Touch-type, Read and Spell with confidence
An award-winning, multi-sensory course that teaches typing, reading, and spelling
How does TTRS work?
Modular design TTRS is modular in design and contains 24 levels with 31 modules in each level. A module typically takes a few minutes to complete and we recommend taking 2-3 modules a session. Student success is encouraged by immediate feedback and positive reinforcement. This feedback includes a score that is based on completion rates and accuracy, not speed or time taken.
Read and Spell: Get Started Link !
First score – first success
The course starts with learning to touch-type, read and spell the vowels – a , e , i , o , u. The audio track accompanies the letters as they appear on screen, reinforcing sound-letter correspondence, which is a crucial skill for sounding out words in reading. The user then receives their first score – and success!
Phonics and repetition
In the second level, the student is introduced to words grouped by onset, vowel-blend and final consonant. For example – fed, wed, led. This teaches phonics in context and at the same time the student learns the position of the keys using the on-screen hand guides. With repetition, words move from short-term to long-term memory and the skill of typing begins to feel more comfortable. Repetition is also a way of over-learning that can help users with dyslexia overcome working memory and processing difficulties.
Multi-sensory approach
TTRS takes a multi-sensory approach to repetition learning. Through the multi-sensory approach, a user hears the words spoken through headphones or speakers, sees the words printed on the screen, and is prompted as to which fingers to press via the on-screen keyboard. Finally, through the sense of touch, they type out the words, harnessing muscle memory in the hands and fingers to learn spelling.
5 Strategies that can help with spelling
1. Focusing on phonics - The term phonics comes from the word phoneme which is the smallest unit of sound that holds meaning. When a child or adult learner practices pairing a sound with the different letter and letter combinations that can be used to represent it, it makes it easier to sound out new words in reading and spelling.
2. Making use of mnemonics
Some words are easier to remember than others and every now and then a hard-to-spell word can cause a disproportionate amount of heartache and stress for a struggling speller. This is particularly true if the incorrect spelling has been used for a long time and becomes “fossilized” or if the word is less amenable to memorization due to its generic nature. That’s when it’s worth spending an extra bit of cognitive energy developing a personal mnemonic device built out of associations and ideas that help the word stick.
3. Taking a multi-sensory approach
Alphabet soup and colorful fridge magnets may be the first things that come to mind when you imagine a multi-sensory approach to spelling, but really it can involve any activities that combine visual and auditory elements and importantly bring kinesthetic learning into the mix.
4. Reviewing homophones
Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings and often vary in their spelling.
5. Considering frequency
There’s no need to learn how to spell every word in the dictionary. Certain terms are used more than others and being able to spell the 2,000 most frequent English words is an accomplishment to be proud of.