Greenville, SC (MMD Newswire) November 22, 2010 -- Webber HearBuilder Phonological Awareness - Sound Awareness for Reading, Professional Edition has won the Tech & Learning Magazine 2010 Award of Excellence for outstanding education technology products (http://www.hearbuilder.com/phonologicalAwareness/). A panel of more than 30 educators, including edtech experts from the New York City Department of Education, University of Michigan, and Tech & Learning Magazine advisors evaluated HearBuilder and awarded it Tech & Learning's highest honor.
Created by Super Duper Publications, HearBuilder Phonological Awareness is evidence-based software that increases awareness of words, syllables and phonemes (sounds). Students learn to segment, blend and manipulate words, syllables, and sounds in nine target areas: Sentence Segmentation, Syllable Blending, Syllable Segmentation, Rhyming, Phoneme Blending, Phoneme Segmentation and Identification, Phoneme Deletion, Phoneme Addition, and Phoneme Manipulation. As the students move through each multi-level task, they earn instruments and band members to ultimately form the virtual rock band, The Phonemix.
"This program is the only computer software program available that covers ALL the areas of phonological awareness, including phoneme manipulation," states Trisha P., in Anaheim, California. "The rock band theme is motivating for my students and they love the individual game reward activities. As a therapist, I love that I can individualize each student's intervention according to the various activity domains and multiple skill levels within each activity. Students who were burnt out on traditional phonological awareness activities have had their motivation and interest reignited. I am so grateful for this product."
With HearBuilder Phonological Awareness, educators have the following options within the program: monitor progress and track data for an unlimited number of students; set levels of difficulty for each activity; individualize each student program; identify and print learning objectives for all levels; add background noise at any level; track all relevant data; and customize and print reports. In addition to the professional edition, Super Duper also offersPhonological Awareness, Home Edition.
Results from a research study conducted by the Las Vegas, Nevada Clark County School District and Super Duper Publications indicate that the Webber HearBuilder Phonological Awareness software program is an effective instructional component for at-risk students. In spring 2010, several Clark County elementary schools participated in the study which included 68 students with and without special needs. All participating students exhibited improvement on a standardized test of phonological awareness (http://www.hearbuilder.com/research/default.aspx).
Donna Geffner, Ph.D., CCC-SP/A, Director of the Speech and Hearing Center at St. John's University, uses computer software in her practice. "Of course, interactive software is not a substitute for direct contact with the client," said Geffner, "but the combination is effective in achieving goals and providing reinforcement."
Geffner counts HearBuilder among her favorite programs. "My clients love to work on it-particularly for the reward games, which are delightful." She added, "[HearBuilder has] managed to capture the interest and attention of clients for whom maintaining attention is difficult."
The creative minds behind HearBuilder Phonological Awareness are Susie Loraine, Mark Strait, and Clint Johnson, all master's-level speech-language pathologists, and Christopher Jones, software developer. Assisting in the process were artists Bill Golliher and Bruce Ink, and animator SangEun Lee.
"Learning phonological skills is a great task for computer-assisted learning because it requires a great deal of repetition," says Mark Strait. "The biggest challenge is keeping students motivated to practice. I think the biggest strength of HearBuilder Phonological Awareness is the combination of research-based objectives with a really fun game structure that maintains student attention and participation."
In addition to HearBuilder Phonological Awareness, Super Duper Publications also has HearBuilder Following Directions (with Basic Concepts) and HearBuilder Sequencing (with 2-6 Step Sequences), all available in professional and home editions. Super Duper also plans to release HearBuilder Auditory Memory in February 2011 (http://www.hearbuilder.com).
Founded in 1986 by Sharon and Thomas Webber, Super Duper Publications creates fun educational materials for children with special needs. Their website offers a wide variety of products for teachers, therapy professionals, and parents to use with children in the classroom, in a therapy setting, and at home.
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For more information on all HearBuilder® Software, visit www.hearbuilder.com. To see the full line of Super Duper® products, visit www.superduperinc.com.
Contact: Thomas Webber
Phone: 864-284-4510
Email: twebber@superduperinc.com