computer-supported intervention for children with language and literacy problems ludo verhoeven in...
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Computer-supported intervention for children with language and
literacy problems
Ludo Verhoeven
In collaboration with Eliane Segers and Rosemarie Irausquin
University of Nijmegen
Possibilities computer
• Connecting speech, orthography, semantics• Virtual reality • Hypertekst • Communication• Adaptivity• Responsivity• Motivational value
Digital learning environments
• Computer-assisted instruction– Drills & practice– Games
• Open learning environments– (Automatic) feedback– Communication
Computer-supported intervention
• Computer-assisted instruction– Early language intervention (kindergarten)– Intervention for poor readers
• Open learning environment – Language in the content areas
Early intervention softwareSchatkist met de muis
• Storybook reading– Story telling– Story illustrations– Semantic meaning– Word blending
• Language play– Multimedial songs– Book making– Postcard writing– Rhyme and word segmenting– Word making
Effects
• Positive effects– Vocabulary– Text comprehension– Phonological awareness
• Effects equally strong for L1 and L2 learners• Effects for children with SLI
– Rhyme– Phonemic awareness– Role of speech manipulation???
Research Tallal, Merzenich & associates
• Children with SLI:– Problems with fast formant transitions in synthetic speech
(1974, 1981)– Lengthening signal > better discrimination (1973)– Lengthening formant transition > better discrimination
(1975, 1980)– New algorithm: lengthening whole signal + amplifying
fast formant transitions up to 20dB– Commercial program: Fast Forword (1996: Effectful after
100 hours in four weeks of training)
Difficulties with fast formant transitions
year authors subject group speech material conclusion
1974 Tallal & Piercy 12 aphasic children12 controlsage 6.9-9.3 years old
/ba/ - /da/; formant transition 43 msec
aphasics have more problems than controls
1980a Tallal, Stark, Kallmann & Mellits
35 developmental dysphasics
38 controls average age: 6.8 years
old
/ba/ - /da/ as in Tallal and Piercy 1974.
Synthetic copies of natural utterances /ba/ - /be/ /bi/ - /dae/, /de/ - /di/; formant transition varying naturally
dysphasics have more problems than controls
1981 Tallal & Stark same as above /ba/ - /da/, /da/ - /ta/, /e/ - /ae/, /dab/ - /daeb/, /sa/ - /sta/, /sa/ - /fa/
dysphasics have more problems than controls in /ba/-/da/, /da/-/ta/ and also /sa/-/fa/.
1989 Reed 23 reading disabled23 'normals'average age: 8.9
/ba/ - /da/, /e/ - /ae/, reading disabled have problems in /ba/ - /da/ as opposed to controls.
1992 Leonard, McGregor & Allen
8 SLI, 8 normals. 4.5-5.6 years old
/ba/ - /da/ , /dab/ - /daeb/, /i/ - /u/, /dab-i-ba/ - /dab-u-ba/, /das/ - /daf/
SLI's have more problems than controls not in /dab/-/daeb/ and /i/-/u/
Benefits of speech manipulation1975 Tallal & Piercy 12 aphasic children
12 controls (6.8-9.3)/ba/ - /da/; formant transition extended from 40 to 80msec
positive effects
1980 Frumkin & Rapin 20 dysphasic children9 control childrenaverage age 9.6
/ba/ - /da/ and /a/ - /u/Synthetic speech, 2nd and 3rd formant 40msec or 80 msec; total length 250 msec
positive effects for subgroup
1980b Tallal, Stark, Kallman & Mellits
14 developmental dysphasics23 normally developingage 5-9
/ba/ - /da/ Synthetic copies of natural utterances /be/ - /be/, /bi/ - /dae/, /d/ - /di/; formant transition varying naturally
results aphasics dependent on syllable speed and ISI time
1982 Alexander & Frost 24 children with language/speech problems (7.2-11.6)
/ba/ - /da/. Formant transitions: 80, 70, 60 and 40 msec.
positive effects
1984 Blumstein, Tartter, Nigro & Statlender
16 aphasics, 6 controls 2 synthetic /ba/ - /da/ - /ga/ continua with formant transition 65 and 85 msec.
no effects
1985 Riedel & Studdert-Kennedy
12 adult aphasics.average age 55
/ba/ - /da/ Formant transition 30 and 82 msec.
no effects
1985 Tallal, Stark & Mellits
26 developmental dysphasics
same as Tallal and Stark 1981 unclear
1996 Stark & Heinz 11 children with output disorders21 children with SLI 22 controls (6-10 yrs)
/ba/ /da/ Klatt synthesis. Formant transition 30 to 80 msec. in steps of 10.
positive effect for children with expressive and receptive problems
1999 Bradlow et al. 32 children with learning problems72 controls (6 –16 yrs)
two /da/ - /ga/ continua40 msec and 80 msec formant transition
no effects
Training studies using speech manipulation
1996 Tallal et al. 22 SLIaverage age 7.4
Computer games with or without speech manipulation (Fast Forword)
positive effects
1999 Habib, et al. 12 dyslexicsage 10-12
Listening exercises with or without speech manipulation
positive effects
2001 Gillam et al. 4 SLIaverage age 7 ;3
Fast Forword vs Laureate Learning software
no differential effects
2003 Troia & Whitney
37 LD: 25 FFW/12 Caverage age 9;4
Fast Forword overall effect on expressive language only
Study 1: Speech manipulation
• Participants– 21 children with SLI vs 24 NLA controls (5 yrs)
• Stimulus set– Five contrasts: b-p, d-t, v-w, h-g, b-d– 60 word pairs, e.g., buik-duik (12x60 items)
• Speech manipulation:– Normal speech– Amplifying fast formant transitions– Slowing down speech signal– Amplification + slowing down
Study 1 (continued)
• Results– Normal children perform better than SLI children– +/- voice is more complex than place contrasts– No effect of speech manipulation
• Conclusion– No replication of effects reported by Tallal &
Piercy
Study 2: Training with natural speech manipulation
• Participants (kindergarten)– 36 SLI children: 24 experimental vs 12 control
• Training: rhyme and word blending• Normal speech (N1=12)• Manipulated speech (N2=12)
• Procedure– Pretest-posttest-retention test
Results study 2
-0,3
-0,2
-0,1
0
0,1
0,2
0,3
control group normal speech manipulatedspeech
progress atposttest
progress atretention
Conclusions Study 2
• Program is effective for children with SLI
• Significant retention effects
• No effect for speech manipulation
Study 3: Training with synthetic speech manipulation
• Participants (kindergarten)– 19 SLI children and 24 NLA children
• Stimulus set: minimal word pairs– Normal– Slowing down entire speech signal (like in FFW)– Slowing down just formant transitions
Results study 3
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
NLA SLI
normal speech
slowing downentire speechsignalslowing downformant transitions
Conclusions Study 3
• Program is effective for NLA and SLI
• Positive effect speech manipulation for SLI
• No difference between slowing down entire signal or formant transitions
General conclusions
• SLI children have difficulties in phonological tasks
• Phonological training is helpful for SLI children
• Role of speech manipulation is inconclusive
• Limitations: small N, limited hours of training
Dyslexia
• Phonological deficit– Phonological memory– Phonemic segmentation– Access to phonology
• Sensory defects– Processing brief sensory cues– Processing rapidly changing sequences– Limited use of temporal information
LEESLADDER: Adaptive computer program for poor readers
• cd-rom 1: alphabetic principle, phonological awareness, decoding of CVC words
• cd-rom 2: automatisation of reading and spelling of simple word structures + basic reading comprehension
• cd-rom 3: reading/spelling monosyllabic words with consonant clusters and specific orthographic patterns (-eeuw, -ooi, -ng, etc.) + reading comprehension
• cd-rom 4: decoding multisyllabic words + advanced reading comprehension
Pupildatabase
Pupil IDLearning history
Teacher part
Parameters
Planningabilities
Play types
(Sub)abilities
Sourcesdatabase
graphemeswordsSentences, etc..
Pupil part
Adaptive navigationmodule
Basic 1
Basic 2
Reading and spelling 1
Reading and spelling 2
Reading and spelling 3
Grapheme discovery
Sound discovery
Grapheme- and phoneme knowledge
Type & copy
Word closure
Auditory synthesis
Letter flashing
Grapheme order correct
Simple spelling Word reading correct
Grapheme order fast
Auditory word dictation
Picture-word
Word-picture
Word rows 1
Word reading fast
Visual word dictation
Word rows 2 Flash words
Basic 1
Basic 2
Reading and spelling 1
Reading and spelling 2
Reading and spelling 3
Grapheme discovery
Phoneme discovery
Grapheme and phoneme knowledge
Type and copy
Word closure
Auditory synthesis
Flash letters
Grapheme order correct
Elementary spelling
Word reading correct
Grapheme order fast
Auditory word dictation
Picture-word
Word-picture
Word rows 1
Worden reading fast
Visual word dictation Word rows 2 Flash words
Letter test
Effects on phonological awareness
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Pretest Posttest
Me
an
Od
d-o
ne
-ou
t a
llit
era
tio
n s
co
re
TrainingControl
Effects on word decoding
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Pretest Posttest
Me
an
Sc
ore
on
Ps
eu
do
wo
rd T
es
t
TrainingControl
Correlations between training intensity and reading gains
Exercises per week Days per week
CVC word reading test .53* .56*
Word reading test .54* .58*
Pseudoword reading test .62* .59*
Speed vs comprehension training
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Speed1 Speed2 Compreh1 Compreh2
CVC
CCVCC
Bisyllabic
General discussion
• Age: plasticity of the brain
• Contents of training
• Synthetic vs natural speech
• N of hours of training (minimum 100?)
• Effects: phonology vs information processing
• Necessity of control groups
Communication: reaction types
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
reaction type
Reaction types: (1) (dis)approval, (2) question about the text, (3) personal, (4) reasoning , (5) suggestion (6) hello/goodbye, (7) rest category
Online spelling feedback
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
H T C S
number oferrors
Conditions: Handwriting (H), Typing (T), Spellingchecker (C), Spelling suggestions (S)