Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS) relies on a structured, multi-sensory approach to help students build strong literacy skills and confidence. By engaging multiple senses at once, learners retain information more effectively and can better leverage their individual learning strengths.
How TTRS uses multi-sensory learning
Visual, auditory, and tactile learning: Students see the words and letters on screen, hear them spoken through headphones or speakers, and touch the keys with their fingers to type them.
Reinforces sound-letter association: Hearing and seeing words simultaneously helps students connect spoken sounds to written text, improving both word recognition and spelling accuracy.
Develops muscle memory: Combining sight and sound with the physical motion of typing trains the hands to memorize word patterns, reinforcing spelling through movement.
Managing sound preferences
Occasionally you may find a student - most often a younger one - is reluctant to wear headphones when using the TTRS course. This can be due to physical discomfort or an aversion to hearing the sound itself.
There might be a temptation to trigger the mute setting on the computer. However, this is where your judgement comes into play.
If the student is studying in a room alone, then try dispensing with headphones entirely - use the built-in speakers of the computer instead.
Make sure the volume on the computer is turned down to a comfortable level. Don't forget that different headphones will often require different sound levels.
It is worth spending some time considering what works best for each of your students according to their individual needs.