Product Information

The Sentence Master

A Program for Success in Reading

Do you have students who are failing to learn to read? Students for whom neither phonics nor a whole language approach has worked? The Sentence Master ensures success for students who are at risk of reading failure due to difficulties in phonics, oral language, English as a Second Language (ESL), and/or impulsive learning styles.
Objective:
To teach reading to individuals with reading problems and those at risk of reading failure

Suggested for:
  • Children and adults with language-learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, hearing impairments, and autism
  • Students learning English as a Second Language (ESL)

Special Features:

  • Natural sounding speech, colorful graphics, and lively animation
  • Each Level contains 4 Word Activities, 8 Stories, and 8 reproducible Story Booklets
  • Teacher control over lesson presentation
  • Accessibility with keyboard, touch screen, or single switch
  • Automatic record-keeping

Benefits:

  • Teaches critical reading skills
  • Increases reading comprehension
  • Fosters independent reading
  • Facilitates classroom inclusion 

Author:
Marion Blank, Ph.D.
Product Description:
The Sentence Master is based on a revolutionary language approach developed by Dr. Marion Blank over a decade ago. The primary goal of the program is to overtrain the often elusive non-content words (such as "the," "is," "and," etc.) and word endings (such as "-s," "-ed," and "ing"). These non-content words, commonly called "little words," "sight words," or "functors," have long been known to be a major source of difficulty for poor readers.

"Little words" go a long way
Although there are only about 150 commonly used non-content words in the English language, these "little words" make up almost half of the text on any page and are major determiners of meaning. By truly teaching these words, The Sentence Master gives the learner control over half of any page he or she will ever encounter. Mastery of these words also significantly improves both decoding and comprehension skills.

Students learn to read independently.
This program is designed to take a student, even someone who cannot identify a single word, and systematically lead him or her to mastery of our written language system. Students can use The Sentence Master independently at home or in their own classrooms.

Classroom inclusion
By working in inclusionary settings, your students will build confidence and increase their self-esteem. You'll not only see significant improvement in their reading ability and comprehension, but the sense of accomplishment that accompanies success.

Students follow three steps to reading success

1. Four Word Activities train each word that will appear in a story.

Students spend 15-30 minutes at the computer learning one word per day. Four different Word Activities keep the student's interest and attention. An encouraging voice provides guidance and informational feedback, while an amusing animated routine rewards correct answers. Following the activities, a Lesson Summary provides specific information on student performance and is available on-screen or in print.

Word Recognition
In this activity, a model word appears at the top of the screen and is verbally introduced. The student is shown three or four additional words and must select the one that matches the model. Higher levels eliminate the model and then the verbal introduction.

Sequential Recognition
This activity continues the word recognition training while introducing the concept of reading from top to bottom and left to right. The task is to select the identical words in the order that you would normally read them.

Spelling
This is a series of spelling activities that do not require letter naming:

Filling in the missing letters from letters on the screen.
Choosing from letters presented on the screen to spell the entire word.
Typing in the entire word using the keyboard.

Sentence Completion
With this activity, designed only for non-content words, you fill in the missing word in sentences made up of words and pictures. Once the student completes the Word Activities for a story, the fun really begins!


2. Stories foster independent reading with help always available.

Each level of The Sentence Master contains 8 sequentially- ordered Stories. First, the computer reads the story aloud to the student. Then he or she reads it alone, but help is always there... at any time, the reader can have a word read aloud by the computer. Simple on-screen icons can be used to hear the text read aloud, repeat the animation sequence, and move forward or backward within the story. Each story contains only the words that have been taught up to that point in the program. The reader is assured success because he or she is never exposed to a word that has not been fully mastered.


3. Story Booklets transfer reader to print with ease.

After working on the computer, the student is given a printed version of the story. The Story Booklets are reproducible so that each student can have a personal copy. Students can read the stories alone, read them to you, or take them home to read with their parents. At the end of each booklet, students write the words that have been learned. This provides yet another opportunity for the reinforcement of learning.
Four levels of reading instruction

The Sentence Master program is divided into four levels of instruction. Each level takes approximately 16 to 30 weeks to complete depending on the computer time available and the speed of the learner. Once your students have successfully completed Level 1, you'll want to continue their progress with Levels 2, 3, and 4.

Each level of The Sentence Master contains:

8 sequentially-ordered Stories
4 motivating Word Activities
8 reproducible Story Booklets

The Sentence Master: Level 1 (Mac/Win3.1/95/98 CD)
1 Copy 510-F $495
5 Copies 510-5-F save 30% $1,732 CALL
10 Copies 510-10-F save 40% $2,970 CALL
20 Copies 510-20-F save 50% $4,950 CALL
Network License 510-NW-F $2,475 CALL

 

The Sentence Master: Level 2 (Mac/Win3.1/95/98 CD)
1 Copy 511-F $495
5 Copies 511-5-F save 30% $1,732 CALL
10 Copies 511-10-F save 40% $2,970 CALL
20 Copies 511-20-F save 50% $4,950 CALL
Network License 511-NW-F $2,475 CALL

 

The Sentence Master: Level 3 (Mac/Win3.1/95/98 CD)
1 Copy 512-F $495
5 Copies 512-5-F save 30% $1,732 CALL
10 Copies 512-10-F save 40% $2,970 CALL
20 Copies 512-20-F save 50% $4,950 CALL
Network License 512-NW-F $2,475 CALL

 

The Sentence Master: Level 4 (Mac/Win3.1/95/98 CD)
1 Copy 513-F $495
5 Copies 513-5-F save 30% $1,732 CALL
10 Copies 513-10-F save 40% $2,970 CALL
20 Copies 513-20-F save 50% $4,950 CALL
Network License 513-NW-F $2,475 CALL

Buy all four levels and save!

 The Sentence Master: Level 1- 4 Package (Mac/Win3.1/95/98 CD)
1 Package  804-F $1,485
5 Packages 804-5-F save 30% $5,197 CALL
10 Packages 804-10-F save 40% $8,910 CALL
20 Packages 804-20-F save 50% $14,850 CALL
Network License 804-NW-F $7,425 CALL
FREE Goals and Objectives
You'll save hours of valuable time when you sit down to write individualized plans for your clients. Our Goals & Objectives can be directly inserted into your IFSPs, IEPs, or IHPs, or modified to suit your needs.

Want to learn more about The Sentence Master? See our monograph, a scholarly article that gives theoretical and instructional information about these programs. The most current research is cited and tips for using the programs are given.

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