

Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
COMPREHENSION BOOSTER MANUAL V 1.33 ................................................................ 1
CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................. 3
1
2
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 5
1.1
WHAT IS COMPREHENSION BOOSTER?.......................................................................... 5
1.2
THE STRUCTURE OF COMPREHENSION BOOSTER .......................................................... 5
1.3
THE DEVELOPMENT OF READING COMPREHENSION ...................................................... 6
1.4
IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION ........................................................................ 7
1.4.1
Fluency ............................................................................................................. 7
1.4.2
Vocabulary ....................................................................................................... 8
1.4.3
Memory ............................................................................................................ 8
1.4.4
Thinking skills .................................................................................................. 9
1.5
HOW COMPREHENSION BOOSTER ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF DEVELOPING READERS . 9
1.6
FURTHER READING ...................................................................................................... 10
SOFTWARE INSTALLATION (STAND-ALONE EDITION ONLY) ......................... 11
2.1
MINIMUM COMPUTER SPECIFICATION ........................................................................ 11
INSTALL COMPREHENSION BOOSTER OR THE EXPANSION PACK ......................................... 12
3
4
2.1.1
Install the Standard Edition ........................................................................... 12
2.1.2
Installing the Expansion Pack ........................................................................ 13
GETTING STARTED ........................................................................................................ 14
3.1
STARTING COMPREHENSION BOOSTER ....................................................................... 14
3.2
MISSING CD ................................................................................................................ 14
3.3
ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD ...................................................................................... 14
3.4
ADMINISTRATOR MODE SCREEN ................................................................................ 15
ADMINISTRATION LOGIN ............................................................................................ 16
4.1
REGISTERING COMPREHENSION BOOSTER .................................................................. 16
4.2
INFORMATION SCREEN ................................................................................................ 17
4.3
STUDENT REGISTER..................................................................................................... 17
4.4
ADDING STUDENTS ..................................................................................................... 17
4.5
SELECTING STUDENTS ................................................................................................. 19
4.6
EDITING STUDENTS ..................................................................................................... 19
4.7
DELETING STUDENTS .................................................................................................. 20
4.8
START A COMPREHENSION BOOSTER EXERCISE ......................................................... 20
4.9
IMPORTING STUDENTS ................................................................................................ 20
4.10 EXPORTING STUDENTS ................................................................................................ 21
4.11 MANAGE STUDENT CLASSES ...................................................................................... 22
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
4 Contents
4.12 STUDENT PROGRESS .................................................................................................... 23
4.13 COMPREHENSION ITEMS .............................................................................................. 24
4.14 TEACHING PLANS ........................................................................................................ 25
4.15 CREATING A TEACHING PLAN ..................................................................................... 26
4.16 CHANGE A TEACHING PLAN ........................................................................................ 27
4.17 DELETE A TEACHING PLAN ......................................................................................... 27
4.18 STARTING A TEACHING PLAN ..................................................................................... 28
4.19 VIEWING TEACHING PLAN INFORMATION .................................................................. 28
4.20 REPORTS ...................................................................................................................... 28
4.20.1 Using the Report Screen................................................................................. 28
4.21 SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION .......................................................................................... 29
4.22 CREATE A DATABASE ARCHIVE .................................................................................. 29
4.23 LOAD A SAVED DATABASE ARCHIVE ......................................................................... 30
4.24 RESETTING THE DATABASE......................................................................................... 30
4.25 CHANGE ADMINISTRATION PASSWORD ...................................................................... 31
4.26 USER GUIDE ................................................................................................................ 31
4.27 EXIT ADMINISTRATOR ................................................................................................ 31
5
6
7
STUDENT LOGIN ............................................................................................................. 32
5.1
LOGGING IN ................................................................................................................. 32
5.2
USING COMPREHENSION ITEMS .................................................................................. 32
TEACHER GUIDE ............................................................................................................. 37
6.1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 37
6.2
TEACHING PLANS ........................................................................................................ 38
6.3
STARTING LEVELS ....................................................................................................... 38
6.4
CHECKING PROGRESS .................................................................................................. 39
6.5
REPORTS ...................................................................................................................... 39
6.6
READING SPEED ........................................................................................................... 39
6.7
VISUAL STRESS ............................................................................................................ 40
6.8
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES.............................................................................................. 41
PARENT GUIDE ................................................................................................................ 42
7.1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 42
7.2
USING COMPREHENSION BOOSTER ............................................................................. 42
7.3
VISUAL STRESS ............................................................................................................ 43
7.4
REPORTS ...................................................................................................................... 43
7.5
MOTIVATION ............................................................................................................... 44
8
GLOSSARY......................................................................................................................... 45
9
DEVELOPMENT TEAM .................................................................................................. 46
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster is an educational program designed to improve reading comprehension and
listening comprehension for children aged 7 – 14. It provides students with a personalised learning
environment in which they can obtain interactive practice in reading (or listening to) and
understanding texts of different genres and varying difficulty. The emphasis in the program is on
building the advanced comprehension skills that are required for extracting key information from
texts, extending vocabulary, applying inferential thinking and assimilating complex ideas.
Comprehension Booster enables students to read passages themselves, or read while listening to the
passages being read to them. The program can also be used in ‘listen only’ mode, which develops
listening comprehension and is particularly suitable for children with auditory processing
difficulties, semantic-pragmatic disorder, or specific language disorders.
Although Comprehension Booster is particularly beneficial for pupils with comprehension
difficulties, the program is suitable for all students in the designated age range. All students need
opportunities to practise the skills required for good comprehension, and Comprehension Booster
should raise the comprehension levels of students whose reading is average, as well as those whose
reading is below average. The program will also help to improve reading speed, vocabulary
knowledge, thinking and memory skills.
The teacher can control difficulty levels in the program or, alternatively, the program will operate
automatically. This makes Comprehension Booster appropriate for use at home as well as at school,
and it is also suitable for children with impaired hearing or vision. The program generates progress
charts so that the child’s gains in reading comprehension, vocabulary development and reading
speed can be monitored, which also helps to build their confidence.
Comprehension Booster comprises up to 140 passages of graded difficulty, 70 of which are fiction
passages (narrative texts) and 70 are non-fiction passages (informational texts). The 70 fiction
passages are supplied as an integral part of the standard edition of the program; the non-fiction
passages are available as an optional Expansion Pack. Vocabulary support is provided on request
for up to 1800 unusual or difficult words. Each passage is followed by multiple choice
comprehension questions. The program incorporates digitised speech recordings from professional
actors for each passage, for all multiple choice questions and answers, and for all words in the
vocabulary support dictionary. There are over 6000 separate sound recordings. Each passage can be
read, listened to, or read while listening.
Comprehension Booster is organised in seven levels of increasing difficulty from Starter Level to
Level F (see Table 1). Each level corresponds to the reading comprehension level expected in a
given school year (or years), from Years 1-2 (age 5–7) to Years 8–9 (age 12–14+). At each
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
6 Introduction
subsequent level the approximate passage length, number of multiple-choice questions, and the
number of unusual or difficult words all increase.
Comprehension Booster is designed mainly for a reading comprehension age range of 7–14, but a
Starter Level has been added to cater for the needs of (a) very young readers (below age 7) who are
ready to cope with passage reading and multiple-choice questions, and (b) older children with
reading difficulties, who may need to start with simpler passages that do not contain any unusual or
difficult words. At the hardest level (Level F) the passages and questions present students with
major challenges and hence may well be useful for students older than 14 who would still benefit
from activities to develop reading or listening comprehension skills.
Program
level
School
Year
Reading
comprehension
age (years)
Passage
length in
words
(approx.)
No. of
questions
No. of
unusual or
difficult
words
Starter
1-2
5-7
50
2
0
A
3
7-8
100
4
5-10
B
4
8-9
125
5
5-10
C
5
9-10
150
6
10-15
D
6
10-11
175
7
10-15
E
7
11-12
200
8
15-20
F
8-9
12-14+
300
10
25-30
Table 1 The Structure of Comprehension Booster
Viewed simply, reading is a combination of two independent abilities: word recognition and
language comprehension. The former is an explicitly taught skill but the latter is derived from the
child’s general experience with oral language both inside and outside the school. Word recognition
is normally taught in the early stages of schooling providing a sound foundation for development of
skilled reading in later stages. The core of word recognition is phonological decoding (aka
‘phonics’), which is applying the alphabetic principle and knowledge of the relationships between
letters (‘graphemes’) and the spoken sounds of the language (‘phonemes’) in order to decipher
written or printed words. The majority of words are regular in their orthography and are susceptible
to phonological decoding. A few words are irregular (e.g. ‘yacht’) and consequently recognition of
these has to be learned as whole-word units. Many research studies have shown that, provided
children are taught appropriately, the acquisition of decoding skills should not be a major hurdle
other than for those who have dyslexia or serious disorders of language.
Once children have mastered the skills of word recognition – or, at least, have made significant
progress in mastering these skills – they next need to apply these skills when reading texts, drawing
upon their language comprehension to understand what they read. For most children this
development takes place during the period from 7–14 years. In order to accomplish this fluently and
with good understanding, however, children need large amounts of practice in reading different
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
7
types of text. Unfortunately if children’s only reading activities take place in school, they will not
obtain sufficient practice to develop effective reading comprehension. Children aged 7–14 should
be reading for at least half-an-hour every day, over and above the reading they do in school. So do
children get enough practice? A recent study by the National Literacy Trust
[http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/] suggests that a significant number do not. Their survey of the
reading habits of over 8,000 primary and secondary schoolchildren revealed that less than 50% read
every day or almost every day, over 30% of children read outside school less than once a week, and
15% rarely read outside school at all.
Not surprisingly, national statistics indicate that developing effective reading comprehension
remains a huge educational challenge. In England, SATs results show that 20% of 11-year-olds
have poor reading comprehension. As children get older, the problem gets worse rather than better:
by 14 years of age 33% of pupils have unsatisfactory reading comprehension. Recent national
surveys have revealed that over 25% of adults in the UK have serious problems with reading, and in
the vast majority of cases the chief difficulty is in understanding what is read. The occupational
opportunities of these individuals are limited to labour-intensive unskilled jobs and they are at high
risk of unemployment. Research studies also link poor literacy skills to offending and general
alienation from society. Admittedly, there are many social and familial factors involved in the
equation. Nevertheless, this brief overview of the national statistics leads to an inescapable
conclusion: students who leave school without the ability to make sense of what they read are at
serious risk of diminished opportunities in life.
Although the development of reading comprehension skills is an integral part of the National
Literacy Strategy, the fact that so many children are failing in reading comprehension indicates that
more needs to be done. Getting children to read more, especially at home, is one important strategy
but this can be very difficult to achieve. The National Literacy Trust survey on reading habits
[http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/] found that in addition to the substantial number of children who
rarely or never read outside school, almost 20% of parents never read themselves, almost 40% of
pupils never talk to their parents about what they are reading, and over 20% of children said that
their parents never encourage them to read. But over 50% of pupils said they would read more if
they had more time. It can be hard for teachers or parents to make reading a sufficiently attractive
pursuit to compete with television, social networking or computer games. The National Literacy
Trust survey revealed that over 90% of children have access to a computer at home, and about 50%
of pupils said that the availability of reading games would encourage them to read more.
Research has uncovered a number of key factors that contribute to poor reading comprehension.
Amongst these factors the most important are: lack of fluency, limited vocabulary, weak memory
skills, and undeveloped thinking skills (especially inferential thinking). The following paragraphs
outline some of the essential features of each of the factors.
Reading is a skill and – like all skills – will not improve without practice. Among other important
contributions to the reading process, practice conveys automatic word recognition, usually referred
to as fluency. Reading fluency implies that the vast majority of words in a text will be recognised
speedily, directly and, on the whole, without recourse to phonological decoding (which can slow the
process down and increase the load on working memory). Just as a well-trodden path is easier to
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
8 Introduction
traverse than an overgrown one, this process needs large amounts of practice to become established.
The more frequently words are accessed in the mental lexicon, the faster and more fluent their
recognition becomes. Lack of fluency slows down the reading process and diverts effort away from
understanding the meaning.
Fluency is not just dependent on practice, of course. If a reader encounters a word that is not in his
or her mental lexicon (i.e. vocabulary) then it will be difficult to identify the word, even with
recourse to phonological decoding. That takes us to the next factor in the equation.
If children do not understand the words in the text then their overall comprehension of the passage
is likely to be impaired. About 30% of poor readers also have poor vocabulary knowledge. In
particular, many studies have found that children with poor reading comprehension tend to have
weak vocabulary knowledge. For similar reasons, children with poor reading comprehension tend to
have poor listening comprehension as well. However, the relationship between reading and
vocabulary is reciprocal: children with good vocabulary can read better but also the experience of
reading enables children to develop their vocabulary further. The more that children read the larger
their vocabularies become, which makes them even better readers, and so on.
Skilled readers will often be able to work out the meaning of a newly encountered word from the
context and meaning of the surrounding text. Here is an example:
Box 1
If you do not know what a ‘demitasse’ is, you can probably work it out from the context. As it is an
English word derived from French, it helps if you know some French but it is not essential in order
to understand what is going on in the story. (If you are still puzzled then you will have to look it up
in a dictionary!)
Memory – particularly working memory – is often found to be weak in poor comprehenders.
Working memory is the cognitive process that enables us to store limited amounts of information
for a limited time while also carrying out a task. It is used in almost every human activity, including
speaking, listening, reading, writing, mathematical calculation, and solving problems. Reading is a
quintessential working memory activity because it requires us to hold words and phrases in memory
whilst simultaneously decoding further words in the text until a meaning can be established. The
longer the decoding process takes, the greater the strain on working memory and the consequent
increased risk of loss of meaning. There is a relationship between working memory and both word
recognition efficiency and vocabulary knowledge: the faster words are recognised the less
constraint on working memory to access words and meanings. In a famous episode of the Peanuts
cartoon strip, Snoopy the dog is reading Tolstoy’s weighty novel ‘War and Peace’, but at the rate of
one word a day! ‘Why?’ asks his friend Charlie Brown. ‘Because I like to think about what I read,’
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
9
replies Snoopy. Quite apart from the extreme length of time it would take Snoopy to finish the
novel (in fact over 1,500 years), reading at that speed would render it virtually impossible to
understand anything of the text at all. Children have to be able to decode the text fluently and at a
reasonable pace before they can achieve good comprehension.
The final critical factor in reading comprehension is the complex of sophisticated thought processes
needed to understand language, whether written or spoken. These include the ability to relate
information in the text to wider knowledge, to draw inferences and to make deductions. Research
studies have shown that poor comprehenders are likely to be impaired in all these skills. For
example, suppose the child read the text: ‘The teacher sat down. The chair creaked under her
weight.’ Although it doesn’t actually say that the teacher sat on the chair, this is a reasonable
inference from the text. Similarly, it can be deduced from the information in the text that the teacher
was probably large. Both of these conclusions in turn depend on the wider knowledge that chairs
sometimes creak when sat on, especially by heavy people. Developing these high-level cognitive
processes not only takes time and practice, it also requires a learning framework that encourages
children to think about what they read, to go beyond the text, and to apply their imagination.
Referring back to the extract in Box 1 (above), it is evident that understanding this passage makes
considerable demands on inferential thinking. For example, it does not specify in the text that (i)
Peter was carrying something, (ii) the demitasse contained coffee, (iii) the woman caused the
accident, (iv) the coffee splashed on the woman’s skirt. All of these things have to be inferred from
the information given in the story. If you have ever tried to carry something like drinks across a
crowded café (i.e. if you have ‘world knowledge’ that can be applied to this situation) it is easier to
visualise the scenario, but again, it is not essential.
Comprehension Booster has been specifically designed to address the typical problems of poor
comprehenders outlined in the previous section, but is equally suitable for other readers in the 7–14
age range, helping them to improve their skills, consolidate their knowledge and enhance their
confidence. The program provides pupils with plenty of enjoyable interactive practice with a wide
variety of interesting and challenging texts, opportunities to acquire new vocabulary, to develop
working memory, and to learn the thinking skills required for understanding text. Minimal adult
involvement is required. Feedback is immediate, which helps to optimise learning. Comprehension
Booster is a very flexible learning tool. Students can work through the program themselves, in
which case the program will automatically advance them through the levels, or they can advance
manually at the discretion of the Administrator. Alternatively, teachers can set specific Teaching
Plans for individual children, groups of children, or whole classes. Speech can be enabled or
disabled according to pupil needs. Learning targets can be set by the teacher. Finally, reports give a
wealth of information for the learner, the teacher or the parent, so that progress can be assessed.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
10 Introduction
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. (Eds) (2007) Children's Comprehension Problems in Oral and Written
Language: A Cognitive Perspective. Guildford Press.
Oakhill, J., & Cain, K. (2004). The development of comprehension skills. In Nunes, T., & Bryant,
P. (Eds.) Handbook of Children's Literacy . Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 155-180.
[Download from http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/uploads/KateCain20051116T113348.pdf]
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. (2004). Reading comprehension difficulties. Chapter in Nunes, T., & Bryant,
P. (Eds.) Handbook of Children's Literacy . Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 313-338.
[Download from http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/uploads/KateCain20051116T113325.pdf]
Cain, K., Oakhill, J. , Barnes, M. A., & Bryant, P. E. (2001). Comprehension skill, inference
making ability and their relation to knowledge. Memory and Cognition, 29, 850-859. [Download
from http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/people/uploads/KateCain20050922T174654.pdf]
McNamara, D. (2007) Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, interventions, and
technologies. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pickering, S. (Ed.) (2006) Working Memory and Education. Elsevier.
Alloway, T. and Gathercole, S. (Eds.) (2006) Working Memory and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Psychology Press.
Gathercole, S. E. & Alloway, T. P. (2008). Working memory and learning: A practical guide. Sage
Press.
Gathercole, S.E., Alloway, T.P., Willis, C.S., & Adams, A.M. (2006). Working memory in children
with reading disabilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 93, 265-281. [Download from
http://www.york.ac.uk/res/wml/Gathercole,%20Alloway%20JECP.pdf]
Pickering, S. J. & Gathercole, S. E. (2004). Distinctive working memory profiles in children with
special educational needs. Educational Psychology, 24, 393-408. [Download from
http://www.york.ac.uk/res/wml/Pickering&Gathercole.pdf
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster may be installed on a Personal Computer system with the following
minimum specifications to run successfully.
For minimum computer specifications for the Network version please visit this web page
http://www.lucid-research.com/t/manuals and look in the installation manuals for the Network
edition of the product.






Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
12 Software Installation
(Stand-alone edition only)
Comprehension Booster Standard Edition or its Expansion Pack must be installed from an
Administrator account by using the setup.exe program supplied on the appropriate CD Rom.
Browse to the CD and find this icon:
Double click this icon to launch the Menu page (see below).
Click the Install now button to continue with the software installation.
Or click View the Manual to display the Comprehension Booster manual.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
13
You can also install the software directly off the CD by opening the folder named Software on the
CD and locating another setup.exe icon.
Right-mouse click on this icon and from the grey menu choose:
Run as Administrator. Then follow the instructions presented on screen as the Installer copies files
onto your hard drive..
Note: This second installation method is strongly advised if you are using a ‘Home Edition’ of
Windows which may be quite restricted in what software you are allowed to install. By choosing
the Run as administrator option you are giving yourself much stronger powers to install software
and there are less chances of the installation process coming up with errors.
It is recommended that you browse to the CD and run the file setup.exe using the second method
described above; in other words, right mouse click over the setup.exe file and from the small menu
that appears, choose the option Run as administrator.
The setup for the Expansion Pack ends with the new non-fictional texts, their questions, answers
and definitions being injected into the software’s database.
When you next visit the Comprehension Items page (see Figure 38) you should find there are now
140 texts listed and not just the original 70.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
14 Getting Started
Click on the Start button and choose Programs
 Lucid Research  Comprehension Booster
 Comprehension Booster
Alternatively, Double click the Comprehension
Booster icon on your Desktop.
Figure 1
When you run Stand-alone edition of
Comprehension Booster (not the Network
Edition) the original Standard Edition CD Rom
must be in the CD drive. If it is not then you will
receive an error message, (see Figure 2). Insert
the correct CD and try again.
Figure 2
When you run Comprehension Booster for the
first time you will be presented with the
Administrator Login box, (see Figure 3).
Note: The default Administrator Password for
Comprehension Booster is ‘lucid’.
Figure 3
Enter the password into the Password box and click the Login button.
Once you have logged in for the first time Lucid Research recommends that you change the
Administrator Password, (see Change Administration Password on page 31).
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
15
The Administrator Screen displays an Options
Menu on the left hand side. Clicking on each
option will display the appropriate detail page.
There is a Help and Tips window beneath the
menu which will display context sensitive help
for each item the mouse pointer passes over.
These screens can be run in a window or as full
screen within Comprehension Booster.
Figure 4
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster will run as a Trial
version for up to 14 days. Trial version will let
you experience how the software helps to
improve your children’s reading and
comprehension. Note: some of the functionality
and comprehension items are disabled in the
Trial version.
To activate the full product you need to purchase
a serial number from Lucid Research or an
authorised reseller.
Figure 5
Once you have a serial number click on the link
‘Click here to register Comprehension
Booster’ on the Information screen, (see Figure
5).
Enter the details of the Administrator name, the
institution name and your new serial number in
the appropriate fields, (see Figure 6).
Click on the Register button to activate the
software.
Figure 6
Comprehension Booster will display a
Congratulations message, (see Figure 7). All
functions and comprehension items should now
be available for use.
Figure 7
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
17
After registering your software, the Information
screen will display your registration details and
the date and time that the software was
registered, (see Figure 8).
The Information screen also displays a ‘Credits’
link; clicking this link will display the core team
that developed Comprehension Booster.
You can also click on the
www.lucid-research.com link to open up the
Lucid Research Website in your browser.
Figure 8
Click on the Student Register option within the
menu to display the Student Register Detail
screen, see (Figure 9).
A new installation of Comprehension Booster
will not have any students defined.
Note: The trial version of Comprehension
Booster will only allow you to create 1 student.
Figure 9
Click on the
icon on the Student Register
Detail Screen to add a new student.
Complete all the relevant fields. When you enter
the student’s date of birth Comprehension
Booster will automatically display the student’s
age.
The Class field allows you to allocate the
student to an appropriate group, (see Manage
Student Classes on page 22).
The password box will automatically be set to
the student’s Date of Birth. If you wish to set
specific passwords uncheck the ‘Use date of
birth as password’ check box and type your
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
18 Administration Login
chosen password into the password field.
Figure 10
Use the drop down menu to choose an
appropriate Teaching Plan, (see Teaching Plans
on page 25).
With the ‘Show age appropriate Plans only’ box
checked Comprehension Booster will display
the Plans for the current age of the student.
Uncheck this check box to display all available
Teaching Plans.
The ‘Progress to next level on completion’
check box allows the student to automatically
continue when they have completed a level.
This only applies to the built in Teaching Plans
Starter Level to Level F, (see Teaching Plans
on page 25).
Figure 11
For example, if a student is placed onto Level A and Progress to next level on completion is
ticked, the student will automatically be placed onto Level B at the next login after completing
Level A.
If the Progress to next level on completion box is not ticked then the administrator will have to
manually assign the student to a new level on completion of the previous level.
The Item Viewing Mode can be set to allow ONE or UNLIMITED views of the item text. Setting
the Mode to Unlimited allows the student to return to the item text whilst answering the questions.
Setting the mode to ONE prevents the student from returning to the item text and they must attempt
all the questions before moving on.
The Presentation Mode can be set to ‘Text and Audio’, ‘Text only’ and ‘Audio only’. Using
‘Text and Audio’ the passage text can be viewed as it is read aloud. Using ‘Text only’ prevents the
passage from being read aloud and using ‘Audio only’ does not display the passage text, only the
audio is heard.
Setting the Item Pass Mode to ‘Item must be PASSED’, means the item will not be marked as
passed until the student has correctly answered all of the questions. Or setting the Item Pass Mode
to ‘PASS item automatically after n attempts’, allows the Administrator to determine the
maximum number of attempts the student makes on an item before it is passed automatically. This
allows the student to avoid becoming stuck and to move on from an item which they are having
trouble with.
Click the OK button to complete creating a student.
Note: In the Trial version you can only assign a student to the Trial Mode Teaching Plan.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
19
When students have been added to
Comprehension Booster they will be displayed
in the Student Register Detail Screen. Clicking
on one of the students will select that student
and make active the Edit and Delete toolbar
buttons.
You can also select more than one student from
the list by holding the SHIFT or CTRL keys
down. This is useful when you want to delete a
group of students or create a student export file.
Selecting a student will display any
comprehension items the student has attempted
in the lower half of the screen. (see Student
Progress on page 23).
Figure 12
Pressing the Ctrl and C keys within any of the ‘list’ displays in the program will copy the
information to the clipboard where it can be pasted into other applications, such as MS Excel.
The list of columns can be sorted according to each of the column headings. Click on the
appropriate heading to sort the items beneath it into ascending order. Click the same column
heading again to sort in descending order.
Note: The Ctrl C copy function is disabled in the Trial version.
Clicking on the
icon will allow you to edit
the currently selected student.
Most of the fields can be changed.
If the student has started the Teaching Plan you
cannot move them onto a new plan unless you
abort the current plan.
To abort the current Teaching Plan click
.
Note: In the Trial version you cannot Edit the
student record.
Figure 13
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
20 Administration Login
Clicking on the will delete the currently
selected student or students. Click on the Yes
button to confirm the deletion.
Note: In the Trial version you cannot delete
students.
Figure 14
Clicking on the
icon will start a comprehension item for the currently selected student.
When the student has finished with their exercise,(see Glossary) Comprehension Booster will
prompt you for the Administrator password in order to return to the Student Register screen.
You can create several students at a time by using the student import function. Create a text file or
student load file that contains all of the student records that you wish to import. To successfully
import these records the text file must follow the format shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15
Click on the
icon to locate your student load
file. This will display the Import from Student
Export File Dialog, which allows you to browse
to the folder where you have created your
Student Load file.
Select the file and click the Open button.
Figure 16
Comprehension Booster will display a message
box saying how many records have been
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
21
Figure 17
imported, (see Figure 17).
Comprehension Booster will also display a
message if any errors were encountered and give
you the name and location of the error file, (see
Figure 18).
The error file will give an indication of why the
record was rejected, (see Figure 19).
Figure 18
Figure 19
Any students imported will be displayed in the
student register.
Other fields within the student record will just
be assigned default values (see Figure 28).
Figure 20
You can also export students to a text file for use
within other applications. The export function
will export the fields as seen in Figure 15. The
export file will contain the details of all of the
selected students. The records themselves will
still remain in Comprehension Booster.
Click on the
icon to export students.
Select the folder and enter the filename that you
wish to export to and click the Save button.
Figure 21
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
22 Administration Login
Comprehension Booster will display a message
saying how many records have been exported,
the location and name of the export file.
Figure 22
The Manage Student Classes function allows
you to move students into different classes. You
define the classes, so they could match school
classes or forms. Or you could group students
into performance-based groups.
Click on the
icon.
Select the Source class from the drop down list.
Check the boxes of the students you wish to
allocate to a new class and then click the
Allocate button.
Figure 23
This will copy the students into the right hand
side.
Select a Destination Class from the drop down
list or type a new one into the field.
Click on the Close button.
To remove a student from a class you can either
allocate them to a new class or to class ‘none’.
Figure 24
The Student Register Screen should show the
students allocated to their new class.
Note: you can sort the list by clicking on the
appropriate column heading.
Figure 25
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
23
Student Progress can be tracked for each
comprehension item attempted within each
Teaching Plan.
Click on the
icon to display the comprehension
items that the student has attempted for the currently
selected Teaching Plan,
(see
Figure 26
Figure 26).
Completed items are coloured green. Failed
items are coloured red.
Click on the
icon to display the Teaching
Plans assigned to this student. Click on a
Teaching Plan to select it (see Figure 27).
Completed Teaching Plans will be coloured green and aborted Teaching Plans coloured red.
Click on the
icon to display the Definition
items that the student looked up (see Figure 28)
for the currently selected comprehension item
and Teaching Plan.
Click on the icon to display the Answers that
the student selected, (see Figure 29) for the
currently selected comprehension item and the
currently selected Teaching Plan.
Figure 27
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
24 Administration Login
Figure 28
Figure 29
Clicking on Comprehension Items in the
options menu will display the Comprehension
Items page.
Choose the Teaching Plan you wish to view
using the drop down list box.
Selecting one of the comprehension items
activates the view and preview buttons.
Pressing Ctrl + C will copy the list to the
clipboard for use in other applications.
Note: Ctrl + C copying has been disabled in the
Trial version.
Figure 30
Clicking on the
icon will display the Detail
View for the currently selected comprehension
item, (see Figure 31).
Figure 31
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
25
Clicking on the
icon will preview the
currently selected comprehension item, (see
Figure 32).
See Using Comprehension Items on page 32 for
information on how to control the
comprehension items.
Click the
items list.
to return to the comprehension
Figure 32
Teaching Plans are a method of grouping comprehension items together for a particular exercise.
See 6.2 Teaching Plans on page 38 for a fuller explanation of Teaching Plans.
There are a number of built-in Teaching Plans.
o Standard Teaching Plan – contains all of the comprehension items available
o Starter Level – contains comprehension items for reading age 5 – 6.
o Level A – contains comprehension items for reading age 7 – 8.
o Level B – contains comprehension items for reading age 8 – 9.
o Level C – contains comprehension items for reading age 9 – 10.
o Level D – contains comprehension items for reading age 10 – 11.
o Level E – contains comprehension items for reading age 11 – 12.
o Level F – contains comprehension items for reading age 12 – 14+.
o Trial Mode Only – contains a restricted set of comprehension items for use with the Trial
Version of Comprehension Booster.
Clicking the Teaching Plans menu option will
display a list of user defined Teaching Plans.
The built in Teaching Plans do not appear in this
list.
Selecting a Teaching Plan will display the
students assigned to that Plan in the lower
display pane.
Some of the toolbar buttons will be inactive until
a Teaching Plan has been selected.
Note: In the Trial version Teaching Plans can be
created and edited but they cannot actually be
used. Only the Trial Mode Teaching Plan can
Figure 33
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
26 Administration Login
be used.
Click on the
to Add a new Teaching Plan.
Choose which Teaching Plan you wish to
select items from. Check the box next to each
required item.
Use the
buttons to add or remove the
selected items to/from the new Teaching Plan.
Use the
to change the order of the items
within a level in the new Teaching Plan.
Click the Next button to continue.
Figure 34
Choose the source class of students from the
drop down list box.
Check each student that you wish to allocate
to the new Teaching Plan.
Use the
students.
buttons to add or remove
Click on Next to continue.
Note: Students can only be assigned to one
Teaching Plan at a time. If you add a student
to your new Plan, they will be removed from
any previously assigned Plan as long as they
have not started the plan. If the student’s
current Teaching Plan has been started then
you will have to Abort that plan before you
can assign the student to a new plan, (see
Editing Students on page 19).
Figure 35
Enter the name for the new Plan into the
Teaching Plan Name field.
Presentation mode can use the setting defined
with the Student Register, (see Adding
Students on page 17). Or the Presentation
Mode set in the student register can be
overridden by setting it to ‘Text and Audio’,
‘Text only’ or ‘Audio only’ for this Teaching
Plan only. So if a student is set up to use
‘Text Only’ but is then assigned to a Teaching
Plan using ‘Audio Only’, the comprehension
items will be presented to the student in
‘Audio Only’ mode.
Figure 36
Item viewing mode can also use the current
student setting or be specifically set to either
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
27
‘Allow ONE viewing of item text’ or ‘Allow
UNLIMITED viewing of item text’.
The Item Pass Mode can be set to ‘Use
student setting’, ‘Item must be PASSED’ or
‘PASS item automatically after n
attempts’, (see Adding Students on page 17).
Click the Finish button to create the Teaching
Plan.
The newly created Teaching Plan will be
displayed.
The list of Teaching Plans can be sorted by
clicking on the column labels.
Ctrl + C will copy the list to the clipboard for
use in other applications.
Figure 37
Note: Ctrl + C copying has been disabled in the Trial version.
Click on the
icon to edit the currently
selected Teaching Plan. This allows you to
change the selected Teaching Plan, (see
Creating a Teaching Plan on page 26).
Note: Once a student has started a Teaching
Plan some options within the Plan cannot be
changed. These options will be greyed out,
(see Figure 38)
Note: You cannot remove students from a
Teaching Plan. You have to allocate them to
another Plan.
Figure 38
If a student has started a Teaching Plan they cannot be assigned to a new Plan, until either their
current Plan is completed or the current Plan is aborted, (see Editing Students pg 19).
Clicking on the will delete the currently selected
Teaching Plan. Click on the Yes button to confirm
the deletion.
This will abort the teaching plan for all assigned
students and re-assign them to the default standard
teaching plan.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Figure 39
28 Administration Login
Clicking the
will start the currently selected
Teaching Plan.
Comprehension Booster will prompt for a student
login. Only the students assigned to the selected
Teaching Plan will be able to login.
When the student has logged in they will be
presented with the list of items allocated to the
Teaching Plan, (see Figure 40).
Figure 40
When the student finishes with this exercise you must enter the administrator password if you wish
to return to the Teaching Plan screen.
Clicking on the
icon will display information
about the students currently assigned to the
Teaching Plan.
Clicking on the
icon will display information
about the comprehension items allocated to the
Teaching Plan.
Ctrl + C will copy the list to the clipboard for
use in other applications.
Note: Ctrl + C copying has been disabled in the
Trial version.
Figure 41
Click on the Report menu option to view the
progress reports for each student.
The student can be chosen using the drop down
list box towards the bottom of the page.
If the student has completed any Teaching Plans
then these reports can be chosen from the drop
down list box for Teaching Plans.
Click on the
Click on
to print the report.
to zoom in or out of the report.
Click on
to move forwards or backwards
if the report has multiple pages.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
29
Figure 42
Clicking on the
icon allows you to add a
comment to the report.
Figure 43
Clicking on System Administration from the
options menu presents options for managing the
database and changing the administration
password, (see Figure 44).
Figure 44
You should regularly backup your
Comprehension Booster database and store the
backup file on a different computer or backup
media in order to prevent data loss.
Click on ‘Save database archive’
Browse to the folder you wish to save the
archive in or accept the default folder.
Type an appropriate filename or accept the
default.
Figure 45
Click on the Save button.
Comprehension Booster will display a Database
Archive saved message, (see Figure 46).
Figure 46
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
30 Administration Login
You may need to restore a database archive after
any sort of machine failure or if the database
becomes unusable.
Warning! Restoring a database will overwrite
or replace all the data stored within the current
database.
Figure 47
Click on ‘Load Database Archive’
Confirm you want replace all the data in the current database with an archive by clicking the Yes
button.
Browse to the folder that stores the database
archive.
Select the appropriate file and click the Open
button.
The database archive will be loaded into the
active database replacing any previously held
information.
Figure 48
Comprehension Booster will display either a successful message (see Figure 49) or an error
message if it has encountered problems (see Figure 50).
Figure 49
Figure 50
Warning: This function will completely erase
all of the information in your Comprehension
Booster database. Ensure you have taken an
archive copy (see Create a Database Archive on
page 29) before performing a database reset.
Click on the ‘Reset Database’ option.
Confirm you want to clear the database by
clicking on the Yes button, (see Figure 51).
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Figure 51
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
31
Click on the ‘Change Administration Password’
option.
Enter the current password.
Enter the new password and confirm it by
entering the new password again in the confirm
box.
Click OK
Figure 52
If the passwords in the new password and
confirm new password boxes do not match
Comprehension Booster will display an error
message (see Figure 53).
Figure 53
Click OK and try again.
Clicking on the User Guide option from the menu will display a copy of this manual. The manual
will be opened in either Adobe Acrobat Reader or within your default web browser depending upon
the settings of your machine.
Click on the Exit Administrator menu option to return to the normal student login prompt.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
When Comprehension Booster starts you are
presented with the Student login screen.
You can login as a student and start a
Comprehension Booster exercise or you can
click the Admin button to login in
Administration mode.
Figure 54
Use the drop down list box to choose the
appropriate student.
Enter the password and click the OK button.
Figure 55
When a student logs into Comprehension
Booster they will be presented with a list of
comprehension items within their currently
assigned Teaching Plan.
Items in green have been completed. Items in
red have been attempted but not yet completed
successfully. Items in dark blue have not yet
been attempted. Items are highlighted in pale
blue when the mouse is over them.
Figure 56
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
33
Clicking a pale blue item will start that
comprehension exercise.
You will be presented with the Title page, click
on the ‘Click here to begin’ link.
Figure 57
Depending upon the setting of the presentation
mode, the item will be displayed and read aloud,
just displayed with no audio, or just the picture
displayed with the text read aloud.
The presentation mode can be set in either in the
student register (see Adding Students on page
17) or in the Teaching Plan (see Creating a
Teaching Plan on page 26).
The item can be scrolled up
view all of the text.
and down
to
The audio can be controlled using the audio
controls to start the audio again, backup the
audio a little or to pause the audio. When
paused, the pause button will change to a play
button.
Figure 58
Restart Back Pause
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
34 Student Login
Clicking the
in the top left hand corner of the
item screen will pause the comprehension
exercise, (see Figure 59). The student is timed
for each part of the comprehension item,
pressing the pause button stops this timer.
Click on ‘Click here to continue’ to continue
with the exercise and start the timer again.
Figure 59
Clicking on the
page.
icon will display the settings
This allows you to specify the size of the text
and the background colour of the text.
Simply click on the example text size and the
coloured square you require.
Click ‘Click here to continue’ to return to the
comprehension item with the new settings.
Figure 60
When you have completed listening to the audio
and/or reading the text click ‘Click here to
continue’ at the bottom of the text to display the
questions page.
Depending upon the presentation mode setting
you can click on the question and answers to
have them read aloud.
You can use the pause
key to pause the
comprehension item and stop the item timer.
Figure 61
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
35
Click on the appropriate answers.
When you have answered all questions a ‘Click
here to continue’ option will be activated at the
bottom of the questions page.
The next screen just confirms that you have
completed an item. Click to continue and you
will be returned to the comprehension item list.
The comprehension item just completed will be
set to the appropriate colour.
Figure 62
In the comprehension item list, the more
advanced levels will be greyed out. Only the
current level will be active.
Levels will be activated as the student completes
the previous level.
Figure 63
In the comprehension items for later levels,
several words within the text will be highlighted
in blue. These are definition items, clicking on
the blue highlighted word will display and read
the definition for that word.
Click on the
within the definition box to
close the definition item.
Figure 64
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
36 Student Login
If you have the presentation mode set to ‘Audio
Only’ you can access the definitions list by
clicking on the
icon.
Clicking on any of the words will read aloud the
appropriate definition.
Figure 65
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
This chapter is designed to assist teachers in getting started with Comprehension Booster in the
classroom. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to developing children’s reading
comprehension skills. It is recommended that teachers begin by reading the introductory chapter of
this manual (if they have not done so already, see Introduction on page 5). This outlines the
principal factors involved in reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties and
explains how Comprehension Booster is designed to address the learning needs in this aspect of
education and to help pupils to overcome their difficulties in reading comprehension. The more that
teachers know about the processes involved in reading comprehension, the better equipped they are
likely to be to help their pupils. A list of recommended reading on reading comprehension is
provided at the end of the introductory chapter of this manual, (see Further reading on page 10).
The next step is to familiarise yourself with the items in Comprehension Booster, (see
Comprehension Items on page 24). Each item comprises a passage plus a set of multiple-choice
questions. There are 10 fiction items at each level. (For details of passage length and number of
questions, etc., in each exercise, see Table 1 on page 6.) Note that if you have purchased only the
Standard Version you will see only the 70 fiction items. To access the 70 non-fiction items you
need to purchase and install the Non-Fiction Expansion Pack (see
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
38 Teacher Guide
Install Comprehension Booster or the Expansion Pack on page 12). Note also that in the Free Trial
Version you will be able to see all the fiction items but the pupil will only be able to work with the
first two items of each level.
As teachers and pupils get used to working with Comprehension Booster it is expected that they
will find their own ways of getting the best out of the program for their particular needs.
Nevertheless, it is worthwhile exploring all the functions available in Comprehension Booster, as
teachers are likely at some point to encounter pupils who require a more individually tailored
programme of work, (see Administration Login on page 16).
Before pupils can use Comprehension Booster they need to be registered on the program (see
Adding Students on page 17). The teacher then has the option of either (a) assigning an
Individualised Teaching Plan to each student (see Creating a Teaching Plan on page 26), or (b)
using the default Standard Teaching Plan (see Teaching Plans on page 25). In the former, the
teacher assigns to each pupil the items that s/he wants the pupil to attempt, the mode of presentation
(Text Only, Text Plus Audio, or Audio Only), the number of viewings of the text permitted, and
whether the exercise has to be passed (i.e. all questions answered correctly) or whether the student
is allowed to pass automatically after so many attempts. In the latter, the pupil has access to all the
items in all the levels available in the program, beginning with the Starter Level, and the defaults
apply, i.e. Text Plus Audio presentation and exercises must be passed (i.e. all questions answered
correctly before being allowed to progress).
Note: A child must attempt all the questions for a given item before they can exit that item (and
either have another attempt at that item or progress to another item). They will then discover how
many of the questions they got correct (but not which ones). Unless the teacher has specified in the
Teaching Plan that the child is to attempt each passage only once, it would be sensible for them to
have further attempt(s) at that item to improve their performance and consolidate their
understanding.
When creating a Teaching Plan, the teacher has to decide what items at what level(s) to assign to
that Plan. In most cases this process begins with a decision regarding at what level to start a pupil on
the program. As a general rule of thumb, pupils should be started at one level below their reading
age if they are average or above average readers, two levels below their reading age if they are
below average readers, and three levels below their reading age if they are very poor readers. Table
1 on page 6 shows the age equivalents for each level.
For example, a pupil aged 10 years 8 months (age equivalent Level D) with average reading skills
should start one level lower, i.e. Level C. If that same pupil had below average reading skills then
s/he should start at Level B, and if s/he had very poor reading skills then s/he should start at Level
A.
If the teacher does not know (or is unable to estimate) the child’s reading age, then the
chronological age should be used in place of the reading in the above calculations.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
39 Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
After a child has had one or two sessions on Comprehension Booster, the teacher should check the
child’s performance by consulting the report (see Reports on page 28) to ensure that the level they
have been started on is about right. If the level is far too difficult, the child will probably find the
activity frustrating and discouraging; in this case, they should be re-started at a lower level. If the
level is far too easy, the child may (but not necessarily) find the activity boring and demotivating; if
this is found to be the case, the teacher should consider re-starting the pupil at a higher level.
However, if a child starts at a level that is initially too low this will not always be a disadvantage as
they will still benefit from the learning experience and they will be encouraged by making swift
progress to higher levels that present greater challenges for them.
The most important factors are whether the child is learning and progressing: if they are, then it can
safely be assumed that the level is appropriate. If they are not, then the teacher should consider
whether the level is too easy or too difficult, or whether some additional encouragement or support
is called for.
Thereafter, the teacher should check the pupil’s progress on Comprehension Booster at regular
intervals (say, once a week).
Comprehension Booster reports can be accessed by following the instructions in Reports on page
28. The graph shows the Reading Ability Score (RAS), which is a weighted calculated score
designed to represent the student’s overall performance, taking into account the following data:
 Chronological age of the student
 Difficulty level of the item
 Rate at which the student read the text
 Amount of help requested for unusual or difficult words
 Number of times the student has attempted that item
 Proportion of comprehension questions correct
The RAS approximates to a standard score, i.e. it has a mean (average) of 100 and a standard
deviation of 15. The normal range will be 85-115; scores above 115 signify a good performance and
below 85 a poor performance. The table below the graph (see Figure 50) displays further
information about the student’s performance, including the reading rate (in words per minute) and
the student’s accuracy on the multiple-choice comprehension questions. This information can be
used to interpret the RAS further if required.
The Comprehension Booster report shows the reading rate for each item. This is important because
reading comprehension is partly a function of reading speed. If children read too slowly this
increases the load on working memory and reduces the available capacity for monitoring meaning.
However, that does not mean that children should be encouraged to read at a speed which is so fast
that they cannot assimilate individual words or that forces them to skip words. Figure 74 shows the
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
40 Teacher Guide
reading speeds of children in the 6–14 year-old age range when reading age-appropriate texts for
meaning, grouped into reading ability. It can be seen that the average child progresses from about
60 words per minute at age 6 to about 140 words per minute at age 14. (The average reading speed
of adult skilled readers is about 240 words per minute.) Reference to the data given in the table in
the Comprehension Booster report should enable the teacher to determine whether the reading
speed within the appropriate range (remember that if the child is an older, proficient reader
attempting a passage at a much lower level, the reading speed will be uncharacteristically high).
Words per minute
Developm ent of reading speed
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Slow
Below average
Average
Above average
6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14
Age (years)
Figure 66 The development of reading speed.
About 20% of children suffer from visual stress, which causes unpleasant visual effects when
reading, especially for prolonged periods of time. The symptoms include sore, tired eyes,
headaches, illusions of colour and movement in the text, double vision and loss of clarity of text.
This is not the result of problems with eyesight but rather, it is connected with the processing of
visual information. Visual stress is sometimes called ‘Irlen syndrome’ or ‘Meares-Irlen syndrome’.
In children with dyslexia or reading difficulties the prevalence of visual stress is much higher – up
to about 40%. The symptoms of visual stress can usually be alleviated by using colour, either in the
form of coloured overlays (sheets of acetate placed over the text) or tinted spectacles. Symptoms are
usually worse when reading text with small font size, or when there is high black/white contrast on
the page, or glare from the page, or when lighting conditions are too low or too bright, or where
there is flicker (e.g. from fluorescent lighting). Font and page layout also have an effect.
For further information on visual stress and how it can be identified and treated see
www.visual-stress.com
Since visual stress problems can arise when reading from a computer screen, Comprehension
Booster includes the option to change both the font size and the background colour in order to make
reading more comfortable. This may need to be set differently for each individual with visual stress.
This function is accessed by means of the settings icon
in the top left-hand corner of the item
screens (see Using Comprehension Items on page 32). The default background colour is white and
the default font size varies with level, from 20 point at Starter Level to 14 point at Level F. The font
is Verdana, which has been shown in research studies to be less likely to generate visual stress than
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
41 Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
most other fonts. 20 different background colours are provided (including white), which sample the
full range of colours generally found to be beneficial in alleviating visual stress. Children should be
encouraged to experiment with these settings to find the combination that suits them best. Their
choices may vary over time.
Comprehension Booster is a versatile program that can be used in many different ways in the classroom. It
can be used individually, in pairs, in groups, or, if desired, with whole classes (using an interactive
whiteboard). If working other than individually, the teacher will need to register a suitable dummy ‘name’
for the pair, group or class.
Vocabulary work can be integrated into Comprehension Booster exercises, either by introducing
any unusual or difficult words to the children in advance of them tackling the corresponding item in
the program, or by asking children to define unusual or difficult words as they occur in the
passages, without recourse to the program’s vocabulary help feature. Various definitions for any
given word can be discussed by the pair, group or class, to try to reach consensus before checking
against the vocabulary help feature. Or children can try to find unusual or difficult words in a
dictionary.
Discussion can also be useful when children are attempting to answer the multiple-choice questions.
When a particular answer is offered, children can be challenged to justify or provide evidence for
their answer, which can be checked by referring back to the passage. An important objective here is
to get children to think about what they are reading.
Other useful classroom (and homework) activities include:
 Getting children to write summaries of the stories or non-fiction passages
 Illustrating their written summaries
 Producing cartoon strips or story-boards depicting the action in the stories
 Discussing or writing alternative endings to the stories
 Acting out a play based on a story
 With non-fiction items, researching more about the topic using the internet, encyclopaedias
and other resources
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
This chapter is designed to assist parents in getting started with Comprehension Booster at home. It
is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to developing children’s reading comprehension skills.
It is recommended that parents begin by reading the introductory chapter of this manual (if they
have not done so already, see Introduction on page 5). This outlines the principal factors involved in
reading comprehension and reading comprehension difficulties and explains how Comprehension
Booster is designed to address the learning needs in this aspect of education and to help pupils to
overcome their difficulties in reading comprehension.
When setting up Comprehension Booster for their child, parents have three main options:
1) The parent can allow the program to function in automatic mode, in which case the default
Standard Teaching Plan should be used, (see Teaching Plans on 25 ). The advantage of this
is that this is much easier and quicker for the parent to implement; the disadvantage is that
the child will automatically start from the beginning of the program, i.e. at Starter Level,
which may not be appropriate and may be discouraging for him or her.
2) The parent can take the role of ‘teacher’ and create a Teaching Plan for the child, making
use of other various functions of the program that would be applied in the classroom.
Parents who wish to operate Comprehension Booster like this should consult the previous
chapter (Teacher Guide on page 37). The advantage of this is that it gives the parent full
control of the educational activities in the program.
3) The third option is a compromise between options 1) and 2). Here, the parent checks the box
‘Show age-appropriate plans only’ and then selects the earliest level teaching plan available.
In this case, the list will start with the appropriate level for the child’s age (see Table 1 on
page 6). The box ‘Progress to next level on completion’ should be checked to ensure that
when the pupil has passed all items in the level, it will automatically assign the student to
the next level until level F is reached, which is the highest level in the program.
If a parent knows that their child is significantly behind in reading development, it is recommended
that either option 1) or option 2) be selected. If option 2 is chosen, then the parent should start the
child at a suitable level below the level that corresponds to their chronological age (for details of
ages corresponding to each level, see Table 1 on page 6).
Note that a child must attempt all the questions for a given item before they can exit that item (and
either have another attempt at that item or progress to another item). They will then discover how
many of the questions they got correct (but not which ones).
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
43 Comprehension Booster
Manual v 1.33
About 20% of children suffer from visual stress, which causes unpleasant visual effects when
reading, especially for prolonged period of time. The symptoms include sore, tired eyes, headaches,
illusions of colour and movement in the text, double vision and loss of clarity of text. This is not the
result of problems with eyesight but rather, it is connected with the processing of visual
information. Visual stress is sometimes called ‘Irlen syndrome’ or ‘Meares-Irlen syndrome’. In
children with dyslexia or reading difficulties the prevalence of visual stress is much higher – up to
about 40%. The symptoms of visual stress can usually be alleviated by using colour, either in the
form of coloured overlays (sheets of acetate place over the text) or tinted spectacles. Symptoms are
usually worse when reading text with small font size, or when there is high black/white contrast on
the page, or glare from the page, or when lighting conditions are too low or too bright, or where
there is flicker (e.g. from fluorescent lighting). Font and page layout also have an effect.
For further information on visual stress and how it can be identified and treated see
www.visual-stress.com
Since visual stress problems can arise when reading from a computer screen, Comprehension
Booster includes the option to change both the font size and the background colour in order to make
reading more comfortable. This function is accessed by means of the settings icon
in the top
left-hand corner of the item screens (see Using Comprehension Items on page 32). The default
background colour is white and the default font size varies with level, from 20 point at Starter Level
to 14 point at Level F. The font is Verdana, which has been shown in research studies to be less
likely to generate visual stress than most other fonts. 20 different background colours are provided
(including white), which sample the full range of colours generally found to be beneficial in
alleviating visual stress. Children should be encouraged to experiment with these settings to find the
combination that suits them best.
Comprehension Booster reports can be accessed by following the instructions in Reports on page
28. The graph shows the Reading Ability Score (RAS), which is a weighted calculated score
designed to represent the child’s overall performance, taking into account the following data:
 Chronological age of the child
 Difficulty level of the item
 Rate at which the child read the text
 Amount of help requested for unusual or difficult words
 Number of times the child has attempted that item
 Proportion of comprehension questions correct
The left-hand side of the graph shows the rating scale, i.e. whether the child is performing at an
average level for their age, below average, or high, etc (see Figure 50). The table below the graph
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
44 Parent Guide
displays further information about the child’s performance, including the reading rate (in words per
minute) and the student’s accuracy on the multiple-choice comprehension questions.
Comprehension Booster is a serious piece of educational software that demands concentration and
mental effort on the part of the child. It is not a computer game and does not incorporate the typical
‘rewards’ (e.g. building up points, uncovering treasure, killing monsters) often found in computer
games. Most children will be happy to work on Comprehension Booster and derive satisfaction and
personal reward from seeing their progress and appreciating the benefit they are getting from the
program. The stories are interesting and often amusing, and the non-fiction items relevant and
informative. The professional narration is very expressive, pleasant to listen to and engaging which maintains interest. However, a few children who are very familiar with playing computer
games may initially respond that Comprehension Booster is ‘boring’ or ‘too much like school’. If
this is the case, it should be explained to them what the purpose of Comprehension Booster is and
how it can help them at school.
Motivation can be enhanced by showing children their reports, pointing out the progress that they
are making. If necessary, parents may reward children (i.e. doing something that they like) for
spending time on Comprehension Booster and for making progress by using it. What constitutes
‘progress’ should be agreed with the child beforehand. For example, the parent might agree with the
child: “If you do [insert specified number] of (specified) items on Comprehension Booster and get
scores that are [insert specified target performance, e.g. ‘above average or better’] then you can
have [insert specified reward].”
Parents should remember that children with literacy problems often have to work harder than other
children at school, and to be required to work hard at home in their leisure time as well is a
significant imposition that many would find unfair. Of course, you are not doing this to be unfair to
the child, but to help them in their education and subsequent career. But it is not at all unreasonable
to provide motivational incentives in the form of tangible rewards, provided that these are applied
with consistency and that agreements are honoured.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
o Class
A Comprehension Booster class is a number of students grouped
together. This could reflect actual school classes/forms.
o Comprehension
Item
A comprehension item within Comprehension Booster is defined as
the passage text and its associated questions.
o Expansion Pack
The Comprehension Booster Expansion Pack provides 70 Non-Fiction
extra comprehension Items.
o Comprehension
Booster Exercise
A Comprehension Booster Exercise is defined as a student attempting
one or more comprehension items in a session.
o Standard Edition
Comprehension Booster Standard Edition is the main application that
comes with 70 fiction comprehension items.
o Teaching Plan
A Comprehension Booster Teaching Plan is a number of
comprehension items grouped together for a specific learning purpose.
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd
Credits
Program design
Dr Chris Singleton and Lee Smith
Programming
Lee Smith
Text authors
Dr Jo Horne, Kris Henderson and Dr Chris Singleton
Text editing
Dr Chris Singleton
Lexicographer
Helen Dunbar
Illustrations
Gemma Hastilow
Sound supervision
Rik Leedale
Sound editing
Rik Leedale, Mike Witcomb and Tod Leedale
Voice artists
Beth Chalmers, Howie Fiddy and Sarah London
Graphic design
Helen Dunbar
Manual
Lee Smith and Chris Singleton
Comprehension Booster © Lucid Innovations Ltd 2008-2015
Copyright © Lucid Innovations Ltd