So Is Reading Doctor Software Any Good?

Improving reading for students with disabilities can be challenging. For many students, a range of disabilities and specific learning needs complicate the picture when it comes to learning to read. Teachers need to build on reading skills based on a foundation of thorough knowledge of previous assessments and learning achievements, as well as an awareness of strengths, weaknesses and potential motivators. Many students find computer based learning to be highly motivating, and they can often be persuaded to spend time at a reading related task on the computer when they might be less motivated by printed text. However, some software programs tend to make the screen so busy visually and the animations and sound so intrusive that learning opportunities can be lost along the way. The last thing a student with specific learning disabilities or reading issues needs is to have their reading task made complicated by extraneous, non reading features embedded within the program.

Happily this is not the case with Reading Doctor! In reviewing the Reading Doctor software, I found I was impressed by several key features:

Simplicity - from both a student and teacher perspective, the program is simple. Not that it is weak or lacking depth - it is simply a good, easy to use and understand program which teachers can easily learn through some quick trial and error experimenting. There is no need for extended time to be spent setting up the program or reading instructional information - it is all there and ready to load and use.

Clarity of vision - the screen is clear and easy to respond to visually. Students can easily see what they are meant to do, and how they are meant to respond to a learning task. There is little in the way of clutter or unnecessary movement on the screen and the colour blends work well and are easy on the eye.

Clarity of voice - the voice used is clear and easy to listen to, which is particularly important given the phonological nature of many of the tasks. As a note to international readers the voice is Australian and so some countries may find there is a difference to the accent normally used by their students.

Clarity of instructions - the screen prompts are simple and easy to use, and even students with limited mouse skills and/or some hand function issues will be able to operate the controls easily.

Based on my review, I would recommend that teachers follow up for further information about the Reading Doctor software. I feel it would be a useful tool to support a range of early primary students as they begin to gain phonological awareness, decoding and chunking skills, morphological awareness and auditory discrimination and sight word recognition. It is available from L.E.A.R.N in Western Australia or visit the Reading Doctor website for further details. It's probably not the bargain of the century at $279 AUD for a single boxed set (less for multiple licenses) but then it is a customized and customisable reading software that certainly fits the bill with being based on solid research, good knowledge of students' computer skills and needs, and appropriate reading strategies.