Units of Sound v4

Units of Sound is a structured multisensory literacy development tool which is PC based. It develops reading (decoding) and spelling skills from cvc through to adult levels and can be used with children from Key Stage 2 to adults. It was originally developed by Walter Bramley for audio cassette and book format. Since 1995 it has been available on CD-ROM. This article describes v4 development.

IT programmes have a long developmental cycle. They change in order to take advantage of new advances in technology, but also because it takes time (and money) to fully explore the possibilities for learning that the medium permits. In Units of Sound v4 the programme has, I believe, finally reached the level it aspired to. Units of Sound has ‘come of age’.

So what have we done? The first step was to make fundamental text changes. We added 4 extra pages in Stage 1 to smooth out some of the learning curves, rearranged words within blocks and made substantial changes to text where phrases and subjects appeared dated or no longer PC.

We brought in a designer (Dan Warnke), who gave us a new logo, new screens, icons, book and CD covers. He has however, maintained the clean, uncluttered look and feel to the screens which is fundamental to the strength of the programme. His minimalist style is a perfect backdrop to a programme where the focus is on the learner’s needs at all times.

Our next consideration was what to do with this new text. Units of Sound is used within a wide variety of different contexts and by teachers and helpers with varying levels of expertise. The challenge was to produce something that met all of those needs, whilst not detracting from its effectiveness.

Reading
We know that many teachers introduce syllable division alongside Units of Sound, which helps with this persistently tricky concept. But we know also that not all teachers have the skills or the time to do this, and that not all words conform to the syllable division rules. We decided therefore to carry out this procedure for the learners, and so a right mouse click (RMC) on a word produces a pop-up box with the word split and read aloud. So for instance, clicking on investigation produces in-vest-i-ga-tion.

In Stage 1 we decided to go one step further and so all new 2 syllable words appear split on the screen eg lit-tle little, bat-tle battle.

Using the same concept of RMC to produce extra assistance, a RMC on a check sound produces a pop-up box with a clue word plus the sound which again is read aloud.

Both of these features are active before a block or row has been played and so can be used as an introductory exercise if needed.

There was one more feature needed in the Reading programme and that was the facility for the student to record his own reading and to hear it back alongside the Units of Sound recording to compare the two. Technically this was the one that nearly defeated us, but we got there in the end! It does of course rely on the microphone being configured correctly and the volumes of the 2 voices being tolerably matched. This facility is currently only available for the word blocks where new words are introduced, but is something that could be extended if users told us that is what they wanted.

Spelling
The functionality of the Spelling programme remains the same as in v3 with the use of word blocks and check words, with the addition of Check-Spelling. Check-Spelling has been used in the Bath DI for a number of years, known as Jan’s words. Jan Randall developed the idea of revisiting 1 word from each of the previous 10 spelling pages in each lesson. The Check-Spelling screen forms the final screen of every page except the 1st five in Stage 1. 10 words are given for spelling but without the "view words" first option and with only one opportunity to check them.

Memory
This is a programme developed in the Bath DI. The 3rd learning programme develops visual memory techniques and is split into 2 sections. The first is known as Speed Reading and consists of 15 short phrases taken from the target Units of Sound page. This is a preparatory exercise for the Recall Writing. The student clicks to see the first phrase and reads it aloud. The words appear at 2 second intervals.

The second exercise, Recall Writing, uses the same phrases for writing. The student clicks to see the first phrase which stays on the screen for 5 seconds and then disappears for 10 seconds while the keyboard is disabled. The student has to hold the phrase in his memory during this time. After 10 seconds the student can type in the phrase.

Dictation
The 4th learning programme is Dictation Sentences. We have taken Helen Moss’ Dictation sentences, with amendments, and integrated them into the independent PC based work of the programme. Each ‘set’ consists of 5 sentences which can be viewed first as for spelling. With the first click on the sound icon the words disappear and you hear the sentence read at a normal speed. A second click produces the first half of the sentence again read at a slower speed. The student types that in and then clicks again to hear the second half of the sentence at a slower speed.

Student Management

Underpinning the learning programmes is Student Management which is where Screening, Records and Options are kept. There are still just two screening tests; one for Reading and one for Spelling, each split into the three stages corresponding to the student books.

As before, in the Reading Screening test the words appear for just 2 seconds and the student says the word aloud whilst a teacher records correct (left mouse click on the word icon), or wrong, (right mouse click on the word icon).

Spelling Screening is again, as before except that you can hear the words from enter so that you don’t have to take your hands off the keyboard.

The Dictation and Memory programmes are set from the Spelling result: 24 pages behind for Dictation and 5 pages behind for Memory.

We have one new feature in Student Management which is Options. In Options, you can set for an overlap pattern for Reading and Spelling. This is where the student works on each page twice before moving on and is particularly suitable for statemented students. You can also disable the recording function here if you do not wish a student to use this facility. This will mean that the microphone icon will not appear on the screen at all. The final option is for northern or southern pronunciation. All the sound in the programme has been re-recorded for v4 using a southern pronunciation. We have, however, additionally recorded the ‘u’ sound for words like fun, run and mother, and the ‘a’ pronunciation in words like glass and path, in a northern pronunciation. Setting the N option will automatically deliver these words with the northern pronunciation in the word blocks and check words for Stages 1 and 2.

Additional practice materials can be found in the Teacher’s Materials where Punctuation and Cloze exercises are in pdf format. There are also certificates for the completion of stages and lists of the sound order and Screening Tests. The Help! manual is also in pdf format.

The Dyslexia Institute will continue to provide training for Units of Sound on request and a distance learning package will be available by the Autumn term. There is a comprehensive audio-visual tutorial included with the material as well as Help!.

When setting out on this journey I wanted to increase the amount of independent work available within the programme as I believe that is what is needed in today’s complex special needs arena. Units of Sound endeavours to meet the needs of the specialist and the non-specialist teacher and can be used effectively by support assistants. In an environment where Inclusion policies can make withdrawal lessons problematic, and where curriculum support is increasingly taking the lion’s share of support time, Units of Sound stands firm in providing the structured link to literacy.

Margaret Rooms

Margaret Rooms is Head of Educational Development at the Dyslexia Institute and was Editor and project manager of the Units of Sound v4 development.
This article has been written for Dyslexia Review Volume 15 Number 3 Summer 2004.