Floreo presents some hidden opportunities for individuals who are working on reading. For those who struggle to learn to read, exercising that reading “muscle” on a daily basis is critical; however, it can be challenging to find ways to motivate or encourage daily reading. Think of Floreo as a way of making some reading opportunities fun. 

Here are a few beginning thoughts on some incidental reading opportunities in the various Floreo environments: 

For sign reading: Try reading the street signs in a lesson such as  Neighborhood Crosswalk, or have your Learner read the overhead grocery store section signs in Orienting to the Grocery Store. There are additional signs in the movie theater. If you go into Conversation Corner with Jordan and Marcie: Movie Theater and pause the avatar, you can ask the Learner to look around and find the theater numbers, the ticket booth, the concession stand, and the restrooms. Our new Teen Talk: Social Squares lesson has signs in the environment with a short amount of text that allow the Learner to control the pace of the lessons. 

Look for Exit signs: For safety, individuals should be able to scan the environment and locate the exit signs. You can find exit signs in the following lessons: (in the cafeteria) Join a Conversation: Cafeteria; (in the school hallway) Chit-Chat with Myra, Small Talk in Motion, (classroom) Find a Seat in the Classroom, Raise Your Hand - Kindergarten; (in the movie theater) Time Management: Multitasking. Sometimes your Learner might find more than one exit sign!

For label or title reading: Ask your Learner to read the food names in Scan the Store Shelves, or the names of the books in the lockers in Greetings in Motion (also in Low Traffic and High Traffic). Book titles are also readable in small talk lessons such as Intro to Small Talk with Carlos. There are labels on the foods and on the machines in the three Time Management lessons (Organizational Habits; Multitasking; and, Interruptions and Distractions,) 

For list reading: Both Scan the Store Shelves as well as the three time management lessons (mentioned above) have lists embedded in the targeted tasks. 

If your Learner needs to practice phrase or sentence level reading: In Find a Seat in the Classroom, the Learner will find classroom rules, and at least one informational poster. Other posters on walls can be read in lessons such as Chit-Chat with Alejandro, Small Talk in Motion and Security Savvy: Airport Security Check. Our recently released Pool Party Safety: The Basics has written rules that the Learner reads before entering the pool area. If you are running a session with 2 students, consider having one Learner wear the headset while the other Learner reads the banners on the Coach device. 

Did you ever notice that in Scan the Store Shelves, when Learners are given support, they are directed to scan from left to right, row by row, top to bottom? This is the same direction that eyes need to scan when reading on the page in most languages. This pattern was put in this lesson  intentionally to support Learners who are still learning to scan a page of text. These are just a few reading opportunities that are available to Floreo Learners. Let us know your favorite ways to use Floreo to strengthen your Learners' reading skills!

Floreo's Director of Applied Digital Therapy, Rita Solórzano MA, CCC-SLP, is a Speech Language Pathologist with over 30 years of experience.