RESOURCES FOR SUPPORTING PUPILS WITH SEN DURING THE LITERACY HOUR
This resource list is divided into 3 sections:
1.	Books and guidance for teachers
2.	Structured programmes that can be taught within the literacy hour
3.	Resources and equipment for pupils
4.	Software which can be used in the literacy hour to support the learning objectives in the framework

1.	Books and Guidance for Teachers
Teaching the Literacy Hour in an Inclusive Classroom		
David Fulton 1999
Editors Ann Berger & Jean Gross 

This book gives guidance on teaching the literacy hour for pupils both in mainstream schools and special schools. There are chapters on each of the main disability areas as well as two case studies. One is a mainstream class and one is a class in an MLD schools. There is also more general support for all pupils with special needs. 

Implementing the Literacy Hour for pupils with Learning Difficulties
David Fulton 1999
Ann Berger, Jean Henderson and Denise Morris

This book provides a scheme of work for pupils working towards level one. It breaks down the reception objectives into smaller steps and provides advice on activities and resources suitable for these pupils. It also describes resources suitable for older pupils
Writing for All			
David Fulton 1999
Sylvia Edwards			

This would be a good resource for class teachers and SENCos. It is full of information and practical advice on how to help children with SEN to achieve within the NLS. Discussion of the kinds of difficulties children  may have with the writing process, spelling and handwriting  is followed by a range of options for the teacher and suggestions for IEP targets. There is much here that would be of benefit to all children.

Reading for All			
Sylvia Edwards
David Fulton 1999

The requirements of the NLS and the implications for teaching children with SEN form the main theme of this book. All the main elements influencing access to the objectives of the NLS, from whole school policy for reading to classroom management of the hour, are covered. It could be useful for literacy and SEN co-ordinators at the policy making stage and as an SEN addendum to the NLS.

Speaking and Listening For All		
Sylvia Edwards		
David Fulton 1999

Drawing on  the ‘P’ levels, the NC three step Level breakdowns, early years desirable outcomes and cross-referencing these with the NLS, this book would be a valuable resource for both mainstream and special schools.  There are case studies, suggestions for target setting and cross-curricula strategies to use for particular language and communication difficulties, though these would need to be considered as an adjunct to more specialist advice for children with complex difficulties. 
Developing Children’s Non-Fiction Writing – Working with Writing Frames
Maureen Lewis & David Wray	
Scholastic

Practical and readable, this book shows how teachers can scaffold children’s non-fiction writing by providing them with a generic structure and the language features of different kinds of non-fiction writing. The frameworks have applications in other areas of the curriculum besides English and can be used by children of all ages.

Book Bands for Guided Reading: organising Key Stage One texts for the Literacy Hour

Reading Recovery National Network, Institute of Education, London

The book is designed as a means of auditing and organising an existing stock of reading materials for guided reading. Over 3,000 books are arranged into ten bands, each band has a learning focus and links with NLS objectives. 

 See ICT section for additional material

Catch-up	- 	Non-fiction book list		
Oxford Brookes University	

An extensive list of non-fiction texts suitable for KS 2 pupils who are working towards level 1 and up to level 2C.The books are arranged into nine levels. Each level represents a gradual increase in difficulty in terms of the number of words, lines and high frequency words used, as well as the degree of repetition, the print size, difficulty of syntax and use of technical words. Many of the books chosen do not have a contents page or index and have been expressly selected for diagnostic assessment and teaching reading. 

The Right Direction - Managing Pupil Behaviour during the Literacy Hour
The Questions Publishing Company

A 25 minute video training package with a leader’s booklet provides a framework for teachers to develop effective classroom management skills. Issues addressed include integrating the literacy hour with whole-school approaches to behaviour and learning, giving effective directions and establishing routines, coaching pupils who find it difficult to follow instructions or to stay on task and monitoring and reviewing the learning process and behaviours with the class.

2.	Structured Programmes
Best Practice Phonics			
Heinemann

This programme is based on a combination of the synthetic and analytic phonics approach.
Teaches 44 phoneme to grapheme correspondences, the first 29 being taught through mnemonics, and the skills for blending, rhyming and identifying phonemes in order to read and spell words. Children are taught how to sort words into rhyming groups. Suitable for whole class teaching.

The following programmes are based on the synthetic phonics approach to reading and spelling and are also suitable for whole class presentation.

Jolly Phonics				
Jolly Learning Ltd

Uses stories and actions to teach 42 sound-letter/s correspondences at 6 a day over a short period of time. At the same time children are taught to identify letters in initial, medial and final position and to sound and blend words using letter shapes. Suitable for Key Stage 1.

Phono-Graphix				
Read America

Starts from the sounds that can be heard in a word, therefore it does not teach letter names or sounds but rather the written representation of the sounds. Sound to symbol relationships as well as the skills of segmenting, blending and phoneme manipulation are all taught in the context of a whole word through active discovery.  Teaching a cognitive strategy for managing the fact that some sounds can be represented in more than one way and that some symbols are used for more than one sound, as well as managing multi-syllable words and correcting children’s errors are key features of this programme. Can be used in class, group or one to one situations and suitable for any age.  Some teacher training in the use of the programme is recommended.

Thrass					
Thrass (UK) LTD

An acronym for Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills 

Suitable for any age, THRASS teaches children about the relationship between the 44 phonemes of spoken English and the graphemes constructed from the 26 letters of the alphabet which are used to represent written English.  The programme is based on the THRASS chart. THRASS charts have 44 phoneme boxes, one for each phoneme, which contain the main grapheme for that phoneme. These charts are used to teach children the concept that reading involves changing graphemes to phonemes and spelling involves changing phonemes to graphemes. There is a strong handwriting component to this programme.

Sound Beginnings			
LDA

An assessment tool to identify children who would benefit from phonological awareness training as well as a two stage programme to develop these skills. The programme uses oral alliterative and rhyming games and activities followed by the use of letter shapes and picture cards in order to develop phonological awareness.  This programme is suitable for use by learning support assistants.

Soundworks				
The Open School

Specifically designed for learning support assistants, parents or other volunteers this is a phonological and phonics group programme for five to eight year olds. Over the course of two terms, it teaches sound to one letter relationship, c-v-c words, some digraphs, initial consonant blends and a number of high frequency irregular words.

3.	Resources and equipment for pupils
3.1	Sets of texts
Wellington Square	
Nelson

Interest age 7 - 13	Reading age	<6 -81/2

A five level reading scheme which has been revised and extended to meet the NLS objectives at word, sentence and text level. The carefully controlled text is suitable for group or guided reading within the Literacy Hour. Additional materials include plays, pupil activity books for independent or home work, resources for writing and teacher resource packs. The story lines are particularly appealing to boys.

Including:
Interactive CD-ROMS for each of the 5 levels.		SEMERC

Features include talking books read at either slow or normal speed, comprehension, alphabetical ordering, sequencing, cloze, pelmanism and phonic activities.

Zoom		
Ginn

Reading age 5 -6 		Interest age KS2

48 graded storybooks with cassettes of read-along versions of the stories. Photocopiable materials to support the scheme are included in the teacher’s resource books. Suitable for group and guided reading activities during the Literacy Hour. Read-along cassettes enable children to work more independently.

Springboard	
Ginn

Interest age 7 -11		Reading age 5 1/2 to 8 ½

Made up of  two strands Friends and Flyers. Friends provides 40 story books with  controlled vocabulary reflecting the high frequency words and phonic requirements of the NLS. Flyers offers 34 titles to cover a range of genres. There are suggestions and photocopiable masters to support the whole class and groups with guided reading, writing, word and sentence level work.

The following schemes  could be useful for pupils who need to have specific practice in reading text with a particular phonic feature, e.g. c-v-c words. Inevitably, some texts may be more contrived than others, especially in the earlier parts of the schemes. 

Sound Start			
Stanley Thornes

Interest and reading age 5 - 8

A seven level, structured scheme with a focus on phonics and high frequency words. Other materials include non-fiction, poetry and play readers as well as Big Books, flipover books, games and a teacher’s resources file. 

New Way			
Nelson

Reading and interest ages 4 - 8

A phonics based scheme with new additions for the poetry and onset and rime objectives of the NLS.

3.2	Non-Fiction

The following are examples of some of the high quality non-fiction texts available as most reading schemes now include a range of non-fiction titles.  The extensive use  of photographs rather than pictures has extended the age range for which they are suitable. 

New Literacy Edition Magic Bean - In Fact strand		
Heinemann 

Ages 4 - 11

This series contains a range of non-fiction texts types and uses a wide variety of features to aid information retrieval. Big and little book formats are available to support both the shared reading and group work aspects of the Literacy Hour.

Discovery World		
Heinemann 

Ages 5-7

The topics covered in these guided reading books relate to the most popular themes taught in lower primary classes.  Discovery World is graded into six levels; two levels for emergent, early fluent and fluent readers. Big Book formats provide opportunities for the modelling and development of non-fiction reading skills. The uncluttered layout is particularly supportive of  young readers who are developing their skills at interpreting visual information.

Equipment

A source of  high quality materials for word level work.		
Smart Kids (U.K)

Initial Letter Sound Object Bag					
Upper & Lower Case Alphabet Bag
Backcloth
LDA

Lots of different fun and interactive ways to use these materials to help develop sound to symbol correspondence and phonological awareness.

Individual dry-wipe white boards					
Phillip and Tacey		

A4, double-sided; useful for word and sentence level work; a very motivating resource. 

Dry-wipe, write on magnetic tape on a roll		 
Consortium

5 cm wide tape for writing graphemes, words or sentences. Useful for making customised resources.

Desk Tapes						
LDA

Self-adhesive, 50cm long tapes with upper and lower case alphabets produced on triple grid lines; 
illustrated version also available. The size of the font probably makes these more suitable for KS2.

Berol Handhugger pencils			
Major educational suppliers.

Triangular pencils with a weight and balance that makes them easy to use. Encourages a regular tripod grip.

Sloping desk-top			
Philipp and Tacey

Extremely useful and portable piece of equipment which raises the writing surface. Particularly helpful to pupils with co-ordination difficulties or visual impairment.

Write From the Start						
LDA

Two books of photocopiable resources to develop handwriting through a motor-perceptual approach. Useful for pupils with developmental co-ordination disorders.

Wordbuilding Box 						
LDA

118,  5 cm high wooden letters in Sassoon Primary font for individual word building activities. 
Also just available are 2+ letter graphemes presented as a unit, e.g. ‘oa’ ‘igh’. 

Magnetic Word Building Letters					
LDA

As previous item but 8 cm high.  Suitable for whole class or group teaching of word building activities.

Swap/Fix card games						
The GAMZ player V 2.00 CD
Gamz

Thirty-five reading games which can be played with any helping adult. Each game focuses on a particular phoneme and its various representations or a category such as suffixes. The speech supported computer software includes a further fourteen games plus a word search grid for the each of the games. Player usage and progress can be profiled and printed. Fully configurable fonts, colours word lists and rules. Highly motivating.

Franklin spellcheckers

Hand held electronic spellcheckers for key stage 2 pupils; good for the games too.

Story Starter Sacks			
Madeleine Lindley LTD

A motivating resource to help develop young children’s enjoyment of stories.
Each Story Starter Sack contains a storybook, a character toy,  related information books and  parent guide. Where available,  audio, video or  game is also included. Sacks and all components of the ready-to-use sacks can be purchased separately so that teachers can make their own . There are currently more than twenty different Story Sacks available.

Matt laminate			Major laminate suppliers

Essential to use when laminating materials for visually impaired pupils as glare and light reflection are eliminated.

4.	Software which can be used in the literacy hour to support the learning objectives in the framework

StartWrite						
Sherston Software LTD

A word processor which enables customised handwriting work sheets to be produced. Letters are produced in a dot/dash format with  optional triple guidelines, shading or arrow strokes. Colour or black and white clip art can be added.

WordShark	CD_ROM		
White space

Suitable for all ages.

Highly motivating resource of twenty-seven different games using real speech, sound, graphics and text to teach and reinforce word recognition and spelling of over 5,000 words. The program includes phonics, onset & rime, homophones,  prefixes, suffixes and high frequency words. Games can be played at multi-levels and speeds to take account of different skill levels. The self-correcting format enables pupils to work independently.

Catch-up  CD-ROM			
Oxford Brookes University

Graded reading and spelling activities within a  highly motivating games environment.  Activities are based on the Catch-up high frequency word lists and include onset and rime, visual spelling strategies and word and sentence sequencing. Suitable for KS2 children working at pre-level 1 to level 2C.

Speaking Starspell 2001	
Fisher-Marriot available from SEMERC

CD-ROM	Uses the Look, Cover, Write, Check approach to spelling. Over 300 word lists with speech and a picture for every word. It is possible to enter your own word lists and to print a record of pupil activity and progress.

further book covers words with the five short vowel sounds, single letter consonants, some double letter graphemes and the consonant digraphs.

Talking Write Away		
Black Cat

A speech supported word processing programme that has many levels of presentation and use. Can be configured for individual circumstances and pupil use logged and printed.

Clicker 3			Crick Software

Suitable for all phases and learning groups.

If it were possible only to have one piece of software, this would be it.

A powerful and highly motivating resource for supporting writing and other literacy skills.

A flexible on-screen grid and fully integrated talking word processor. The cells in the grid can be filled with words, pictures, symbols or scanned photos. It works on the principle that if you click the left hand mouse button,  information goes from the cell to the screen composition and if the right hand button is pressed the information is read aloud. A switch accessible version is also available.

There are many pre-prepared grids and new grids can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost; Titles include Talking Books, Phonics, Poems, Nursery Rhymes, Picture Dictionary. Recent popular downloadable include titles Alien Similes - linked grids for writing similes to describe an alien, High Frequency Words - a set of grids for making sentences using high frequency words. New titles include Find out and Write About…. - a  series of packs enabling even very young pupils to use the computer for independent research.

Teachers need to set aside some time to explore how to use it.

All Aboard Sam and Rosie  (Stage 2 ) Talking stories 		
Ginn

Interest age to 5 -7

Highly motivating talking stories available on disk. On screen activities include sequencing, cloze and comprehension tasks. Can be used independently of the main scheme.

Oxford Reading Tree	Talking Stories	Stages 2,3 & 4
Oxford University Press

A CD-ROM for each stage contains  the six trunk stories plus additional activities for word, sentence and text level for each title. Helps to consolidate the link between spoken and written language.
Oxford Reading Tree Clip Art					
Oxford University Press

Characters, scenes and objects  from Stage 1 to Stage 9 act as a stimulus for children to create their own stories. The images are available in colour or in black outline. Key words, from Stages 1-3, plus other useful words enable children to build sentences and stories in the ORT hand-written format.

Talking Topics Vol. 1	
Sherston Software

 Six non-fiction, talking books specifically designed to support the development of reading comprehension within the Literacy Hour. Titles cover the topics of  the body, homes, pets, the seashore, land transport and dinosaurs.

My First Amazing Incredible Dictionary		
Dorling Kindersley

Harrison’s Alphabet Book		
Moonstone Multi-media	Tel:0181 682 0624
Uses speech to introduce  1000 words, their pronunciations and meanings. Supported by pictures, sound effects and animations. Presents opposites, synonyms and word groups to develop understanding of language in a fun way and at an individual’s own pace

Suitable for: Nursery and Y1; pupils with visual impairment

The first of a series of CD-ROMs which uses pictures, speech and sound to help develop sound to symbol correspondence. It is possible to print a record of pupil activity and progress.
The programme has been configured to be suitable for children with visual impairment in terms of uncluttered screens, colour and text size.

Kingfisher Children’s Micropedia 2nd Edition.		
Ricketts Educational  Media

Suitable for: Key Stage 2 						01458 254700

A UK based reference resource. Each topic is accessible at two levels. Level 1 is  a large text, simplified, spoken version. In Level 2 all article names are spoken and there are more detailed entries for older children.

Predict IT				
SEMERC

A word prediction package which works alongside any Windows program and tries to predict the word being typed. The suggestion window, marked word and text can be read automatically if the hardware is supported by a sound card. The program is fully configurable.

First Keys				
SEMERC

Nine activities using pictures, speech and sound to develop keyboard awareness at the same time as supporting early literacy skills such as identifying initial letter sounds and  completing a word.

Primary Sassoon Font			
iansyst

Looks like teacher’s handwriting! Many children find text more accessible when presented in this font. 

This is an example of Sassoon Primary Type.

Words and Pictures 		BBC EDUCATION

Website:				www.bbc.co.uk/education/wordsandpictures	

A website with lots of resources to help develop pupils’ phonic skills through games and activities. Lesson plans and  resources  for teachers too. 

BETSIE				BBC EDUCATION

Website:				www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/about.ht

Converts web pages into a format which can be then be  read to visually impaired users using speech supported software. At the moment, BETSIE only works with BBC sites.