Special Spelling User Guide - Introduction

Editions of Special Spelling

Over time there have been 2 different editions of Special Spelling:

• Special Spelling
  The original edition for iPad & iPhone or for Android & Chromebook. This used to be available from the App Store, Google Play and Amazon Appstore, but is no longer available and no longer supported.
• Special Spelling Plus
  The current web-based edition that can be used on iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, Windows, Mac and Linux. It has all the features and content of the previous edition, and much more. Like our other web-based apps, Special Spelling Plus is downloaded directly from Special iApps, and is included as part of all paid subscriptions to Special iApps Membership. An annually-renewing subscription with a 14-day free trial can be purchased on the Special iApps website. Subscriptions cannot be purchased from any other stores.

To use the web-based edition, you will first need to install it as detailed in Chapter 2.

This user guide is for Special Spelling Plus, not the previous edition. For the sake of brevity, in some places we refer to Special Spelling Plus as just Special Spelling.

About Special Spelling

Special Spelling is an app designed to help develop young children's word spelling, understanding vowels, identifying spelling patterns and letter sounds, as well as improving their listening skills, memory and sound production. For all children spelling helps with their reading skills. Learning to spell cements the connections between letters and sounds, helping to improve both reading and writing as well as speech and communication. Special Spelling can be used alongside Special Words, which is an app that supports whole word matching activities, as well as our other apps Special Stories, Special Numbers and Match & Find.

There are 6 activities: Spell The Word, Find The First Letter, Find the Ending, Find The Vowel, Find The Double Letters, and Find The Sound. All are clear, uncluttered, and can be used in any order. Each activity is configurable allowing you to set the level of difficulty to suit your child, and adjust to their ability as confidence grows. This includes setting the word length limit, extra cards, hints, sounds and rewards.

Special Spelling comes with the same 96 written words children use in their early vocabulary as featured in Special Words. You can personalise by editing the words/pictures or adding your own, reordering or deleting.

You can have more than one set of words, or profiles in the app, and this can be especially useful if working with more than one child. You can save time by sharing your resources between our Special Words app. You can also transfer word lists between devices. The app has built-in help you can access by tapping the Actions button in the main view.

The current version supports American and British English. We hope to include additional languages in future versions. If you think this app would be beneficial in another language, get in touch by sending us an email to support@specialiapps.org.