Susan Jackson, Teacher – Special Education, Sommerville Special School, Auckland NZ

I teach a class made up of students with special needs. It is often difficult to gain and retain their interest and engagement. They consistently need over learning to ensure retention and recall. This programme is highly effective as a way to make a potentially laborious activity fun and not seem like a drill. There are many resources to use to cater to different abilities and I use them in different ways. The resources are visually appealing and capture my students’ interest. My students especially enjoy watching and joining in with the video animations for the list words and the readers. The pictures are childlike and not too busy or distracting. My students’ growth is incremental due to their learning challenges, but they have an overall better recall than before, which is showing up during writing sessions. I have noticed that they are starting to demonstrate improvements with their participation and their recall.