LET'S SPELL OUT AND ABOUT. copyright R.M.Dunn 1989 Program code and graphics by Richard and Jayne Dunn. (Squirrel Soft) Educational advice by Maxine Clewlow. INFORMATION FOR PARENTS. Thank you for buying this product. I hope it gives your children as much pleasure as it has given mine. I was spurred to write this program by the lack of educational software using the potential of the Amiga .I have been inspired by a well known picture dictionary and I hope that you and your children will enjoy the result. I have produced additional scenario disks which will work with this program and by so doing create a picture dictionary of many of the aspects of life that a child may encounter by the age of 4. It is exciting for children to explore everyday scenes and if they learn to spell or at least to recognise commonly used words while they do this- well so much the better. The program is designed to teach children the shape of letters and some of the most commonly used words. It has been planned to be used by children from 4 to 9 and operates at different levels accordingly. I have incorporated sampled speech to improve interaction and help with the learning of letter sounds. This is NOT however intended to be a phonetic based learning program and does not therefore use phonetics. I would suggest that young children use the "game" to become familiar with using a computer, mouse manipulation and letter recognition. The game is entirely driven with the mouse and uses lower case letters throughout. Instructions for the program. The program will run on any Amiga configuration but any accessories including second drives will need to be switched off or removed if you have only 512k of memory. The best thing is to turn the computer on with the disk in drive df0. This will automatically load and run the program. There are three Let,s Spell scenario programs. AT THE SHOPS, AT HOME and OUT AND ABOUT. They can be played independently or the disks can be interchanged during a game. Once the program has loaded you will be presented with a title screen. Next you will be given the option to view an information summary screen. Lastly a menu picture ( of a bus station if using this disk or another scene if you are using another scenario ) will appear. The mouse pointer is a little girl but this can be changed to a little boy by pressing the right mouse button. The child has been animated at the request of my daughter who often just plays about at this level wandering about. If the child is moved to one of the busses a bell will ring. If the left mouse button is pressed the screen fades and a new one displaying the scene chosen chosen will appear. The pointer becomes an arm and moving this over the screen will cause a bell to ring when it is over an item on the screen. Pressing the left mouse button replaces this screen with a spelling screen. The spelling screen. This shows a lower case alphabet set, a finish box, an "oops" box, two small teddies, a teddies face, a picture of the item selected and a thermometer. There are several levels of play. To select the lower age group (4 to 6) click on the small teddy with the pointer using the left mouse button. The spelling of the item in the picture will appear as uncoloured boxes. All the child needs to do is place the pointer on matching letters in the alphabet grid and click the mouse left button. The first box will fill with colour. This is done until all the boxes are filled and then the finish box is clicked on. If a mistake is made clicking on the oops box will uncolour the last box filled. A correct answer is rewarded with a smiling face, a tune and a message The screen then switches back to the room. THE TUNE CAN BE STOPPED BY PRESSING THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON. A wrong answer is greeted with a sad face and the word is respelt. As this is done correct letters are associated with a bell sound whereas incorrect letters are associated with a shooting sound while the letter is changed to the correct one. The child can then try again. The next age range (6-9) can be selected by pressing on the larger teddy (this is the default setting). No letters appear and the child needs to spell the word without help. This is done in the same way as in the lower age group. I have adopted a standard primary school reading technique to help those who have just progressed up from letter matching (age 5-7). This is the LOOK,COVER,SPELL and CHECK method. If the teddies eyes are clicked on, the word is displayed and sounded for about four seconds.The child can then have a go at spelling it. Success and failure are treated as before. Lastly in both age ranges and with the cover method the help of a thermometer can be obtained by clicking on it. This will show a rise of temperature when the pointer is close to the correct letter.IF THE MOUSE MOVES OFF THE ALPHABET GRID OR MORE LETTERS HAVE BEEN USED TO SPELL THE WORD THAN ARE IN IT THEN THE THERMOMETER WILL FREEZE. This can give the child some measure of independence from the parent. Exiting the screen is via the wayout sign and returns you to the main menu (the bus station). Exiting here gives you the chance to change the scenario disk for another one. Just answer no to the question "Are you sure" and then follow the prompts. Answering "yes" will finish the game. A list of the words spelt correctly this session will then be shown.This list can be printed out ( Epson "80" printer ) to keep a permanent record for you to assess your childs progress. I hope that this program will reward and stimulate your child to improve it's spelling and word recognition. My aim is to allow the childs imagination to play "out and about" ( or whatever other scenario disk is chosen ) and in the process discover the shape of the words associated with everyday objects and to learn how the letters sound. I hope you and your children enjoy this program as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you are interested in other scenario disks , special remedial versions or other language versions (currently French with German out soon) or would like to comment on this program don't hesitate to write to me at the address below. If you have enjoyed this program please tell your friends but don't copy it for them. This program is copyrighted and may only be used by you or your family. Profits from educational software are small and will be used to develop further program ideas. SOFTSTUFF SOFTWARE 19 Quarry Hill RD, Tonbridge, KENT. TN9 2RN Tel 0732 351234 Fax 0732 770234 15th August 1990