READING AND SPELLING SKILL DIAGNOSIS AND TRAINING
SYSTEM AND METHOD
Related Application
This application claims priority under 35 USC § 120 from US
Provisional Patent Application No. 60/164,659 filed on November 9, 1999,
entitled "Reading And Spelling Skill Diagnosis And Training System And
Method" which is incorporated herein by reference.
Appendices
Two appendices are attached that contain 1) a description of each
training module (and each game within each training module) in the training
tool in accordance with the invention (Appendix A); and 2) a level listing from
each game with each training module. These two appendices are attached to the
application and are incoφorated herein by reference.
Background of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for assessing
and training a user to improve the user's reading and spelling skills and in
particular to a system and method for training a user's phonological awareness
and processing, auditory processing, moφhological awareness, print awareness,
visual orthographic memory (VOM), phonics, decoding and spelling skills in
order to improve the user's reading and spelling skills.
Skilled reading involves a complex system of skills and processes and is
dependent upon an amalgam of word appearances, meanings and
pronunciations. The knowledge and activities required to become a skilled
reader can be developed systematically and have been studied heavily by
researchers. Recently, particular attention has been focused on the importance
of children's ability to learn the alphabetic principle (recognizing that sounds in
spoken words can be represented by a letter or letter). Leading researchers have
shown that coupling phonological awareness training with letter-sound
correspondence training increases children's ability to develop sophisticated
decoding and spelling skills - particularly for those children who have difficulty
learning developmental literacy skills.
Beginning readers need to develop a strong foundation of phonological
awareness, letter knowledge and vocabulary. Word recognition and spelling are
facilitated by a network of connections that link the phonological, orthographic,
moφhological and semantic characteristics of words (Ehri, 1992). Phonological
connections are defined by children's ability to notice, think about or manipulate
the sounds in language (Torgesen, 1997) and are essential to establishing
complete representations of words in memory. Orthographic connections are
defined by children's awareness of functional letter units symbolizing phonemes
(including their shapes, names and sounds) as well as letter sequences that
distinguish various word spellings from one another (Perfetti, 1992).
Orthographic and phonological connections work together to benefit decoding,
spelling and automatic word recognition when children first begin to read. As
children progress through school and encounter longer, more complex words,
they will need additional knowledge about syllable patterns and meaning-based
spelling patterns (Henderson, 1991). The relative lack of phonetic substance of
grammatical moφhemes such as "ed", "ing" "s" and "es" makes them less
prominent than content words, therefore, they are acquired later and are more
problematic for some children (McGregor, 1997). Here, semantic and
moφhological connections become more important as children's awareness of
spelling patterns involves how spellings relate to meaningful units. This
knowledge is essential for children to move beyond using only letter-sound
correspondences to process printed language and into making meaningful
connections to read and spell irregular and/or more complex words.
Beginning readers need to develop an understanding of the alphabetic
principle. Instruction that addresses the needs of beginning readers must
systematically bridge spoken language with conventions of printed language.
Different types of connections between letters and sounds dominate children's
decoding and spelling at different points in development (Ehri, 1998; Treiman,
1992). Initially, Children also rely heavily on letter names which mark their
attempts at representing pronunciations of words with printed letters that they
know (Moats, 1995; Templeton & Bear, 1992). As children learn letter sounds,
they begin to develop more robust knowledge of the alphabetic system and start
to link the most salient letters in print to sounds in pronunciations. Because
initial and final letters are the most salient to children, they are typically the first
connections to be recognized and represented in spellings (Ehri, 1998). When
children establish sufficient connections between letters and sounds, they begin
to develop accumulations of words in memory and recognize recurring spelling
patterns. Once this awareness is developed, children can discover that
consolidating individual letter-sound correspondences into multi-letter chunks
can facilitate automatic recognition and can be used to decode unknown words
with the same spelling pattern (Gaskins, 1998). However, because spelling and
decoding require explicit recall and recognition of orthographic sequences,
particularly for words that have unique or irregular spelling patterns, children
must further develop their knowledge of the internal characteristics of words,
such as individual letter-sound correspondences, particularly for the medial
vowel (Moats, 1995). Instruction that reinforces patterns as well as alphabetic
connections linking all of the spellings in printed words to pronunciations in
spoken words will help children develop mature representations of thousands of
words in memory that can be used to automatically and accurately access words
or parts of words for decoding and spelling.
Beginning readers need to develop word reading automatically. One
way to read words is to decode individual letter-sound correspondences. Most
readers use this skill to read words they do not know. However, attacking letter-
sound correspondences, although essential for learning to read and for reading
unfamiliar words, is often slow and sometimes not useful when encountering
words with irregular and variable spelling-pronunciation relationships (e.g.,
read/read) (Ehri, 1992). Most experienced readers have learned to process
chunks of letters in recurring spelling patterns to decode words. They also have
stored words from previous experiences reading words that cannot be decoded
by attacking letter-sound correspondences. Research shows that first-grade
children need a minimum of four experiences with words to read them
automatically (Reitsma, 1983); thus, learning to establish sight word reading
skills takes time and repeated exposures to print. Research also shows that
being able to read words quickly and accurately facilitates reading fluency and
increases the probability that children are understanding what they are reading
(Perfetti, 1992). Many students with reading problems have poor automatic
word recognition skills that affect their ability to comprehend what they read
(Stanovich, 1986). Instruction that is focused on children's ability to decode
unfamiliar words and is designed to develop more advanced, automatic word
recognition skills will help children establish basic skills that must be in place to
develop automatic word recognition and ultimately better reading fluency. By
increasing automatic word recognition, children will have more cognitive
resources to use for understanding text and drawing information and inferences
from what is read (Adams, 1990; Stanovich, 1986).
Beginning readers need to be taught to recognize patterns in how words
are spelled and pronounced. Early phonological knowledge is often
characterized by awareness of gross phonological units such as whole words or
syllables. At the very earliest stages of literacy acquisition, young children
demonstrate the ability to recognize and categorize words that rhyme (Goswami
& Bryant, 1990), but continue to struggle with awareness of phonemes until
they are taught to read or receive explicit phonemic awareness instruction. As
reading and spelling skills become more refined, however, children develop a
more detailed understanding of the underlying sound structure of spoken words
and become aware of individual phonemes in speech as well as how they relate
to printed words. Many researchers argue the rhyme awareness serves as the
precursor to phoneme awareness. Rhyming skills are thought to play an
important role in helping children transition to awareness of correspondences
between letters and phonemes in words (Goswami, 1993; Treiman, 1993). This
developmental progression suggests that when children begin to read and spell,
they analyze words using larger phonological units and eventually become more
aware of the constituent features in words that share rhyming spelling patterns.
Rhyming words provide children with cues that help them make predictions
about pronunciations of words that share common spelling patterns (Goswami,
1991). These hypotheses are based on findings that show that children can read
and spell words that rhyme and share spelling patterns more easily than words
that share medial vowels or final consonants (Bruck & Treiman, 1992; Goswami
& Mead, 1992). Using spelling and pronunciation patterns to teach children
about the relationship between print and speech establishes a bridge between
gross phonological skills and more discreet awareness of connections between
individual phonemes and letters that make up regular words in English.
Similarly, moφhological awareness (i.e., the conscious awareness of and
ability to manipulate compound words, root words and their inflected and
derived forms) facilitates a child's ability to read and spell words. For words
that do not have a one-to-one mapping between sound (phoneme or moφheme)
and spelling, visual orthographic memory (VOM) skills are critical. VOM
skills are dependent on the ability to store mental images of printed letters and
sequences of letters including syllables and words in memory.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a phonological reading and spelling
system and method that trains a user's phonological awareness and phonics skills
and bridges the user's auditory processing, phonological awareness and
moφhological awareness skills to the user's print awareness, phonics, decoding
and spelling skills and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.
Summary of the Invention
The system and method in accordance with the invention uses the
language-to-literacy model of learning to read to design educationally sound
products for beginning readers of all skill levels. The skills represented in each
step of the model are foundational to the next, while at the same time reciprocal
and overlapping. The system in accordance with the invention, referred to as
"Letter Connections" herein, is designed to help children who have established
the sound foundations of auditory processing, oral language and phonological
awareness that they will need to make connections between spoken and printed
language. Letter Connections focuses on target skills in the next two steps in the
model - phonics and decoding/spelling. Phonics instruction helps children
develop the skills they need to make linkages between discrete phonemes and
individual letters. Learning sound-symbol correspondences through phonics
instruction will help children establish the representations of words in memory
they will need to fluently and accurately spell and decode words (Uhry &
Sheperd, 1997). Teachers should initiate instruction in phonological awareness
before beginning instruction in sound-symbol correspondences; however, once
children have established the rudimentary phonological skills that they will need
to analyze spoken words, concurrent instruction in sound-symbol
correspondence will accelerate the development of more advanced phonological
skills (Grossen, 1997).
Letter Connections was designed to develop and systematically bridge
phonological and visual orthographic memory skills with phonics, reading and
spelling instruction. The program offers a variety of engaging activities that
incoφorate cutting-edge research methods and clinically-proven training
techniques to children who are beginning to make the leap into early decoding
and spelling. The instructional approach used in Letter Connections emphasizes
the importance of teaching word spellings, meanings and pronunciations
together. This approach was designed to develop children's awareness of how
printed letters represent spoken words and sounds. Skill training in sound-
symbol correspondence, phonics, reading fluency, sight word recognition,
moφhological awareness and print awareness provide children with exposure to
the knowledge and activities they will need to successfully decode words.
Letter Connections games provide extensive systematic instruction
designed to help children map printed letters to sounds in spoken language and
develop key skills they will need to acquire basic reading and spelling skills.
The extensive decoding and spelling activities incoφorate skill training in letter-
sound identification, fluency and vocabulary development using an adaptive
training format. Letter Connections carefully controls important learning
variables such as time between stimuli presentations, response time, varying
spelling pattern difficulty (e.g., CVC, CCVC, CVCC) as well as the availability
of visual cues. Letter Connections also incoφorates brief tutorials designed to
reinforce meaning and help children learn new vocabulary. These skills are
taught in tandem to help children move from understanding in spoken language
to understanding how the sound structure in spoken language applies to print.
Letter Connections develops children's knowledge of sound-symbol
correspondences by leading children through a series of tasks designed to
develop awareness of letter-sound correspondences in different contexts such as
asking students to decode, blend and identify onsets and rime units, individual
letters and eventually whole words. By presenting children with different
linguistic units, Letter Connections helps children analyze and synthesize
important components of words while building upon what they know about
spoken language and what they are learning about print. The systematic
progression through which children are taken when playing Letter Connections
games is based upon years of developmental spelling research. Letter
Connections provides practice that takes children from segmenting sentences
into words to blending individual letters and sounds to make a whole word.
Letter Connections gradually fades auditory support and visual cues to develop
children's ability to match spoken sounds and words to printed letters, words
and sentences. In addition, Letter Connections provides opportunities for
children to exercise these skills by using nonwords. Nonwords challenge
children's decoding and spelling skill by encouraging them to transfer what they
know about familiar words to read and spell unfamiliar letter strings.
Letter Connections carefully teaches children to develop automatic letter
and word recognition skills. Letter Connections systematically decreases the
amount of response time available to students, gradually encouraging children to
recognize and identify words more quickly and accurately. Letter Connections
also fades visual cues and auditory feedback to help children develop automatic
word recognition and use visual orthographic images. All games require
children to apply letter-sound correspondences and pattern recognition skills in
the context of words, providing multiple exposures to a variety of common
spelling patterns, decodable real words and non-decodable sight words.
Letter Connections uses regular, frequently occurring English spelling
patterns to teach children to recognize common rime units among words. The
games do not stop at the onset-rime level. They progressively present
information designed to develop children's awareness of the internal
characteristics of common spelling patterns, thereby bridging the gap between
whole word recognition and decoding with individual letter-sound
correspondences. Letter Connections incoφorates sorting tasks that encourage
development of children's knowledge of regularity in larger linguistic units
(rimes), but gradually increase difficulty by focusing children on medial vowels
or final consonants with visual cues and more complex sorting requirements
This training takes children beyond the regularity of regular rime units and
encourages them to examine the constituent linguistic units that differentiate one
rime pattern from the next. Letter Connections reduces reaction time and
gradually fades visual cues to increase word reading fluency and use of visual
orthographic images.
The phonological reading and spelling system and method in accordance
with the invention may train and diagnose problems with a user's auditory
processing, phonological awareness and processing skills that are important to
the development of reading and spelling skills of the user. In addition, the
system in accordance with the invention also introduces moφhological
awareness and visual orthographic memory training and diagnosis. In more
detail, the training provided by the system bridges a user's auditory processing
skills, phonological awareness skills, moφhological awareness skills and visual
orthographic memory skills with print awareness and phonics, decoding and
spelling instruction. Thus, as suggested by various research studies, the training
provided by the system begins with phonological awareness skills and then
transitions to the concurrent teaching and training of phonological awareness
skills with sound-symbol correspondences (phonics). The training provided by
the system in accordance with the invention also permits a user, such as a child,
to apply his/her moφhological awareness and knowledge of phonics to decoding
printed words. The training provided by the system in accordance with the
invention also provides spelling instruction to the user which has a positive
effect on the user's phonological awareness and decoding skills.
The training provided by the system in accordance with the invention
may be from one or more different modules which train one or more particular
sets of phonological awareness and processing, auditory processing,
moφhological awareness and visual orthographic memory (VOM) skills of the
user. Each module may include one or more tasks wherein each task may train a
particular skill or set of skills of the user. In a preferred embodiment, the system
may include four different modules including a sentence/syllable/sound
segmentation and discrimination module (called "Rock On" in the preferred
embodiment), a segmentation/blending and decoding/spelling module (called
"Sluφ & Buφ in the preferred embodiment), a sound/symbol module ( called
"Letter Express" in the preferred embodiment) and a sound and word
recognition module (called "Juggling Letters" in the preferred embodiment).
Each task within a module may be a game with an interactive graphical user
interface that requires user input. Each game may also include a scoring
mechanism to track the user's progress. The system may store the scores for
each user so that the scores for a particular user may be analyzed later. In
addition to training the user's skills, the system may be used to diagnose defects
in one or more skill areas of the user, making performance comparisons within
and across tasks to help determine areas of strength, weakness and variables that
influence both.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, a device and method for training
one or more reading and spelling skills of a user including phonological and
moφhological skills is provided. The device has a graphical display that
displays images to a user and a user input device that permits the user to interact
with the computer. The device may further include a game that presents stimuli
to the user so that the user can respond to the stimuli and improve the reading
and spelling skills of the user wherein the game further comprises a
phonological skills training portion for training the phonological skills of the
user and a sound/symbol correspondence training portion for training the
sound/symbol correspondence skills of the user wherein the game trains the
phonological skills of the user and then transitions to training the sound symbol
correspondence skills once the phonological skills are mastered (Holy! That
sentence is tinged with Faulknerism).
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method and
computer-implemented system for training a user's spelling and reading skills is
provided. The system visually presents a target word to the user for a
predetermined time and then visually presents a series of words to the user after
the target word is removed. The system then prompts the user to identify the
word in the series of words whose letters are in reverse order to the target word.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a method and
computer-implemented system for training a user's spelling and reading skills is
provided. The system visually presents one or more words to the user and
visually presents one or more categories into which the word is sorted by the
user. The system then prompts the user to sort the one or more words into the
one or more categories to improve the user's skills at recognizing patterns in
words.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer-based reading and
spelling skills training system in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of the training
tool of Figure 1 in accordance with the invention including one or more modules
that are used to train and assess one or more skills;
Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating more details of the training tool of
Figure 2 in accordance with the invention;
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the modules including in
the training system in accordance with the invention;
Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks in the sound
segmentation and discrimination training module in accordance with the
invention;
Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks in the
segmentation/blending and decoding/spelling training module in accordance
with the invention;
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks in the
sound/symbol training module in accordance with the invention;
Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks in the sound
and word recognition training module in accordance with the invention;
Figures 9 A - 12 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in the
sound segmentation and discrimination training module ("Rock On") in
accordance with the invention;
Figures 13 A - 23 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in
the segmentation/blending and decoding/spelling training module ("ZAP!") in
accordance with the invention;
Figures 24A - 35 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in
the sound/symbol training module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the
invention; and
Figures 36 - 48 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in the
sound and word recognition training module ("Circus Fun") in accordance with
the invention.
Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment
The invention is particularly applicable to a computer-based training
system for training a child's auditory processing, phonological awareness and
processing, moφhological awareness, visual orthographic memory (VOM),
reading and spelling skills and it is in this context that the invention will be
described. It will be appreciated, however, that the system and method in
accordance with the invention has greater utility since 1) it may be used to test
and teach a variety of other individuals, such as illiterate and cognitively-
impaired people, individuals whose native language is not English who are
learning to read, and adolescents and adults who read poorly and wish to
improve their literary skills; and 2) the system may be implemented on other
computer networks, such as the Web, the Internet, a local area network or the
like.
Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a computer-
based auditory processing, phonological awareness and processing,
moφhological awareness, VOM, reading and spelling skills training system 50
in accordance with the invention. In this embodiment, the training system 50
may be executed by a computer 52. The computer 52 may be a stand-alone
personal computer or a computer connected to a network or a client computer
connected to a server.
In general, training in accordance with the invention may be computer-
based that provides opportunities for a variety of different individuals to access
and participate in the training with alternative media that can be provided in a
variety of locations and environments using, for example, stand-alone
computers, networked computers or client/server web-based systems. In
accordance with the invention, the invention may be implemented over a
computer network, including the web, the Internet, a LAN, a WAN or the like
wherein the user interacts with a server computer using a browser application
and may download one or more updates/changes to the games over the computer
network. For puφoses of illustration, an embodiment using a stand-alone
computer 52 will be described.
A computer 52 may include a central processing unit (CPU) 58, a
memory 60, a persistent storage device 64, such as a hard disk drive, a tape drive
an optical drive or the like and a training tool 66. In a preferred embodiment,
the training tool may be one or more software applications (training different
auditory processing, phonological awareness and processing, moφhological
awareness, VOM, spelling skills or reading skills) stored in the persistent
storage of the computer that may be loaded into the memory 60 (as shown in
Figure 1) so that the training tool may be executed by the CPU 58. The
computer 52 may be connected to a remote server or other computer network
that permits the computer 52 to receive updates to the training tool over the
computer network. The training tool may also be used in conjunction with the
diagnostic system as described in US patent application serial number
09/350,791, filed July 9, 1999 that is owned by the same assignee as the present
application and is incoφorated herein by reference.
The computer 52 may further include one or more input devices 76 such
as a keyboard 78, a mouse 80, a joystick, a speech recognition system 82 or the
like, a display 84 such as a typical cathode ray tube, a flat panel display or the
like and one or more output devices 86 such as a speaker for producing sounds
or a printer for producing printed output. The input and output devices permit a
user of the computer to interact with the training tool so that the user's skills at
various auditory processing, phonological awareness and processing,
moφhological awareness, VOM and other reading and spelling skills are
improved. For example, the speech recognition system permits the user to speak
into the speech recognition system 82 in response to a stimulus from the training
tool as described below. The computer 52 may also execute a browser software
application in order to interact with the diagnostic system as described above
and download one or more updates to the training tool.
As described below in more detail, the training tool may include one or
more different modules that frain various auditory processing, phonological
awareness and processing, moφhological awareness, VOM and reading and
spelling skills so that a child's proficiency at these skills may be increased. The
training tool 66 may keep track of a user's scores in each skill area and
adaptively change the difficulty of each game in each task in the training tool
based on the user's current skills. For example, the training tool may either
increase or decrease the difficulty of the training. As described below, the
training tool may alter one or more difficulty variables of a current training (e.g.,
the similarly of two different words or sounds, the position of a sound in a word,
the availability of visual cues and the like) to change the difficulty of the
training. Now, more details of the training tool will be described.
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating more details of the computer 52 that
may be a part of the training system of Figure 1. The computer 52 may include
the CPU 58, the memory 60, the persistent storage device 64 and the training
tool 66. The training tool 66 may further comprise one or more software
applications including a user interface (UI) 100 and game logic 102. The user
interface may generate multiple images and audible sounds that are viewed and
heard and responded to by the user using the input devices in order to frain the
user in various auditory processing, phonological awareness and processing,
moφhological awareness, VOM and spelling and reading skill areas (the
"skills"). The game logic 102 may store the one or more modules (each module
including one or more tasks/games) that make up the training tool wherein each
module may train the user in a different set of skills. As each task is being
executed by the CPU 58 of the computer system, it may be loaded from the
persistent storage device 64 into the memory 60 so that it may be executed by
the CPU. As shown in Figure 2, the user interface 100 and the game logic 102
are shown loaded into the memory 60 since the training tool is being executed
by the CPU.
The training tool in accordance with the invention may use games to
train the user since the user may be a child that is more likely to be willing to
learn when given a game to play. In other words, the child may be playing the
game and, without realizing it, may also be training and improving a particular
skill. The training tool may also obviously be implemented using similar games
with different user interfaces for adult users. Now, more details of the training
tool in accordance with the invention will be described.
Figure 3 illustrates more details of the training tool 66 that includes the
user interface 100 and the game logic 102. In more detail, the game logic 102
may include a game file database 110, a score database 112 and a game
administrator and scorer module 114. The game file database may store one or
more modules (and one or more games/tasks for each module) of the training
tool wherein each module trains a different set of skills. Each module in the
preferred embodiment will be described below with reference to Figures 4 - 8.
As described above, the actual games contained in the training tool may be
updated or changed. The score database 112 may store the scores for one or
more users for the one or more games contained in the training tool. The score
database 112 permits the user's progress at each skill to be monitored and
analyzed. The game administrator and scorer module 114 controls which game
is being played, the user interface for the particular game, the score of the
particular game and the level of difficulty of each game. In this manner, the user
of the training tool can track his/her score or progress but is preventing from
changing parameters of the games that may be very important developmental
stepping stones in literacy instruction. The system may automatically track and
report the scores and progress of the each user that uses the system. The
administrator also permits one or more different users to use the training tool on
the same computer and keep track of each user separately. The administrator
114 may also permit the person monitoring the use of the system, such as a
teacher, to control the games. For example, the teacher may control the amount
of time permitted for each response or the teacher may set which games a
particular user may have access to in order to prevent a child from playing the
games that she/he is best at and avoiding the harder games. The teacher may
also alter the mode of play between the continuous playing of a predetermined
number of rounds of games before a break or playing the games one at a time.
The teacher may also control the availability of audio replay so that a user may
be permitted to re-listen to a stimulus repeatedly (easier) or may only be
permitted to listen to a stimulus once.
The administrator 114 may also include statistical software applications
(not shown) that permit the administrator 114 to generate statistics about the one
or more users using the training tool. In the networked embodiments not shown
here, the elements shown in Figure 3 may be located on a server computer and
the user may interact with the server computer using a browser application to
play the games of the training tool and to receive updates/changes to the games
from the server computer. Now, an example of the games included in the
preferred embodiment of the training tool will be described.
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks included in a
preferred embodiment of the training tool 66 in accordance with the invention.
The training tool 66 may include a sound segmentation and discrimination
module 120 (called "Rock On" in this example), a segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling module 122 (called "Sluφ & Buφ" in this example), a
sound/symbol module 124 (called "Letter Express" in this example) and a sound
and word recognition module 126 (called "Juggling Letters" in this example).
Each of these modules may frain a set of one or more of the skills described
above. Each module may include one or more tasks wherein each task may be
an interactive game that trains a particular set of skills of the user. Each of the
tasks embodied in each module will now be described in more detail. Further
details of each module and each task/game is provided in the attached Appendix
which is incoφorated herein by reference. Now, the tasks/games in the sound
segmentation and discrimination training module 120 will be described.
Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks and games in
the sound segmentation and discrimination training module 120 in accordance
with the invention. The sound segmentation and discrimination training module
120 may include a task 130 of identifying the number of words in a sentence, a
task 132 of identifying the number of syllables in a word, a task 134 of
discriminating syllable stresses in a word and a task 136 of identifying syllable
stress patterns in a word. These tasks, together, frain a user's skill at auditory
attention, discrimination, short term memory, sequential memory, temporal
ordering and temporal integration, pattern recognition, phonological sequencing,
phonological segmentation and sight word recognition. For each module, the
tasks may train a primary skill or a secondary skill. If the module or task
manipulates learning variables to challenge and exercise a particular skill, then
that skill is a primary skill being trained. If the task actively engages and
requires a user a use a particular skill during the task, then the skill is a
secondary skill. Thus, for this module, the primary skills being trained are
segmenting sentences into words, discriminating syllable stresses, identifying
syllable stresses, auditory short term memory, print awareness and auditory
attention. The secondary skills being trained are left to right progression,
discrimination of syllables and words, auditory pattern recognition and
following oral directions.
For each task, the training method may generally include presenting a
stimulus to the user, gathering a response from the user to the stimulus,
analyzing the response for correctness and performance, providing feedback to
the user and changing the difficulty of the task (by changing one or more
difficulty variables) based on the user's performance.
In more detail, in the first task 130, the user is asked to detect and
identify the number of words in a sentence at different difficulty levels by
varying the difficulty variables in accordance with the invention. In this task,
the user may advance to a harder difficulty level or fall back to an easier
difficulty level based on the user's performance during the task. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include changing the number of syllables in words (a
word with more syllables is harder to identify), changing the phonological
similarity of the words presented to the user (e.g., rhyming vs. non-rhyming),
changing the availability of auditory feedback during user response and
changing the availability of a printed display of the word. In the second task
132, the user is asked to identify the number of syllables in a word and the
difficulty variables may include changing the availability of auditory feedback
during user response and changing the availability of a printed display of the
syllables. In the third task 134, the user is presented with two words and asked
to identify whether the two presented words have the same syllable stresses.
The difficulty variables in this task may include changing the number of
syllables in a word and changing the availability of a visual cue to facilitate
performance. In the fourth task 136, the user is presented with a word and asked
to identify the syllable sfress pattern in the word. The difficulty variables in this
task may include changing the number of syllables in a word, changing the
availability of auditory feedback to the user and changing the availability of
visual cues to facilitate performance of the user. Each of these tasks is described
in more detail in the attached Appendix. Now, the tasks associated with the
blending/segmentation and decoding/spelling training module will be described.
Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks and games in
the blending/segmentation and decoding/spelling training module 122 in
accordance with the invention. The blending/segmentation and
decoding/spelling training module 122 may include a task 140 of identifying a
word from blending sound units, a task 142 of identifying a nonsense word from
blending sound units, a task 144 of identifying rime units of a word, a task 146
of identifying a word from blending phonemes, a task 148 of identifying a
nonsense word from blending phonemes, a task 150 of identifying the number of
phonemes in a word, a task 152 of spelling a word, a task 154 of identifying a
word from blending phoneme units, a second task 156 of identifying a word
from blending phoneme units, a task 158 of identifying the number of phonemes
in a sound unit and a task 160 of spelling a word. These tasks, together, train a
user's skill at blending onset-rime, recognizing word endings, segmenting
phonemes, deleting phonemes, word identification, decoding and spelling.
Thus, for this module, the primary skills being frained are auditory attention,
discrimination, short term memory, phonological blending, phonological
segmentation, phonological identification, phonological sequencing,
phonological working memory, sequential verbal memory, phonetic decoding,
visual orthographic memory and phonetic spelling. The secondary skills being
frained are letter recognition, oral directions, left-to-right progression, sight
recognition, vocabulary and keyboard entry.
For each task, the training method may generally include presenting a
stimulus to the user, gathering a response from the user to the stimulus,
analyzing the response for correctness and performance, providing feedback to
the user and changing the difficulty of the task (by changing one or more
difficulty variables) based on the user's performance.
In more detail, in the first task 140, the user is presented with an onset
and a rime separated by a period of time and asked to detect and identify the
word created by blending the onset and rime sound units together at different
difficulty levels by varying one or more difficulty variables in accordance with
the invention. In the tasks described herein, the user may advance to a harder
difficulty level or fall back to an easier difficulty level based on the user's
performance during the task. In the task 140, the difficulty variables may
include changing the time between the onset and the rime, changing the
perceptual similarity of the response choices and changing the presentation of
the word to the user (e.g., auditory alone, auditory and visual or visual alone).
In task 142, the user is presented with an onset and a rime sound unit and asked
to identify a nonsense word when the onset and rime unit are blending together.
The difficulty variables in this task are the same as for task 140. In the task 144,
the user is presented with a word and asked to identify the rime unit in the word.
The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the perceptual
similarity of the response choices and changing the presentation of the word to
the user (e.g., auditory alone, auditory and visual or visual alone). In task 146,
the user is presented with individual phonemes separated by a predetermined
time and asked to identify the word generated by blending the presented
phonemes together. The difficulty variables in this task may include changing
the time period between the phonemes, changing the perceptual similarity of the
response choices and changing the presentation of the word to the user (e.g.,
auditory alone, auditory and visual or visual alone).
In task 148, the user is presented with individual phonemes separated by
a predetermined time and asked to identify the nonsense word generated by
blending the presented phonemes together. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the time period between the phonemes, changing the
perceptual similarity of the response choices and changing the presentation of
the word to the user (e.g., auditory alone, auditory and visual or visual alone).
In task 150, the user is presented with a word and asked to identify the number
of phonemes in the word. The difficulty variables for this task may include
changing the type of the word (e.g., from a real word or a nonsense word),
changing the availability of auditory feedback and changing the visual display of
the graphemes. In task 152, the user is presented with a word and asked to spell
the word. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the
availability of auditory feedback and changing the availability of auditory cues.
In task 154, the user is presented with a series of phonemes, such as CVCC
(consonant, vowel, consonant and consonant) separated by a predetermined time
and is asked to identify the word created by blending the phonemes together.
The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the predetermined
time between the phonemes, changing the perceptual saliency of the phonemes
and changing the presentation format of the phonemes to the user (e.g., auditory
alone, auditory and visual or visual alone). In task 156, the user is presented
with a series of phonemes, such as CCVC (consonant, consonant, vowel and
consonant) separated by a predetermined time and is asked to identify the word
created by blending the phonemes together. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the predetermined time between the phonemes, changing
the perceptual saliency of the phonemes and changing the presentation format of
the phonemes to the user (e.g., auditory alone, auditory and visual or visual
alone).
In task 158, the user is presented with a sound unit and is asked to
identify the number of phonemes in the sound unit. The difficulty variables for
this task may include changing the phonetic saliency of the phonemes, changing
the availability of auditory feedback and changing the availability of visual
display of the graphemes. In task 160, the user is presented with a word and is
asked to spell the word. The difficulty variables for this task may include
changing the phonetic saliency of the word, changing the availability of auditory
feedback and changing the availability of auditory cues. Each of these tasks is
described in more detail in the attached Appendix. Now, the tasks associated
with the sound/symbol training module will be described.
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks and games in
the sound/symbol training module 124 in accordance with the invention. The
sound/symbol module 124 may include a task 170 of identifying the next letter
in an order, a task 172 of identifying letters corresponding to a long vowel
phoneme, a task 174 of identifying letters corresponding to a short vowel
phoneme, a task 176 of identifying an upper case letter corresponding to a
consonant phoneme, a task 180 of identifying the lower case letter
corresponding to a consonant phoneme, a task 182 of typing the letter on the
keyboard corresponding to a phoneme, a task 184 of matching long vowel
phonemes, a task 186 of matching short vowel phonemes, a task 188 of
matching consonant phonemes, a task 190 of identifying a beginning phoneme,
a task 192 of identifying a ending phoneme and a task 192 of identifying a
medial phoneme. These tasks, together, frain a user's skill at auditory attention,
discrimination, short term memory, phonological segmentation, identification,
sequencing, manipulation, closure, working memory, letter recognition, letter
naming, alphabetic order, sound/symbol correspondence, spoken language
processing, left-to-right progression, visual memory for orthographic images and
spelling. The primary skills being frained are short term memory,
discrimination, phonological segmentation, phonological identification,
phonological manipulation, phonological working memory, letter recognition,
alphabetic order, sound/symbol correspondence, visual orthographic memory
and phonetic spelling. The secondary skills being trained are left-to-right
progression, keyboard entry, oral directions and attention.
For each task, the training method may generally include presenting a
stimulus to the user, gathering a response from the user to the stimulus,
analyzing the response for correctness and performance, providing feedback to
the user and changing the difficulty of the task (by changing one or more
difficulty variables) based on the user's performance.
In more detail, in task 170, the user is presented with a letter of the
alphabet and is asked to identify the next letter in the alphabet at different
difficulty levels by varying one or more difficulty variables in accordance with
the invention. In this task, the user may advance to a harder difficulty level or
fall back to an easier difficulty level based on the user's performance during the
task. In this task, the difficulty variables may include changing the position in
the alphabet of the letter presented to the user, changing from the upper or lower
case display of the letter and changing the visual cueing of the user. In the task
172, the user is presented with a long vowel phoneme and is asked to identify
the visual representation (letter) of the long vowel phoneme. The difficulty
variables for this task may include changing the availability of auditory cues,
changing the availability of associated keywords, changing from the upper or
lower case display of the letter and changing the visual cueing of the user. In
task 174, the user is presented with a short vowel phoneme and is asked to
identify the visual representation of the short vowel phoneme. The difficulty
variables for this task may include changing the availability of auditory cues,
changing the availability of associated keywords, changing from the upper or
lower case display of the letter and changing the visual cueing of the user. In
step 176, the user is presented with a consonant phoneme and is asked to
identify the visual representation (an upper case letter) corresponding to the
consonant phoneme. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing
the availability of auditory cues, changing the availability of associated
keywords and changing the phonetic similarity of the responses. In step 180, the
user is presented with a consonant phoneme and is asked to identify the visual
representation (a lower case letter) corresponding to the consonant phoneme.
The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the availability of
auditory cues, changing the availability of associated keywords and changing
the phonetic similarity of the responses.
In task 182, the user is presented with a phoneme and is asked to select
the corresponding letter on the keyboard. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the perceptual saliency of the phoneme, changing the
availability of the display of the printed letter and changing whether the letter is
displayed as upper or lower case. In task 184, the user is presented with a long
vowel phoneme and is asked to identify the matching sound. The difficulty
variables for this task may include changing the number of response choices
presented to the user, changing the availability of the display of the printed letter
and changing whether the letter is displayed as upper or lower case. In task 186,
the user is presented with a short vowel phoneme and is asked to identify the
matching sound. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the
number of response choices presented to the user, changing the availability of
the display of the printed letter and changing whether the letter is displayed as
upper or lower case. In task 188, the user is presented with a consonant
phoneme and is asked to identify the matching sound. The difficulty variables
for this task may include changing the number of response choices presented to
the user, changing the availability of the display of the printed letter and
changing whether the letter is displayed as upper or lower case.
In task 190, the user is presented with a word and asked to identify the
beginning phoneme of the word. The difficulty variables for this task may
include changing the type of word (real vs. nonsense), changing the format of
the response choices (e.g., auditory only, auditory and visual or visual only) and
changing the phonetic similarity of the response choices. In task 192, the user is
presented with a word and asked to identify the ending phoneme of the word.
The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the type of word (real
vs. nonsense), changing the format of the response choices (e.g., auditory only,
auditory and visual or visual only) and changing the phonetic similarity of the
response choices. In task 194, the user is presented with a word and asked to
identify the medial phoneme of the word. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the type of word (real vs. nonsense), changing the format
of the response choices (e.g., auditory only, auditory and visual or visual only)
and changing the phonetic similarity of the response choices. Each of these
tasks is described in more detail in the attached Appendix. Now, the tasks
associated with the sound and word recognition training module will be
described.
Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tasks and games in
the sound and word recognition training module 126 in accordance with the
invention. The letter training module 122 may include a task 200 of sorting
words based on a beginning target phoneme, a task 202 of sorting words based
on an ending rime, a task 204 of sorting words based on an ending target
phoneme, tasks 206, 208 of sorting words into one or more semantic categories,
a task 210 of recognizing words, a task 212 of identifying a sound in a word, a
task 214 of identifying a vowel in a word, a task 216 of identifying the same
ending moφheme in a word, a task 218 of identifying matching nonsense
words, a task 220 of identifying words with matching word- final plurality
moφhemes, a task 222 of identifying words with matching word-final tense
moφhemes, and a task 224 of identifying words spelled in reverse to the target
word. These tasks, together, train a user's skill at auditory attention, vigilance,
discrimination, short term memory, phonological identification and sequencing,
rhyming, moφhological segmentation and identification, letter recognition,
sound/symbol correspondence, decoding, sight recognition, visual orthographic
memory, reading fluency, and semantic word classification. In particular, the
primary skills being trained are auditory attention, auditory short term memory,
auditory & phoneme discrimination (syllable sound patterns, vowels,
consonants, syllables, words), phoneme identification (recognizing a sound in a
word), moφheme identification (recognizing inflectional moφhemes,
moφhological identification (Inflected Moφhemes: plurals & verb markers),
comprehension of linguistic concepts, letter recognition, sound-symbol
correspondence (short vowels, consonants, consonant digraphs, consonant
blends, rimes), orthographic knowledge, visual orthographic memory, sight
word recognition (printed syllables and words), reading fluency (words in
isolation), reading comprehension (vocabulary), decoding with use of
moφhological knowledge and semantic classification. The secondary skills
being frained are rhyme (identify rhyming word), following oral directions and
moφhophonemic spelling.
For each task, the training method may generally include presenting a
stimulus to the user, gathering a response from the user to the stimulus,
analyzing the response for correctness and performance, providing feedback to
the user and changing the difficulty of the task (by changing one or more
difficulty variables) based on the user's performance. For each of the tasks in
this module, a difficulty variable may include adaptively changing the time
permitted for a response.
In more detail, in the task 200, the user is presented with a target
phoneme, such as a consonant, and a word and is asked to sort the word based
on the target phoneme at different difficulty levels by varying the difficulty
variables in accordance with the invention. In this task, the user may advance to
a harder difficulty level or fall back to an easier difficulty level based on the
user's performance during the task. In this task, the difficulty variables may
include changing the presentation format (e.g., auditory only, visual and
auditory or visual only), changing the availability of auditory cues and changing
the time permitted for a response. In the task 202, the user is presented with a
target phoneme, such as a rime containing a short vowel, and a word and is
asked to sort the word based on the target rime at different difficulty levels by
varying the difficulty variables in accordance with the invention. In this task,
the difficulty variables may include changing the presentation format (e.g.,
auditory only, visual and auditory or visual only), changing the availability of
auditory cues and changing the time permitted for a response. In the task 204,
the user is presented with a target phoneme and a word and is asked to sort the
word based on the target phoneme at the end of the word at different difficulty
levels by varying the difficulty variables in accordance with the invention. In
this task, the difficulty variables may include changing the presentation format
(e.g., auditory only, visual and auditory or visual only), changing the availability
of auditory cues and changing the time permitted for a response.
In tasks 206 and 208, the user is presented with a semantic category and
a word and is asked to sort the word as it belongs into one or more semantic
categories. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the
presentation format (e.g., auditory only, visual and auditory or visual only),
changing the availability of auditory cues and changing the time permitted for a
response. In task 210, the user is presented with a target word, such as a high
frequency sight word, and a series of words and is asked to identify a word in
the series that matches the target word. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the presentation format of the target word (e.g., auditory
only, visual and auditory or visual only), changing the availability of auditory
cues, changing the time permitted for a response and changing the presentation
format of the series of word (e.g., auditory or visual).
In task 212, the user is presented with a word and asked to identify a
word that begins with the same sound heard at the end of the first presented
word. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the
availability of auditory cues, changing the availability of a visual display, and
changing the time permitted for a response. In task 214, the user is presented
with a word and asked to identify a word that contains the same medial vowel as
the first presented word. The difficulty variables for this task may include
changing the availability of auditory cues, changing the availability of a visual
display, and changing the time permitted for a response. In task 216, the user is
presented with a word and asked to identify a word that ends with the same
ending moφheme as first presented word. The difficulty variables for this task
may include changing the availability of auditory cues, changing the availability
of a visual display, and changing the time permitted for a response.
In task 218, the user is presented with a nonsense target word and a
series of words and is asked to identify the word in the series that matches the
target word. The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the
presentation format of the target word (e.g., auditory only, visual and auditory or
visual only), changing the availability of visual cues, changing the time
permitted for a response and changing the presentation format of the series of
word (e.g., auditory or visual). In task 220, the user is presented with a target
word, such as a real word containing target plurality moφheme, and a series of
words and is asked to identify a word in the series that matches the target word.
The difficulty variables for this task may include changing the presentation
format of the target word (e.g., auditory only, visual and auditory or visual
only), changing the availability of visual cues, changing the time permitted for a
response and changing the presentation format of the series of word (e.g.,
auditory or visual).
In task 222, the user is presented with a target word, such as a real word
containing a target verb tense moφheme, and a series of words and is asked to
identify a word in the series that matches the target word. The difficulty
variables for this task may include changing the presentation format of the target
word (e.g., auditory only, visual and auditory or visual only), changing the
availability of visual cues, changing the time permitted for a response and
changing the presentation format of the series of word (e.g., auditory or visual).
In task 224, the user is presented with a printed word (real or nonsense) and a
series of other words (real or nonsense) and is asked to identify when a word
spelled in reverse to the target word in the series is presented to the user. The
difficulty variables for this task may include changing the number of letters in
the words, changing the availability of visual cues and changing the time
permitted for a response. Each of these tasks is described in more detail in the
attached Appendix.
In summary, the training system may include one or more tasks wherein
each task may further include one or more games/sub-tasks. The combination of
the various tasks and games described above permits a user's phonological
awareness and processing, auditory processing, moφhological awareness,
VOM, reading and spelling skills to be frained and improved to improve the
user's reading and spelling ability.
Figures 9 A - 12 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in the
sound segmentation and discrimination training module ("Rock On") in
accordance with the invention. In a preferred embodiment of this module
implemented in a product. Generally, the user may click on a button to catch the
"Rap-A-Taps" rhythm by counting the number of words in sentences or
identifying syllable sfress patterns in words.
In an implementation of the preferred embodiment, there may be a first
activity of segmenting words into syllables with eight different levels and a
second activity of discriminating and identifying syllable stresses with twelve
different levels. In the first activity, the Rap-A-Taps lead drummer (as
described below) will present a 4-6 word sentence. The user may then wait for
the speaker to appear on the screen to click the number of words heard in the
sentence. During the activity, the user will first hear words and see musical
notes that represent words in a sentence. The user then will har and see each
word as the he/she clicks the mouse. After four consecutive responses, Rock
On will automatically increase the level of difficulty by taking away the
narration. As you jam with the band and masterfully complete each item, you
will have to rely more upon your reading skills and print awareness. The band
will continue to increase the difficulty by presenting sentences with non-
rhyming words, then sentences with two syllable words. After two consecutive
incorrect responses, the level of play will be decreased automatically.
In the second activity, students will first determine whether auditorily
presented single-syllable words have the same or different sfress. The user may
click on the studio lights with the same color if the words have the same sfress
or click on the studio lights with different colors if the words have different
stresses. After four consecutive correct responses, Rock On increases the
difficulty by taking away visual cues displayed during the first level of play.
When the student becomes proficient at discriminating stress in single syllable
words, the student will have to identify two and three syllable words as having
same or different syllable sfress patterns. Printed syllables will be provided to
help students develop mapping of spoken to printed syllables; however, after
three consecutive correct responses, visual cues will be taken away and students
will have to discriminate stress patterns based on what they hear.
At the highest levels, the user will be asked to identify syllable sfress
patterns by clicking on small or large color coded musical notes, representing
low and high sfress patterns. Students initially will be given visual and auditory
cues to help them keep track of the syllable patterns in multi-syllable words.
Students first will have to identify syllable sfress patterns in 2-syllable words;
however, the complexity of the game increases as children are asked to identify
syllable stress in three syllable words and without visual cues or narration
provided during response time. Rock On automatically decreases the level of
play if children miss more than two consecutive items. In a preferred
embodiment, for all of the tasks in the modules, the level of difficulty of the task
is increased after four correct answers and it is decreased after two incorrect
answers. In accordance with the invention, the number of correct answers that
cause an increase in the difficulty level and the number of incorrect answers that
cause a decrease in the difficulty level may be changed. Now, more details of
each task of the sound segmentation and discrimination module will be
described.
Figure 9A is flowchart illustrating a first task 300 of the sound
segmentation and discrimination module wherein the user is asked to identify
the number of words in a sentence. An example of the user interface of the task
is shown in Figures 9B and 9C and described in more detail below. The learning
objective of this task is now described. The student will segment 4-6 word
sentences into words. The sentences will consist of one syllable rhyming words,
one syllable non-rhyming words, one & two syllable rhyming words or one &
two syllable non-rhyming words. Auditory feedback will or will not be
provided during response depending on the difficulty of the level and printed
words will or will not be displayed during response based on the difficulty level.
In step 302, the system may visually or auditorily present a sentence to
the user. The system may then prompt the user (either visually or with auditory
instructions) to respond to the above stimuli in step 304 to identify the number
of words in the sentence and the user may input a response in step 306 using an
input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech
recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response
from the user, the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or
incorrect) in step 308 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user
respond within the allotted time?). In step 310, the system may provide
feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task wherein the
feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 312, the system determines if the
criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of
difficulty may be increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this
task, the difficulty variables may include the number of syllables in a word, the
phonological similarity of words (rhyming vs. non-rhyming), availability of
auditory feedback and printed display of the word. If the advancement criteria
has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 314 and the method
returns to step 302 to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty
level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the
decrease level criteria has been met in step 316. The level of difficulty may be
decreased by changing one or more of the above difficulty variables. If the
decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is decreased in step
318 and the method returns to step 302 to present the next task to the user at the
lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met,
then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step 302. In this
manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figures 9B and 9C illustrate examples of a user interface 320 of the first
task wherein a rock band is shown. The user interface may also include a pause
button 322 to permit the user to pause the training at any time, one or more areas
324 that change color as the user indicates the number of words in the spoken
sentence so that the user has a visual clue. The user interface may also include a
timer 326 which alerts the user to the amount of time that the user has remaining
to answer the current task. The time that is takes the user to respond affects the
performance rating of the user for the particular task.
Figure 10 is a flowchart illustrating a second task 330 of the first module
wherein the user is asked to identify the number of syllables in a word. The
student will segment 1-4 syllable words into syllables. To change the difficulty
of the task, auditory feedback will or will not be provided during the response
and printed syllables will or will not be displayed during the response.
In step 332, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli in step 334 by
identifying the number of syllables in the presented word and the user may input
a response in step 336 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 338 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 340, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 342, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
availability of auditory feedback or the printed display of the syllables of the
word. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
increased in step 344 and the method returns to step 332 to present the next task
to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met,
then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step
346. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more of the
above difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 348 and the method returns to step 332 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 332. In this manner, the above task may be used to train a user's
skills.
Figure 11 is a flowchart illustrating a third task 350 of the first module
wherein the user must identify the syllable stresses of a word. This task may
actually be broken into two different sub-tasks wherein a first sub-task uses
single syllables and a second sub-task uses multisyllabic words. In the first sub-
task, the student will discriminate single syllable words as having same or
different syllable stress when the words are auditorily presented with an inter-
stimulus interval of 1.0 seconds. Visual cues will or will not be displayed to
facilitate performance. In the second sub-task the student will identify multi¬
syllabic words as having same or different syllable sfress patterns when the
words are auditorily presented with an inter-stimulus interval of 1.0 seconds.
Visual cues will or will not be displayed to facilitate performance.
In step 352, the system may present the user with two words either
visually or orally. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by identifying if the two words have the same syllable sfress in step 354
and the user may input a response in step 356 using an input device of the
computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the
like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system
may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 358 and the
user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted
time?). In step 360, the system may provide feedback to the user about the
user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory.
In step 362, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the
level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables
may include the number of syllables in the words or the availability of a visual
cue to aid the user. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 364 and the method returns to step 352 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 366. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables as described above. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 368 and the method returns to
step 352 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 352. In this manner, the above task may be used to
frain a user's skills.
Figure 12 illustrates a fourth task 370 of the first module wherein the
user is presented with a word and prompted to identify the syllable stress
patterns in the word. In this task, the student will replicate syllable sfress
patterns of multi-syllabic syllable words. Visual cues will or will not be
displayed to facilitate performance.
In step 372, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
syllable sfress patterns in the word in step 374 and the user may input a response
in step 376 using an input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the
mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system
receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's response
(e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 378 and the user's performance of the task
(e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 380, the system
may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task
wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 382, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include changing
the number of syllables in the word, the availability of auditory feedback or the
availability of visual cues. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 384 and the method returns to step 372 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 386. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables above. If the decrease criteria has
been met, then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 388 and the method
returns to step 372 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of
difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task
continues at the same level and loops back to step 372. In this manner, the
above task may be used to frain a user's skills. Using the above tasks, the sound
segmentation and discrimination module may train the skills of the user as
described above. Now, more details of the tasks of the segmentation blending
and decoding/spelling training module will be described.
Figures 13 A - 23 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in
the segmentation/blending and decoding/spelling training module ("ZAP!") in
accordance with the invention. In a preferred implementation of this module,
the user may click on a user interface element to "take a swim in the swamp"
where students will learn to decode, spell and blend real and nonsense words.
The user may watch baby frogs catch their lunch as students identify or spell
onsets, rimes or whole words with short vowels, single consonants as well as
initial and final consonant blends. The user may click on the Bog Frog to by¬
pass the demonstration items.
In the preferred implementation, the activities may include the
following: which word is formed using these onsets and rimes? (16 levels), how
do you spell CVC real and nonsense words? (6 levels), which word is formed
using consonant and short vowel sounds? (12 levels), and how do you decode
and spell CCVC, VCC and CVCC words? (18 levels). In more detail, the first
activity involves the baby frogs presenting onsets and rimes that make a CVC
word. Three pictures will appear on the side of the screen. Once the onset-rime
segments have been presented, the speaker icon appears, and students can roll¬
over each of the pictures to have it pronounced for a clue. After three
consecutive correct responses, Zap! automatically advances the game by
increasing the amount of time between onset-rime segments or presenting
answer choices that have the same rime, then onset as the target. Students
initially are provided with auditory and visual cues, however, as they progress,
they must rely on visual-only presentation to decode onset-rime targets. While
the student becomes proficient in blending and decoding onset-rime segments
for real words, Zap! continues to increase the difficulty by presenting nonsense
words for blending and decoding tasks. At this level, children must roll-over the
question marks on the screen for an auditory presentation of the answer choices.
When children progress to the nonsense word level, they will gradually work
their way through the progressive stages of difficulty they encountered during
the real word task. After two consecutive incorrect responses, the game
automatically adjusts by decreasing the level of difficulty for play. As in the
previous levels, children gradually work their way through blending phonemes
and letters to decoding phonemes and letters for real then nonsense words.
In the second activity, Bog Frog will present a CVC or VC word
auditorily. Students will be asked to spell the word by typing letters on the keyboard. Initially, students will be provided with auditory and visual cues
from printed letters that pop onto a swamp sign as they type. However, as
students become more proficient with spelling, auditory feedback and visual
cues are taken away. Students gradually progress to levels of play during which
they are asked to spell nonsense words. As in previous levels, they are provided with visual cues and auditory feedback to help them check their spellings as they type; however, as they successfully complete items, auditory feedback, then
visual cues are eliminated. At these levels students must rely on what they
know about the spellings of English words to spell the nonsense words presented during the game. Zap! automatically decreases the level of play if
students miss more than two consecutive items.
In the third activity, as in the onset-rime activity, students are asked to
blend letters and decode real and nonsense words to identify a target; however,
for this activity module, children must make their decisions by blending and
decoding individual letters rather than onset-rime segments. Students first must associate sounds and letters to blend individual letters together and identify a
target word. As students progress, the interval between letters increases and students must choose a response from a set of phonetically similar words. At
the highest levels, students must decode CVC words from a visual-only
presentation, selecting answer choices first from a set of phonetically-dissimilar
words then from a set of phonetically similar words. Once a student has
completed real word blending and decoding items, (s)he will move on to
blending and decoding letter strings for nonsense words.
In the fourth activity, Bog Frog instructs students to blend and decode
CCVC words once students have demonstrated proficiency with CVC words.
Students begin by associating letters and sounds then blending them together to
identify CCVC target words. Zap! automatically advances by increasing the
amount of time between letters and by eliminating auditory presentation.
Initially, the phonetic saliency of the CC (consonant cluster) blends will be high
and more easily identified; however, as children progress, Zap! automatically
advances by introducing CC blends with low saliency, which are more difficult
to identify. Once the student becomes proficient at identifying CCVC words,
Zap! automatically advances to words with VCC and CVCC patterns. The game
continues to increase difficulty by varying the mode of response and having
students spell CVCC, VCC and CVCC words by typing on the keyboard.
Initially, students can roll-over a set of lily pads for auditory cues while they are
spelling a word. In addition, narration is provided while they type. After three
consecutive correct responses, Zap! automatically advances by eliminating
auditory roll-over cues and narration. Once again, students are first asked to
spell words with high saliency consonant clusters then words with low saliency
consonant blends. If students miss two consecutive responses, the level of play
is automatically decreased. Now, more details of the various tasks in the
module will be described.
Figure 13A illustrates a first task 400 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user is presented with an onset
and rime and prompted to identify the word generated by blending the onset and
time. In this task, the student will blend onset-rime units presented at
predetermined variable time intervals with or without corresponding graphemes
into a word and will make a response by selecting from a set of three
phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar words. The student will identify
CVC words presented with no auditory cues and will make a response by
selecting from a set of three phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar
words wherein phonetically dissimilar words have different initial consonant
and medial vowels and phonetically similar words have the same rime or onset.
In step 402, the system may present the user with an onset and a rime.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the word generated by blending the onset and the rime in step 404
and the user may input a response in step 406 using an input device of the
computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the
like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system
may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 408 and the
user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted
time?). In step 410, the system may provide feedback to the user about the
user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory.
In step 412, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the
level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables
may include changing the time interval between the onset and the rime,
changing the perceptual similarity of the response choices and changing the
presentation format (e.g., auditory alone, auditory and visual together or visual
alone). If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
increased in step 414 and the method returns to step 402 to present the next task
to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met,
then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step
416. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more of the
above difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 418 and the method returns to step 402 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 402. In this manner, the above task may be used to train a user's
skills.
Figure 13B illustrates an example of a user interface 420 for the first
task. The user interface may include a pause button 422 to permit the user to
pause the training. The user interface may also include a first area 424 that
supports a frog in the preferred implementation and displays the onset (e.g., "s"
in this example), and a second area 426 that supports a frog and displays the
rime (e.g., "un" in this example). The user interface may also include a visual
display area 428 (if activated) that may display pictures of the correct word as
well as one or more incorrect words to provide the user with visual cues. The
user interface may also include an area 430 for visually presenting the user
selected word (e.g., "sun" in this example) to the user.
Figure 14 illustrates a first task 440 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user is presented with an onset
and rime and is expected to identify the nonsense word created by blending the
onset and rime. In this task, the user will blend onset-rime units presented at x
second intervals with or without corresponding graphemes into a word and will
make a response by selecting from a set of three phonetically-dissimilar or
phonetically-similar nonsense words. The user then will decode visually
presented CVC nonsense words presented with no auditory cues and will make a
response by selecting from a set of three phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-
similar nonsense words wherein phonetically dissimilar words have different
initial consonant and medial vowel and phonetically similar words have same
rime or onset.
In step 442, the system may present the user with a onset and a rime.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the nonsense word formed by blending the onset and the rime in step
444 and the user may input a response in step 446 using an input device of the
computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the
like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system
may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 448 and the
user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted
time?). In step 450, the system may provide feedback to the user about the
user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory.
In step 452, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the
level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables
may include the same variables as described above with respect to Figure 13 A.
If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased
in step 454 and the method returns to step 442 to present the next task to the user
at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 456. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables described above. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 458 and the method returns to step 442 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 442. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 15 illustrates a third task 460 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user is presented with a word and
prompted to identify the rime unit in the word. When presented with a one-
syllable CVC word or nonsense word, the student will identify the rime unit by
selecting from one of three phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar rimes
wherein phonetically dissimilar rimes have different vowels and phonetically
similar rimes have the same vowels (the latter of which is more difficult).
In step 462, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the rime
unit in the word in step 464 and the user may input a response in step 466 using
an input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech
recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response
from the user, the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or
incorrect) in step 468 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user
respond within the allotted time?). In step 470, the system may provide
feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task wherein the
feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 472, the system determines if the
criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of
difficulty may be increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this
task, the difficulty variables may include the perceptual similarity of the
response choices or the presentation format (e.g., auditory alone, visual alone or
visual with auditory). If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 474 and the method returns to step 462 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 476. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables described above. If the decrease criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is decreased in step 478 and the method returns to step 462
to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 462. In this manner, the above task may be used to
frain a user's skills.
Figure 16 illustrates a fourth task 480 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user learns to blend phonemes
into words. In this task, the student will blend three phonemes presented at
predetermined adjustable time intervals with or without corresponding
graphemes into a word and will make a response by selecting from a set of three
phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar words. The student will identify
CVC words presented with no auditory cues and will make a response by
selecting from a set of three phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar
words wherein phonetically dissimilar words have different initial and final
consonants and medial vowel and phonetically similar words have the same
medial vowel and initial or final consonant.
In step 482, the system may present the user with a series of individual
phonemes separated by some predetermined adjustable interval. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
word created by blending the presented phonemes in step 484 and the user may
input a response in step 486 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 488 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 490, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 492, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include changing
the time interval between the phonemes wherein a longer time makes the task
harder, the perceptual similarity of the response choices or the presentation
format as described above. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 494 and the method returns to step 482 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 496. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 498 and the method returns to
step 482 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 482. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 17 illustrates a fifth task 500 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user blends phonemes together to
form nonsense words. In this task, the student will blend three phonemes
presented at predetermined variable time intervals with or without
corresponding graphemes into a nonsense word and will make a response by
selecting from a set of three phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar
nonsense words. The student will decode CVC words presented with no
auditory cues and will make a response by selecting from a set of three
phonetically-dissimilar or phonetically-similar nonsense words wherein
phonetically dissimilar words have different initial and final consonants and
medial vowel and phonetically similar words have same medial vowel and
initial or final consonant.
In step 502, the system may present the user with a series of phonemes
separated by a predetermined adjustable time interval. The system may then
prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the nonsense
word formed by blending the phonemes in step 504 and the user may input a
response in step 506 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 508 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 510, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 512, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the same
variables as for the fourth task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is increased in step 514 and the method returns to step 502
to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 516. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 518 and the method returns to
step 502 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 502. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 18A illustrates a sixth task 520 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user identifies the number of
phonemes in a word. In this task, the student will segment VC and CVC real
words and nonsense words into phonemes. Auditory feedback will or will not be
provided during response. Graphemes will or will not be displayed during
response to change the difficulty wherein the increase criteria for this task may
be 80% correct answers.
In step 522, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
number of phonemes in the word in step 524 and the user may input a response
in step 526 using an input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the
mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system
receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's response
(e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 528 and the user's performance of the task
(e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 530, the system
may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task
wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 532, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the type of
the word (e.g., real vs. nonsense), the availability of auditory feedback or the
visual display of the graphemes. If the advancement criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is increased in step 534 and the method returns to step 522
to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 536. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 538 and the method returns to
step 522 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 522. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 18B illustrates an example of a user interface 540 of the sixth
task. The user interface is similar to the user interface shown in Figure 13B and
like elements are designates with like reference numerals. For example, the user
interface may include the pause button 422, the one or more stands 424, 426,
427 and 429 that support a frog in the example and each contain a phoneme
(e.g., "s", "t", "o" and "p" in this example), a graphical display section 428 that
is blank in this example, and the area 430 for displaying the user's selection
(e.g., "stop" in this example which is correct).
Figure 19A illustrates a seventh task 550 of the segmentation/blending
and decoding/spelling fraining module wherein the user spells a spoken word
and Figures 19B and 19C illustrate examples of a user interface 552 for this
task. In this task, the student will spell VC (e.g., "at") and CVC (e.g., "cat") real
and nonsense words by typing letters on the keyboard. Figure 19C illustrates an
example of a user interface wherein a CVCC word ("desk") is used although the
same type of user interface would be used for the CV and CVC words described.
Auditory cues and feedback will or will not be available during the response.
In step 554, the system may present the user with a spoken word. The
system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by spelling the
word in step 556 and the user may input a response in step 558 using an input
device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition
tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user,
the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step
560 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the
allotted time?). In step 562, the system may provide feedback to the user about
the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 564, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include the availability of auditory cues or the
availability of auditory feedback. If the advancement criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is increased in step 566 and the method returns to step 554 to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 568. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 570 and the method returns to step 554 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 554. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills. Figure 19B illustrates an example of the user interface for this task that, in addition to the elements shown in Figure 19B, may include a
speaker controller 572 for controlling the auditory cues and feedback provided
to the user.
Figure 20A illustrates an eighth task 580 of the segmentation/blending
and decoding/spelling training module wherein the user blends CVCC
phonemes to generate a word and Figure 20B illustrates an example of a user
interface 582 for this task. In this task, the student will blend four phonemes
presented at predetermined variable time intervals with or without
corresponding graphemes into a word and will make a response by selecting
from a set of three response choices. The student will decode CVCC words
presented with no auditory cues and will make a response by selecting from a set
of three response choices. The phonetic saliency of the consonant cluster blends
will be controlled to facilitate skill development wherein high saliency
consonant clusters have fricative + stop while low saliency consonant clusters
have nasal + stop.
In step 584, the system may present the user with a series of CVCC
(consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant) phonemes separates by a
predetermined adjustable time interval. The system may then prompt the user to
respond to the above stimuli by blending the phonemes together to form a word
in step 586 and the user may input a response in step 588 using an input device
of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or
the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the
system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 590
and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the
allotted time?). In step 592, the system may provide feedback to the user about
the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 594, the system determines if the criteria has been met to
increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include changing the interval between the phonemes,
the perceptual similarity of the response choices and changing the presentation
format (e.g., auditory alone, visual alone or auditory and visual). If the
advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 595 and the method returns to step 584 to present the next task to the user at
the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 596. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 598 and the method returns to step 584 to present the next task
to the user at the lower level of difficulty . If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
584. In this manner, the above task may be used to train a user's skills.
Figure 21 illustrates a ninth task 600 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling fraining module wherein the user blends phonemes to
generate a word. In this task, the student will blend four phonemes presented at
predetermined adjustable time intervals with or without corresponding
graphemes into a word and will make a response by selecting from a set of three
response choices. The student will decode CCVC words presented with no
auditory cues and will make a response by selecting from a set of three response
choices. The phonetic saliency of the consonant cluster blends will be controlled
to facilitate skill development.
In step 602, the system may present the user with a series of consonant,
consonant, vowel, consonant phonemes (CCVC phonemes in this task)
separated by a predetermined adjustable time interval. The system may then
prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the word
generated by blending the phonemes together in step 604 and the user may input
a response in step 606 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 608 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 610, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 612, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may be the same as set
forth above for the eighth task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 614 and the method returns to step 602 to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 616. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 618 and the method returns to step 602 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 602. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 22 illustrates a tenth task 620 of the segmentation/blending and
decoding/spelling training module wherein the user identifies the phonemes in a
spoken unit. In this task, the student will segment consonant cluster blends and
VCC, CVCC and CCVC words into phonemes. Auditory feedback will or will not be provided during the response and graphemes will or will not be displayed
during the response to change the difficulty. The phonetic saliency of the
consonant cluster blends will be controlled to facilitate skill development.
In step 622, the system may present the user with a sound unit. The
system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying
the number of phonemes in the sound unit in step 624 and the user may input a
response in step 626 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 628 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 630, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 632, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
phonetic saliency of the phonemes, the availability of auditory feedback or the
visual display of graphemes. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 634 and the method returns to step 622 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 636. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 638 and the method returns to
step 622 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 622. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 23 illustrates an eleventh task 640 of the segmentation/blending
and decoding/spelling fraining module wherein the user spells a word. In this
task, the student will spell VCC, CVCC and CCVC words by typing letters on
the keyboard. Auditory cues and feedback will or will not be available during
the response.
In step 642, the system may present the user with a spoken word. The
system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by spelling the
word in step 644 and the user may input a response in step 646 using an input
device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition
tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user,
the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step
648 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the
allotted time?). In step 650, the system may provide feedback to the user about
the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 652, the system determines if the criteria has been met to
increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include the phonetic saliency of the phonemes, the
availability of auditory cues and the availability of auditory feedback. If the
advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 654 and the method returns to step 642 to present the next task to the user at
the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 656. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 658 and the method returns to step 642 to present the next task
to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
642. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills. Using
these eleven described tasks, the segmentation/blending and decoding/spelling
fraining module trains the primary and secondary skills of the user as set forth
above to improve the user's reading skills. Now, more details of the tasks in the
sound/symbol fraining module will be described in more detail.
Figures 24A - 35 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in
the sound/symbol fraining module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the
invention. In a preferred implementation of the module, the user may click on a
symbol and learn about letter names and sounds and how they all fit into short
vowel CVC words. In particular, the user may watch a frain, known as "CC",
speed around the track, blowing puffs of smoke that look like animals, shapes
and other fun objects as the student correctly identifies the correct sequence of
alphabet letters, match letters and sounds and learn letter names. The student
will also learn to identify letters in words as well as manipulate letters to create
new real and nonsense words. The module may include the activity of
identifying upper and lower case letter in order in the alphabet, matching letter
and sounds, and identifying and manipulating sounds in the beginning, middle
and ends of CVC words.
During the first activity, students will be presented with an uppercase
letter from the beginning, middle or end of the alphabet and will be asked to
identify the next letter of the alphabet by typing a response on the keyboard.
The student will hear the letter as he/she types and must get 80% or more of
his/her responses correct to advance. After the student becomes proficient at
identifying uppercase letters and alphabetic order for the first letters in the
beginning of the alphabet, (s)he will identify and type sequences of letters from
the middle, and then the end of the alphabet. Letter Express continues to
increase in difficulty by infroducing lowercase letters and by varying the place
in the alphabet the student must begin. After two consecutive incorrect
responses, the level of play will automatically be decreased.
In the second activity, students will be asked to identify short vowel and
consonant sounds by selecting the correct lowercase letter from a set of response
choices displayed on the screen. Students will first hear a vowel phoneme and
must identify which of three corresponding letters correctly matches it. Initially,
students will be able to roll over picture cues providing auditory cues as well as
an associated word; however, once achieving 80% correct or better, they will be
asked to match without auditory cues or associated words. Once a student has
mastered short vowel letter-sound matching, (s)he will be asked to match
consonant phonemes and digraphs with lowercase consonant letters. As the
student progresses, Letter Express will increase difficulty by varying the
similarity of the response choices and eliminating auditory cues and associated
words. If a student misses two consecutive items, the level of play will
automatically decrease.
In the third activity, a matrix of clouds will appear in the middle of the
screen. Students will match phonemes with lowercase letters by clicking on
their corresponding clouds before time runs out. CC will keep track of the
number of letter-sound matches the student will make in one minute and will
advance the game by increasing the number of clouds in the matrix from 8 to 12.
As students make a match, the clouds will disappear, reducing the number of
choices. If a student matches all of the letters and sounds in a matrix before
time runs out, (s)he will be given another matrix to complete. Students will first
have to match vowel letters and sounds; however, once they can match 10 or
more vowel letters and sounds with 8 then 12 cloud matrices, the game will
progress by presenting consonant phonemes that must be matched with
lowercase letters.
In the fourth activity, after students have successfully matched letters
and sounds, Letter Express automatically begins a new activity. For the first 22
levels of the game students will be asked to focus on letters and sounds in
isolation. At the final 28 levels of the game, students will be asked to identify
and manipulate sounds in the CVC real and nonsense words. As they progress,
students will be asked to identify and manipulate sounds at the end, then in the
middle of real and nonsense CVC words. Students first listen to CC say a real
CVC word and identify the initial consonant from a set of three response
choices. Initially, these response choices will consist of sounds and letters and
students will be given roll-over letter and sound cues to help them identify the
correct response. As students progress, these cues will be eliminated and
students will be asked to identify the beginning letter in a visually presented
word. Letter Express gradually increases difficulty by varying the similarity of
foils and in the highest levels, having children respond using the keyboard rather
than selecting from three response choices. After completing three consecutive
responses for a number of different levels, students will be asked to type a new
initial consonant letter on the keyboard to make a new word or nonsense word.
When the student becomes proficient at identifying and manipulating initial
consonant letters and sounds, Letter Express automatically advances the level by
introducing final consonant sounds. Students playing at the 10 highest levels of
the game will be asked to identify and manipulate short middle vowels in CVC
real and nonsense words. For each task, Letter Express advances levels by
challenging students to recognize then manipulate letters in real and nonsense
words as well as respond to items by clicking on a correct item or typing
responses. After two consecutive incorrect responses, the level of play will be
decreased automatically. Now, the details of the various tasks associated with
the above module will be described in more detail.
Figure 24A illustrates a first task 670 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies the next letter in the alphabet. When presented with a letter selected
from the beginning, middle or end of the alphabet, the student will identify the
next letter of the alphabet by typing a response on the keyboard. Upper case or
lower case graphemes will be displayed.
In step 672, the system may present the user with a letter of the alphabet.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the next letter in the alphabet in step 674 and the user may input a
response in step 676 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 678 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 680, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 682, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
position in the alphabet (beginning, middle or end), upper vs. lower case display
of the letters or visual cueing. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 684 and the method returns to step 672 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 686. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 688 and the method returns to
step 672 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 672. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figures 24B and 24C illustrate examples of a user interface 690 of the
first task. In particular, the user interface may include a pause button 691 to
pause the fraining at any time, an animated character 692, such as a steam
engine in this example and one or more puffs of smoke 693 generated by the
steam engine that each contain a letter of the alphabet. Figure 24B illustrates
lower case letters being displayed to the user while Figure 24C illustrates upper
case letters being displayed to the user.
Figure 25 illustrates a second task 700 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies letters corresponding to a long vowel phoneme. When presented with
a phoneme sound, the student will select the corresponding letter from a set of
response choices displayed on the screen. An associated word will or will not be
displayed. Auditory cues will or will not be available. In this task, phoneme
sounds will be limited to the most common long vowel sound-symbol
associations for the 5 vowels of the English alphabet.
In step 702, the system may present the user with a long vowel phoneme.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the letters corresponding to the phonemes in step 704 and the user
may input a response in step 706 using an input device of the computer, such as
the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the
computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze
the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 708 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 710, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
712, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
availability of auditory cues, the availability of associated keywords, upper vs.
lower case display of a letter or visual cueing. If the advancement criteria has
been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 714 and the method
returns to step 702 to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty
level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the
decrease level criteria has been met in step 716. The level of difficulty may be
decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria
has been met, then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 718 and the method
returns to step 702 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of
difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task
continues at the same level and loops back to step 702. In this manner, the
above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 26 illustrates a third task 720 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
must identify the letters that correspond to a short vowel phoneme. When
presented with a phoneme sound, the student will select the corresponding letter
from a set of response choices displayed on the screen. An associated word will
or will not be displayed. Auditory cues will or will not be available. In this task,
phoneme sounds will be limited to the most common short vowel sound-symbol
associations for the 5 vowels of the English alphabet.
In step 722, the system may present the user with a short vowel
phoneme. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli
by identifying the corresponding letters in step 724 and the user may input a
response in step 726 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 728 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 730, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 732, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables are the same as for the
second task above. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 734 and the method returns to step 722 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 736. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 738 and the method returns to step 722 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 722. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 27 illustrates a fourth task 740 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user the
letters corresponding to a consonant phoneme. When presented with a phoneme
sound, the student will select the corresponding upper case letter from a set of
response choices displayed on the screen. An associated word will or will not be
displayed. Auditory cues will or will not be available. Response choices will be
phonetically similar or phonetically dissimilar. In this task, phoneme sounds will
be limited to the most common sound-symbol associations for the 21 consonant
letters of the English alphabet and three common digraphs: sh, ch, th.
In step 742, the system may present the user with a consonant phoneme.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the corresponding upper case letters corresponding to the phoneme
in step 744 and the user may input a response in step 746 using an input device
of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or
the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 748
and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the
allotted time?). In step 750, the system may provide feedback to the user about
the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 752, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include the presence of visual cues, the presence of an associated keyword or the phonetic similarity of the response choices. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 754 and the method returns to step 742 to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 756. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 758 and the method returns to step 742 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
742. In this manner, the above task may be used to train a user's skills.
Figure 28 A illustrates a fifth task 760 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user is
orally presented with a consonant phoneme and asked to identify the lowercase
letter corresponding to the phoneme. Figure 28B illusfrates an example of a user
interface 761 of the fifth task. When presented with a phoneme sound, the
student will select the corresponding lower case letter from a set of response
choices displayed on the screen. An associated word will or will not be
displayed. Auditory cues will or will not be available. Response choices will be
phonetically-similar or dissimilar. In this task, phoneme sounds will be limited
to the most common sound-symbol associations for the 21 consonant letters of
the English alphabet and three common digraphs: sh, ch, th
In step 762, the system may present the user with a consonant phoneme.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the corresponding lower case letter (see Figure 28B) in step 764 and
the user may input a response in step 766 using an input device of the computer,
such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once
the computer system receives the response from the user, the system may
analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 768 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 770, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
772, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may be the
same as the previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 774 and the method returns to step 762 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 776. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 778 and the method returns to
step 762 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 762. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 29A illusfrates a sixth task 780 of the sound symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies the corresponding letter to a phoneme. Figure 29B illustrates an
example of a user interface 781 for this task. In step 782, the system may
present the user with a phoneme. The system may then prompt the user to
respond to the above stimuli by identifying the corresponding letter in step 784
and the user may input a response in step 786 using an input device of the
computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the
like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system
may analyze the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 788 and the
user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted
time?). In step 790, the system may provide feedback to the user about the
user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory.
In step 792, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the
level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables
may include the perceptual saliency of the phoneme, the display of the printed
letter and the upper vs. lower case display of the letter. If the advancement
criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 794 and the
method returns to step 782 to present the next task to the user at the higher
difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system
determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 796. The level of
difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the
decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is decreased in step
798 and the method returns to step 782 to present the next task to the user at the
lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met,
then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step 782. In this
manner, the above task may be used to train a user's skills.
Figure 30 illusfrates a seventh task 800 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user is
asked to match the sound of a long vowel phoneme. In this task, the student will
identify the vowel phoneme of a real or nonsense CVC word. The student will
select a response from a set of three response choices or by typing a letter on the
keyboard. The student will manipulate vowel phonemes and letters to spell new
CVC words.
In step 801, the system may present the user with a long vowel phoneme.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the corresponding sound in step 802 and the user may input a
response in step 803 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 804 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 805, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 806, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the number
of response choices, the display of the printed letter or the upper vs. lower case
letters. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
increased in step 807 and the method returns to step 801 to present the next task
to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met,
then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step
808. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 809 and the method returns to step 801 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty . If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 801. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 31 illusfrates an eighth task 810 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies the sound associated with a presented short vowel phoneme. When
presented with a 2x4 or 3x4 matrix of phonetically-similar phonemes, the
student will recall and match pairs of long vowel phonemes and will recall and
match short vowel phonemes with upper case and lower case graphemes in a
timed 1 minute per round task.
In step 811 , the system may present the user with a short vowel
phoneme. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli
by identifying the letter corresponding to the phoneme in step 812 and the user
may input a response in step 813 using an input device of the computer, such as
the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the
computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze
the user's response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 814 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 815, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
816, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables are the same as
the previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 817 and the method returns to step 811 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 818. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 819 and the method returns to step 811 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 811. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 32 illusfrates a ninth task 820 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies a letter corresponding to a consonant phoneme. When presented with
a 2x4 or 3x4 matrix of phonetically-similar phonemes, the student will recall
and match pairs of consonant phonemes and will recall and match consonant
phonemes with upper case and lower case graphemes in a timed 60 second task.
In step 821, the system may present the user with a consonant phoneme.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying the letter corresponding to the phoneme in step 822 and the user may
input a response in step 823 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 824 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 825, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 826, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables are the same as the
previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 827 and the method returns to step 821 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 828. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 829 and the method returns to step 821 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 821. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 33 illustrates a tenth task 830 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies the beginning phoneme of a word. In this task, the student will
identify the beginning consonant phoneme of a real or nonsense CVC word.
The student will select a response from a set of three phonetically similar or
phonetically dissimilar response choices or by typing a letter on the keyboard.
The student will manipulate phonemes and letters to spell new CVC and CVCe
words.
In step 831 , the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
beginning phoneme of the word in step 832 and the user may input a response in
step 833 using an input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the
mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system
receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's response
(e.g., correct or incorrect) in step 834 and the user's performance of the task
(e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 835, the system
may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task
wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 836, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the type of
the word (e.g., real vs. nonsense), format of the response choices (e.g., auditory
only, visual only, auditory and visual or none) or the phonetic similarity of the
response choices. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 837 and the method returns to step 831 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 838. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 839 and the method returns to step 831 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 831. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 34A illustrates an eleventh task 840 of the sound/symbol fraining
module ("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user
identifies the ending phoneme of a word. In this task, the student will identify
the final consonant phoneme of a real or nonsense frequency CVC word. The
student will select a response from a set of three phonetically similar or
phonetically dissimilar response choices or by typing a letter on the keyboard.
The student will manipulate phonemes and letters to spell new CVC words.
In step 841, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
ending phoneme in the word in step 842 and the user may input a response in
step 843 using an input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the
mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system
receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's response
(e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 844 and the user's performance of the task
(e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 845, the system
may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task
wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 846, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may be the same as the
prior task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty
is increased in step 847 and the method returns to step 841 to present the next
task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not
met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in
step 848. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 849 and the method returns to step 841 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 841. In this manner, the above task may be used to train a user's
skills.
Figure 34B illusfrates an example of a user interface 850 for this task.
The user interface has the same elements as the other user interfaces for this
module including the pause button 691, the animated character 692 and the puffs
of smoke 693 that contain letters. In addition, this user interface may include a
sound control icon 851 that permits the user to control the loudness of the
auditory cues provided to the user. As shown, the puffs of smoke may contain
one or more different ending phonemes for a word spoken to the user and the
user must select the correct ending phoneme
Figure 35 illusfrates a last task 860 of the sound/symbol training module
("Letter Express") in accordance with the invention wherein the user identifies
the medial phoneme of a word. In step 861, the system may present the user
with a word. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by identifying the medial phoneme in step 862 and the user may input a
response in step 863 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., correct or incoπect) in step 864 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 865, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 866, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables are the same as for the
previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 867 and the method returns to step 861 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 868. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 869 and the method returns to step 831 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 831. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills. The above tasks constitute the fraining provided to the user by the
sound/symbol fraining module that trains various primary and secondary skills
as set forth above. Now, the tasks of the sound and word recognition training module will be described in more detail.
Figures 36A - 48 are diagrams illustrating more details of each task in the sound and word recognition fraining module ("Circus Fun") in accordance
with the invention. In a prefeπed implementation of this module, the user may
click on an element to have some Circus Fun with Karloon (an animated clown character as shown in Figure 36B). Karloon does many tricks while students
learn to sort words into categories by sound, spelling and meaning, recognize
sight words and identify word-final moφhemes. The activities may include sorting words by category, recognizing non-decodable high frequency sight
words and matching letters, sounds and moφhemes.
In the first activity, the user helps Karloon sort words into categories by
clicking on his right or left shoe. Once Karloon tells students the target feature
they need to sort words, he will present a printed word. Students need to click
on his right shoe if the word belongs in the group on the right of the screen and on his left shoe if the word belongs in the group on the left side of the screen.
Students will look and listen to the word then decide whether to put it on the
target category group or on the non-target category group. As students gain
proficiency in sorting by answering 80% or more items coπectly in a round of
ten, they must sort words more quickly. Karloon begins by showing and saying
each word, but when students show proficiency in sorting words presented at 4-
,2- and 1 -second intervals, his naπation is eliminated and students must sort
based only on what they see. At the end of a sort, Karloon reads all of the words
in the target category out loud. When students are able to sort words by initial
consonant presented at 4-, 2- and 1 -second intervals with 80% accuracy or
better, Circus Fun automatically advances to sorting words by initial consonant
digraph, then closed syllable VC rimes, short vowels, final consonants and
finally by final consonant digraphs. Circus Fun continues to increase difficulty
by varying the intervals between words as well as by eliminating naπation to
help students develop automatic word recognition. The last three tasks in this
activity require students to sort words into semantic categories . Color, Number,
Shape, Animal, Object and People words are provided to students as they are
asked to sort by their respective categories. As in the previous tasks, difficulty
will increase by reducing response intervals and eliminating auditory
presentation of each word. If students do not sort a word coπectly, the word is
automatically placed in the coπect category and the student receives an auditory
prompt reinforcing the coπect answer . A score of less than 50% results in a
decrease of level of play. When students successfully complete a round of 10
with 80% accuracy or better, Karloon gives them a fun show of his unicycle-
riding skills.
In the second activity, Karloon will present a target word to students.
Nine balloons will appear on a dart board in the middle of the screen. Words
will appear at a rate of 15- 30- or 60 words per minute. Students will be asked
to click on a dart when they see and hear or see a target word on the dart board.
If coπect, the dart will hit the target and the balloon will burst. If incoπect, the
target word that Karloon is holding will flash and the word will be pronounced
again. After getting 80% coπect in a round often, Circus Fun automatically
advances by increasing the rate at which words are presented. Once students
have become proficient at recognizing words presented with auditory and visual
support, the target word will be taken off of the screen before the words are
presented, encouraging students to hold the target word in memory while they
wait for the match to appear on the dart board. Circus Fun continues to increase
in difficulty by varying whether words are presented visually or auditorily or
both. At the highest level of these tasks, students will be asked to match a
auditorily presented target word to a word presented visually. After missing
50% or more of the items in a round of 10, the level of difficulty will decrease.
In the third activity, the user may click on the top left box of the maze to
begin. After a brief tutorial, Karloon will present a word. Students must roll¬
over two adjacent highlighted boxes, listen to or look at the words in the boxes
and decide which one has a matching sound and/or spelling. Click on the
coπect box after rolling over both boxes and listening to their pronunciations or
looking at their spellings. If coπect, students will use the coπect answer as the
target for the next set of boxes in the maze and will roll-over two different boxes
to find the match. Karloon has a pile often balls next to him at the beginning of
every round. For every coπect answer, students get a hat with a flower in each
box and Karloon picks up a ball from the pile. For incoπect answers or if the
maze is not completed in the time allowed, the maze will end, a new maze will
begin, and a ball from the top of the pile will roll off the screen. When the maze
is complete, the words will be read aloud as their respective boxes are
highlighted.
Circus Fun automatically increases difficulty after students get three
trials coπect. Students begin with auditory and visual presentation of words
containing the same short vowel sounds and letters. Initially, short vowel
targets are highlighted within the words presented. Students will begin the tasks
with unlimited time to respond, however, as they master matching short vowels
in words, the amount of time allowed to complete a maze will be reduced to 20
seconds then to 10 seconds. Circus Fun continues to increase difficulty by
eliminating highlighted vowels and providing visual-only presentation without
naπation. Once students master matching short vowels, Circus Fun
automatically advances by infroducing word final moφhemes. For the last
levels of this game, students are asked to match plural nouns and verbs ending in
"ed", "ing" "es" and "s". Karloon provides a brief tutorial to reinforce the
concept of plurality as well as present and past tense. This tutorial can be by¬
passed by clicking once on the square in the upper left hand corner of the maze.
Students are asked to match words with final moφhemes when provided with
auditory-only, auditory- visual and visual-only targets. Circus Fun continues to
increase difficulty by varying availability of a visual cue and decreasing the time
allowed to complete a maze. Now, the individual tasks in the module will be
described in more detail.
Figure 36 illustrates more details of the first task 900 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user determines if a word begins
with a particular phoneme. This task may be broken down into two sub-tasks
wherein single consonants are used and consonant digraphs are used. In the first
sub-task, the student will sort words based on initial consonant sound and single
consonant letter when a series of words is presented at a rate of 30 words per
minute (wpm), 45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in auditory only,
auditory + visual, or visual only format. A visual cue will or will not be
provided to facilitate performance with visual presentations. In the second sub-
task, the student will sort words based on initial consonant sound and consonant
digraphs when a series of words is presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and
60 wpm. Words will be presented in auditory only, auditory + visual, or visual
only format. A visual cue will or will not be provided to facilitate performance
with visual presentations. Now, the first sub-task will be described in more
detail.
In step 901, the system may present the user with a consonant phoneme
and a word. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by identifying if the word begins with the phoneme in step 902 and the
user may input a response in step 903 using an input device of the computer,
such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once
the computer system receives the response from the user, the system may
analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 904 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 905, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
906, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
presentation format (e.g., auditory only, visual only or auditory and visual), the
availability of a visual cue or the time allowed for a response. If the
advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 907 and the method returns to step 901 to present the next task to the user at
the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 908. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 909 and the method returns to step 901 to present the next task
to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
901. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 37 illusfrates more details of a second task 910 of the sound and
word recognition training module wherein the user if a rime begins with a short
vowel. This task may be broken down into two sub-tasks wherein single
consonants and consonant digraphs are used. In the first sub-task, the student
will sort words based on word rime when a series of words is presented at a rate
of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in auditory only,
auditory + visual, or visual only format. A visual cue will or will not be
provided to facilitate performance with visual presentations. In the second sub-
task, the student will sort words based on word rime when a series of words is
presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in
auditory only, auditory + visual, or visual only format. A visual cue will or will
not be provided to facilitate performance with visual presentations. The first
sub-task is now described in more detail.
In step 911, the system may present the user with a short vowel and its
rime unit. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli
by identifying if the rime begins with the short vowel in step 912 and the user
may input a response in step 913 using an input device of the computer, such as
the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the
computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze
the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 914 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 915 the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
916, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may be the
same as the previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 917 and the method returns to step 911 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 918. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 919 and the method returns to
step 911 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 911. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 38 illusfrates more details of a third task 920 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user identifies if a presented word
ends with a particular phoneme. This task may be broken down into two sub-
tasks wherein single consonants and consonant digraphs are used. In the first
sub-task, the student will sort words based on final consonant sound and single
consonant letter when a series of words is presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45
wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in auditory only, auditory + visual,
or visual only format. A visual cue will or will not be provided to facilitate
performance with visual presentations. In the second sub-task, the student will
sort words based on final consonant sound and consonant digraphs when a series
of words is presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be
presented in auditory only, auditory + visual, or visual only format. A visual cue
will or will not be provided to facilitate performance with visual presentations.
Now, the first sub-task will be described in more detail.
In step 921, the system may present the user with a phoneme and a word.
The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by
identifying if the word ends with the phoneme in step 922 and the user may
input a response in step 923 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 924 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 925, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 926, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables are the same as the
previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is increased in step 927 and the method returns to step 921 to present
the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria
is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met
in step 928. The level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of
difficulty is decreased in step 929 and the method returns to step 921 to present
the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level
criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops
back to step 921. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's
skills.
Figure 39A illustrates more details of a fourth task 930 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user sorts words into one or more
semantic categories. In this task, the student will sort words into categories of
colors, numbers, shapes when a series of words is presented at a rate of 30 wpm,
45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in auditory only, auditory +
visual, or visual only format.
In step 931 , the system may present the user with a word and one or
more categories. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by placing the word into a category in step 932 and the user may input a
response in step 933 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 934 and the user's performance of the
task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 935, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 936, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
presentation format as described above, the availability of a visual cue or the
time allowed for a response. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 937 and the method returns to step 931 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 938. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 939 and the method returns to
step 931 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 931. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 39B illustrates an example of a user interface 940 for the above
task. In this user interface, there may be a pause button 941 that permits the user
to pause the fraining, an animated character 942, such as Karloon the clown, a
first category area 943 and a second category area 944. Above each category
area, there may be an indication of the types of words that should be put into
that category. Then, as each word is presented to the user, the user may click on
a left shoe 945 of the clown to place the word in the first category or the user
may click on a right shoe 946 of the clown to place the word in the second
category. In this manner, the user's skills at recognizing a word and then
placing that word in the proper category is trained.
Figure 40A illustrates more details of a fifth task 950 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user places words into more
complex categories. Figure 40B illusfrates an example of a user interface 948
for this task which is very similar to the user interface shown in Figure 39B so
this user interface will not be described here. In this task, the student will sort
words into categories of animals, objects and people when a series of words is
presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. Words will be presented in
auditory only, auditory + visual, or visual only format.
In step 951, the system may present the user with a one or more
categories and a series of one or more words. The system may then prompt the
user to respond to the above stimuli by sorting the words into the proper
categories in step 952 and the user may input a response in step 953 using an
input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech
recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response
from the user, the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or
incoπect) in step 954 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user
respond within the allotted time?). In step 955, the system may provide
feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task wherein the
feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 956, the system determines if the
criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of
difficulty may be increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this
task, the difficulty variables are the same as for the previous task. If the
advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 957 and the method returns to step 951 to present the next task to the user at
the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 958. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 959 and the method returns to step 951 to present the next task
to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
951. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 41 illustrates more details of a sixth task 960 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user matches words to each other.
This task may be broken down into three sub-tasks wherein different high
frequency sight words are frained. In the first sub-task, following visual +
auditory, visual-only or auditory-only visual-only presentation of a target word,
the student will identify the same word in a series of words auditorily or visually
presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. The visual display of the
target word will or will not remain on screen to facilitate performance. The
target word list is: a, are, have, I, me, one, said, the, they, we. For the second
sub-task, following visual + auditory, visual-only or auditory-only visual-only
presentation of a target word, the student will identify the same word in a series
of words auditorily or visually presented at a rate of 30 wpm, 45 wpm and 60
wpm. The visual display of the target word will or will not remain on screen to
facilitate performance. The target word list is: all, for, he, is, my, out, that, to,
was, you. In the third sub-task, following visual + auditory, visual-only or
auditory-only visual-only presentation of a target word, the student will identify
the same word in a series of words auditorily or visually presented at a rate of 30
wpm, 45 wpm and 60 wpm. The visual display of the target word will or will
not remain on screen to facilitate performance. The target word list is: by, has,
her, his, of, put, some, them, then, when. Now, the first sub-task is described in
more detail.
In step 961, the system may present the user with a target word and a
series of words. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by identifying when the word that matches the target word is presented
to the user in step 962 and the user may input a response in step 963 using an
input device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech
recognition tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response
from the user, the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or
incoπect) in step 964 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user
respond within the allotted time?). In step 965, the system may provide
feedback to the user about the user's performance in the task wherein the
feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 966, the system determines if the
criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of
difficulty may be increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this
task, the difficulty variables may include the presentation format of the target
word (auditory, visual or auditory and visual), the availability of a visual cue or
the time allowed for a response. If the advancement criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is increased in step 967 and the method returns to step 961
to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 968. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 969 and the method returns to
step 961 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 961. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 42A illustrates more details of a seventh task 970 of the sound
and word recognition training module wherein the user identifies a word that
begins with the same sound heard at the end of the first words presented to the
user. Figure 42B illusfrates a user interface of this task. In step 971, the system
may present the user with a word. The system may then prompt the user to
respond to the above stimuli by identifying the word that begins with the same
sound as the end of the first word presented to the user in step 972 and the user
may input a response in step 973 using an input device of the computer, such as
the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the
computer system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze
the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 974 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 975, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
976, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
availability of visual cues or visual displays or the time allowed for response. If
the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 977 and the method returns to step 971 to present the next task to the user at
the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 978. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 979 and the method returns to step 971 to present the next task
to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also
not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step
971. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 43 A illusfrates more details of an eighth task 980 of the sound
and word recognition training module wherein the user identifies a word with
the same vowel as the first word. Figure 43B illustrates a user interface for this
task. In this task, following presentation of a target word, the student will select
a word containing the same short vowel sound from two auditory-only, auditory
+ visual or visual-only response choices. When visual response choices are
available, visual cues will or will not be provided to facilitate response. The task
will be un- timed or timed with 20 seconds or 10 seconds allowed for response in
the timed task.
In step 981 , the system may present the user with a target word. The
system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying
a presented word with the same vowel as the target word in step 982 and the
user may input a response in step 983 using an input device of the computer,
such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once
the computer system receives the response from the user, the system may
analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 984 and the user's
performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In
step 985, the system may provide feedback to the user about the user's
performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step
986, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of
difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one
or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may be the
same as the previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 987 and the method returns to step 981 to
present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 988. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 989 and the method returns to
step 981 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty . If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 981. In this manner, the above task may be used to
frain a user's skills.
Figure 44A illusfrates more details of a ninth task 990 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user identifies a word with the
same ending moφheme as a target word. Figure 44B illusfrates an example of a
user interface for this task. This task may be broken down into four sub-tasks
wherein the moφhemes are verbs ending in "ing", plural nouns ending in "s",
verbs ending in "ed" and verbs ending in "s" or "es". In the first sub-task,
following presentation of a target word ending in "ing", the student will select a
word containing the same word-final moφheme from two auditory-only,
auditory + visual or visual-only response choices. Visual cues will or will not be
provided to facilitate response. The task will be untimed or timed with 20 or 15
seconds allowed for response in the timed task. In the second sub-task,
following presentation of a target word ending in "s" or "es", the student will
select a word containing the same word-final moφheme from two auditory-
only, auditory + visual or visual-only response choices. Visual cues will or will
not be provided to facilitate response. The task will be untimed or timed with 20
or 15 seconds allowed for response in the timed task.
In the third sub-task, following presentation of a target word ending in
"ed", the student will select a word containing the same word-final moφheme
from two auditory-only, auditory + visual or visual-only response choices.
Visual cues will or will not be provided to facilitate response. The task will be
untimed or timed with 20 or 15 seconds allowed for response in the timed task.
In the fourth sub-task, following presentation of a target word ending in "ing",
the student will select a word containing the same word-final moφheme from
two auditory-only, auditory + visual or visual-only response choices. Visual
cues will or will not be provided to facilitate response. The task will be untimed
or timed with 20 or 15 seconds allowed for response in the timed task. Now, the
first sub-task will be described in more detail.
In step 991, the system may present the user with a word. The system
may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying a
presented word with the same ending moφheme as the first word in step 992
and the user may input a response in step 993 using an input device of the
computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the
like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the system
may analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 994 and the
user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted
time?). In step 995, the system may provide feedback to the user about the
user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory.
In step 996, the system determines if the criteria has been met to increase the
level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be increased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables
are the same as the previous task. If the advancement criteria has been met, then
the level of difficulty is increased in step 997 and the method returns to step 991
to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 998. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 999 and the method returns to
step 991 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the
decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the same
level and loops back to step 991. In this manner, the above task may be used to
train a user's skills.
Figure 45 illusfrates more details of a tenth task 1000 of the sound and
word recognition fraining module wherein the user identifies matching words.
In step 1001, the system may present the user with a target nonsense word and a
series of words. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above
stimuli by identifying the matching words in step 1002 and the user may input a
response in step 1003 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 1004 and the user's performance of
the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 1005, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 1006, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
presentation format (e.g., auditory, visual or auditory and visual), the availability
of visual cues or the time allowed for a response. If the advancement criteria
has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in step 1007 and the
method returns to step 1001 to present the next task to the user at the higher
difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system
determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 1008. The level of
difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the
decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is decreased in step
1009 and the method returns to step 1001 to present the next task to the user at
the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has also not been met,
then the task continues at the same level and loops back to step 1001. In this
manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 46 A illustrates more details of an eleventh task 1010 of the sound
and word recognition training module wherein the user matches words. Figure
46B illustrates an example of the user interface for the task. In step 1011, the
system may present the user with a target word containing a group of target
plurality moφhemes and then a series of words. The system may then prompt
the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the matching words in
step 1012 and the user may input a response in step 1013 using an input device
of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or
the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user, the
system may analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 1014
and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within the
allotted time?). In step 1015, the system may provide feedback to the user about
the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 1016, the system determines if the criteria has been met to
increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include presentation format of the target word (e.g.,
auditory, visual or auditory and visual), the availability of a visual cue or the
time allowed for response. If the advancement criteria has been met, then the
level of difficulty is increased in step 1017 and the method returns to step 1011
to present the next task to the user at the higher difficulty level. If the
advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level
criteria has been met in step 1018. The level of difficulty may be decreased by
changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met,
then the level of difficulty is decreased in step 1019 and the method returns to
step 1011 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If
the decrease level criteria has also not been met, then the task continues at the
same level and loops back to step 1011. In this manner, the above task may be
used to train a user's skills.
Figure 47A illustrates more details of a twelfth task 1020 of the sound
and word recognition fraining module wherein the user matches words that
contain verb tense moφhemes. Figures 47B and 47C illusfrates examples of the
user interface for this task. In step 1021, the system may present the user with a
target word having verb tense moφhemes and then a series of words. The
system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by matching
the target word with a word in the series of words in step 1022 and the user may
input a response in step 1023 using an input device of the computer, such as the
keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition tool or the like. Once the computer
system receives the response from the user, the system may analyze the user's
response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step 1024 and the user's performance of
the task (e.g., did the user respond within the allotted time?). In step 1025, the
system may provide feedback to the user about the user's performance in the
task wherein the feedback may be visual or auditory. In step 1026, the system
determines if the criteria has been met to increase the level of difficulty of the
task. The level of difficulty may be increased by changing one or more
difficulty variables. In this task, the difficulty variables may include the
presentation format of the target word (e.g., visual, auditory or visual and
auditory), the availability of a visual cue and the time allowed for a response. If
the advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 1027 and the method returns to step 1021 to present the next task to the user
at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 1028. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 1029 and the method returns to step 1021 to present the next task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has
also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to
step 1021. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
Figure 48 illusfrates more details of a thirteenth task 1030 of the sound
and word recognition fraining module wherein the user identifies a words spelled in reverse to the target word. In step 1031, the system may present the
user with a printed target word and then a series of printed words. The system may then prompt the user to respond to the above stimuli by identifying the
word in the series of presented words that is spelled in reverse to the target word in step 1032 and the user may input a response in step 1033 using an input
device of the computer, such as the keyboard, the mouse, the speech recognition
tool or the like. Once the computer system receives the response from the user,
the system may analyze the user's response (e.g., coπect or incoπect) in step
1034 and the user's performance of the task (e.g., did the user respond within
the allotted time?). In step 1035, the system may provide feedback to the user
about the user's performance in the task wherein the feedback may be visual or
auditory. In step 1036, the system determines if the criteria has been met to
increase the level of difficulty of the task. The level of difficulty may be
increased by changing one or more difficulty variables. In this task, the
difficulty variables may include the number of letters in the words, the
availability of visual cues or the time allowed for a response. If the
advancement criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is increased in
step 1037 and the method returns to step 1031 to present the next task to the user
at the higher difficulty level. If the advancement criteria is not met, then the
system determines if the decrease level criteria has been met in step 1038. The
level of difficulty may be decreased by changing one or more difficulty
variables. If the decrease criteria has been met, then the level of difficulty is
decreased in step 1039 and the method returns to step 1031 to present the next
task to the user at the lower level of difficulty. If the decrease level criteria has
also not been met, then the task continues at the same level and loops back to
step 1031. In this manner, the above task may be used to frain a user's skills.
While the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodiment
of the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in
this embodiment may be made without departing from the principles and spirit
of the invention.