This study is being undertaken by Professor Joanne Arciuli and Annemarie Murphy within the Communication, Cognition, and Wellbeing Research Group in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, and is funded by the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation.

Children who take part in this study will complete a series of reading and related assessments and receive 36 hours of online literacy instruction using the ABRACADABRA program delivered by a trained program facilitator.

Parents will be oriented to the ABRACADABRA program prior to its delivery and will assist the program facilitator. With guidance from the researchers, parents will also complete 6.5 hours of reading activities with their child during the instruction period. Parents will take part in a 30- to 45-minute interview with the researchers at the end of the study to discuss their experiences implementing the literacy program at home with their child.

To be eligible children must be currently living in Australia, have no serious hearing or vision impairments, be able to communicate verbally at least at a sentence level, be able to identify at least 1 letter of the alphabet, use English as their first language and be able to sustain attention for at least 15mins. Participants will also require access to a home computer and internet.

If interested, contact annemarie.murphy@flinders.edu.au / 0423 593 306.