Nonsense! for Android

11 things about Nonsense!

1. The ability to sound out nonsense words is the ultimate measure of one’s decoding skills, ensuring that users are not tempted to guess at “regular” words.

2. It was developed in response to a question he asked in passing about a year ago: “Can you think of a program I could design that would help your students become better readers?” He simply wanted a fun programming project, but it turned into a year-long labor of love and collaboration with a lot of tuning and tweaking along the way.

3. GONE is the temptation for students to GUESS at familiar words as each generated nonsense word is not in their familiar lexicon.

4. Decoding nonsense words requires the reader to rely SOLELY on his/her ability to attach sound to the 40+ phonemes and to successfully blend them.

5. It creates a safe learning environment because nonsense words are inherently silly! It’s difficult not to laugh when reading some of them.

6. Learners enter the mad scientist’s laboratory where they control the mighty generator’s on/off switch to create their own nonsense words.

7. It is recommended for use by learning & reading specialists, speech and language therapists (SLTs), ESL/ESOL teachers, classroom teachers and parents to support students.

8. **Nonsense!** is a nonsense word generator that takes much of the decoding pressure off while putting the FUN into reading.

9. **Nonsense!** is designed to help dyslexics, struggling readers, ESL/ESOL students, and those who struggle with articulation.

10. This app has a story, as most good things do! It was designed by an Orton-Gillingham certified instructor and teacher (M.Ed) in conjunction with her technology savvy spouse, who holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Johns Hopkins University.

11. It was made by real-life educators with the goal of making a difference, to help the one in five students (!) who struggle to read.