an ..read more

As usual, a large part of my time this year has been spent focusing on writing – assessment and instruction. As part of this, I have been spending time updating my online writing course – and I’m delighted to let you know that on December 20th I’ll be launching Developmental Writing Instruction v2: Writing Assessment, Development, Teaching & Learning. It is approximately three years now since I published the original version of this course. Since that time there have been some significant updates to writing in our classrooms – particularly the development of the Writing with All Tools Con ..read more

Many of us work with students who are just starting on their journey of learning the alphabet – or who are at different stages in learning the alphabet. Erickson and Koppenhaver (2019) identified 10 success factors that are important to be included in literacy instruction with students with significant disabilities. Number 3 on this list is “repetition with variety” – where we understand that students need a certain amount of repetition to learn a skill BUT that we need to make sure there is variety in the way we teach it so that we keep their engagement – and because they are more engage ..read more

I am delighted to announce that the updated version of the Introduction to Comprehensive Literacy Instruction course is now available! The course is now available for registration at https://janefarrallconsulting.thinkific.com/courses/introduction-to-comprehensive-literacy-instruction-version-2 To get more information about the course you can download the flyer below. An additional flyer around the site licences is also available below. Intro-Course-v2.0-flyerDownload Intro-Course-Site-LicensesDownload If you have registered for the individual course in the last three months, please email admi ..read more

Ever since I heard about Personal Voice being added to iOS17, I have been really excited. I couldn’t wait to get hold of it and start using it! It seemed to me that this was a dream come true! And this weekend I finally got to use it. If you haven’t heard about it yet, Personal Voice is a new feature in iOS17 that lets a speaker record 150 sentences/phrases/utterances – and then Apple goes away and makes a custom voice based on the voice used for the recordings. The process is known as voice banking and has been around for some time – but at this stage all other voice banking options have a co ..read more

As many of you will know, iOS17 was released yesterday to coincide with the release of the latest iPhone models. One of the new accessibility features in iOS17 is going to be game changer for me. I am frequently in classrooms working with a number of students. Many of the students I work with have a lot of experience of using the iPad for gaming or videos – and aren’t very impressed when I suggest that we could use it for a different reason! Guided Access was released in 2019 and offered many of us an option when working with students who would prefer the iPad to remain a game and video machi ..read more

Over the last several weeks, I have spent time updating my first online course – and I’m delighted to announce that on October 6th I’ll be launching Introduction to Comprehensive Literacy Instruction Version 2.0. It is over three years now since I published the original version of this course. Since that time there have been updates to our practice – both from research and from our ongoing work in and with schools. Version 2.0 of the course incorporates these changes – helping you to continue to support the literacy development of students with disabilities in your classrooms with the latest ..read more