Telstra SPELL books project
SPELL - Stories to Promote Emergent Literacy and Language!
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Research shows that children with communication challenges can often have difficulties developing literacy.
The aim of the Telstra SPELL Books project was to provide parents with information about literacy for young children and to make them more aware of the importance of literacy in the early years.
The SPELL Books Project is a follow up project to the SPELL (Songs to Promote Early Language and Learning) Music Project.
The SPELL books project was sponsored by a generous grant from the Telstra Foundation in 2006.
The project included the following components:
Parent workshops
Five parent workshops were conducted. They followed a similar format to SPELL Music workshops, where parents attended with their children attend and received a free SPELL Books package. Workshops were run similar to an interactive storybook reading session and included:
- discussion about emergent literacy for the parents and caregivers
- repeated reading of a featured book to show how to build on a story over time
- illustration and discussion of practical tips for positioning of children, use of props, adaptations, and communication during book reading.
Service provider workshop
A workshop was run for workers who support children with communication challenges to share the package and other practical ideas for use in classroom or child care settings.
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The package received by parents was made up of:
- SPELL Books Resource Book - includes additional information and activity ideas to those provided in workshops.
- SPELL Books CD Rom - contains all of the information in the SPELL Books resource book, plus video and photo examples as well as extra print-out resources for use in activities to promote literacy (e.g. symbol boards and sign language diagrams).
- two free story books with related activities
- a reader folder with symbols for communication during book reading
- other useful goodies.
The SPELL Book Kit containing the SPELL Resource Book and the SPELL Books CD can be purchased from Novita. Simply download, complete and email the order form to us. View the SPELL Books order form
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A comprehensive collection of the following resources are available from this website:
- Sign charts – selections of signs to go with particular books. View a list of book sign charts (Note)
- Symbol strips for a reader folder – a selection of symbols for use on a 'reader folder'. These symbols go across the top of the reader folder for a specific book. The photo to the right shows how the reader folder can be arranged. Additional resources for this folder can be found in general resources. View a list of book symbol strips
View of reader folder showing the arrangement of symbol strips around the book.
External view of reader folder showing storyboard symbols on the cover.
View a list of all SPELL Book resources Note
For more info on how to promote emergent literacy for children with communication challenges, refer to the SPELL Books kit.
(Note: Some signing charts may not be fully accessible to users of assistive technology. If you experience difficulties, please contact us)