Diagnostic system and method for phonological awareness, phonological processing, and reading skill testing

• US 6,299,452 B1
• Filed: 07/09/1999
• Issued: 10/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Greenwood Publishing Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cognitive Concepts, Inc. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co. (Private Equity))
• Inventors: Maerlender, Art Carl, Wasowicz, Janet Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): ADAMS, CHANDA L
• Application Number:
  US09/350,791
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/322, 434/323, 434/185, 434/184, 434/317, 434/156, 434/159, 434/167, 434/178, 704/1
• US Class Current: 434/178
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 17/006 with audible presentation of the material to be studied audio and audio-visual teaching apparatus in general G09B5/04, G09B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/04 with audible presentation of the material to be studied sound recording or reproducing G11B

Abstract

A diagnostic system and method for evaluating one or more phonological awareness, phonological processing and reading skills of an individual to detect phonological awareness, phonological processing and reading skill deficiencies in the individual so that the risk of developing a reading deficiency is reduced and existing reading deficiencies are remediated. The system may use graphical games to test the individual'"'"'s ability in a plurality of different phonological awareness, phonological processing and reading skills. The system may use speech recognition technology to interact with the tests.

Claims

1. A system for testing one or more skills associated with the reading skills of an individual, comprising:

a server computer comprising one or more tests for determining deficiencies in one or more reading and pre-reading skills, a scorer for determining a score for each test;

one or more client computers that may establish a communications session with the server computer to download the one or more tests from the server computer, each client computer comprising means for displaying at least one of a graphical image and audio associated with each test located on the server, means for receiving a user response to one of the graphical images and audio presented by each test and means for communicating the responses for each test back to the server computer so that a skill level for each test and each reading or pre-reading skill being tested by the test is determined; and

wherein the server computer further comprises a recommender for recommending, based on the scores of the one or more tests, one or more training modules for improving a reading or pre-reading skill of the individual as indicated by the score of the tests.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a questionnaire having one or more questions for eliciting information about risk factors associated with language-based learning disabilities.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information comprise historical data about reading-related risk factors including one or more of medical conditions including chronic otitis media, family history data including history of dyslexia, environmental data including socioeconomic status and exposure to literacy at home and observational data about an individual'"'"'s behaviors reflecting competencies in speech sound awareness.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user input device of the one or more client computers comprise a speech recognition device for receiving and interpreting a verbal response from the user to the one or more tests.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more tests comprise a rhyme recognition test for testing the ability to recognize rhymes, a rhyme generation test for testing the ability to generate rhymes, a beginning and ending sound recognizer for testing the ability to recognize the beginning and ending sounds of a word, a word decoder test for testing the ability to read by sounding out a written word, a sound blender test for testing the ability to blend sound units together to form words, a sound segmenting test for testing the ability to segment a sound unit into smaller sound units, a sound manipulator test for testing the ability to manipulate sound units to form a new unit, a sequential verbal recall test for testing the ability to recall a sequence of spoken items, a rapid naming test for testing the ability to rapidly name one or more items, a letter naming and symbol/sound association test for testing the ability to name letters and identify the association between a symbol and an associated sound, and a fluent reader test for testing the ability to read fluently.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising means for speaking the verbal response into the speech recognition device for receiving a verbal response from the user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme recognition test further comprising means for providing at least two stimuli to the user and means for receiving user input in response to the at least two stimuli to determine the users ability to recognize rhyming words.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the beginning sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an initial phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the initial phoneme of the stimulus.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the ending sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an ending phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the ending phoneme of the stimulus.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme generation test comprising means for generating a stimulus and means for receiving a response from the user identifying a sound unit that rhymes with the stimulus.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a sound blender test comprising means for generating at least two sound stimuli and means for receiving a user response to the at least two sound stimuli, the response indicating an ability to blend the at least two sound stimuli into a larger sound unit.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprise a sound segmentation test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus and means for receiving a response to the stimulus comprising means for segmenting the stimulus into smaller units in order to test the ability to segment the stimulus into smaller units.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests comprise a sound manipulation test comprising means for generating a sound stimulus having one or more sound units and means, in response to the sound stimulus, for manipulating the sound units of the sound stimulus to test the ability to manipulate sound units.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprises a verbal recall test comprising means for generating at least one sound stimulus and means, in response to the at least one sound stimulus, for receiving a user response indicating the recalling of the at least one sound stimulus.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprises a naming test comprising means for generating at least one visual stimulus and means, in response to the display of the visual stimulus, for speaking the name of or the sound associated with the visual stimulus using the speech recognition device.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprises a word decoder test comprising means for displaying a visual stimulus to the user and means, in response to the visual stimulus, for receiving a response from the user to determine the ability to read the visual stimulus.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the tests further comprises a fluency test comprising means for generating a plurality of visual stimuli and means for receiving a user'"'"'s response to the visual stimuli within a predetermined time interval to determine the user'"'"'s ability to read and understand the visual stimuli.

18. A method for testing one or more skills associated with the reading skills of an individual, the method comprising:

presenting one or more stimuli to the individual, each stimulus associated with a test for testing a particular reading or pre-reading skill of the individual, the skills indicating the risk that the individual develops or has a language-based learning disability;

receiving a response from the individual to each stimulus;

scoring the user'"'"'s responses to each test; and

recommending, based on the scores of the one or more tests, one or more training modules for improving a reading or pre-reading skill of the individual as indicated by the score of the tests.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprises questioning the individual to elicit information about risk factors associated with language-based learning disabilities.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the information comprise historical data about reading-related risk factors including one or more of medical conditions including chronic otitis media, family history data including history of dyslexia, environmental data including socioeconomic status and exposure to literacy at home and observational data about an individual'"'"'s behaviors reflecting competencies in speech sound awareness.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the individual'"'"'s response comprises receiving and interpreting a verbal response using a speech recognition device for receiving a verbal response from the user to the one or more tests.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more tests comprise a rhyme recognition test for testing the ability to recognize rhymes, a rhyme generation test for testing the ability to generate rhymes, a beginning and ending sound recognizer for testing the ability to recognize the beginning and ending sounds of a word, a word decoder test for testing the ability to read by sounding out a written word, a sound blender test for testing the ability to blend sound units together to form words, a sound segmenting test for testing the ability to segment a sound unit into smaller sound units, a sound manipulator test for testing the ability to manipulate sound units to form a new sound unit, a sequential verbal recall test for testing the ability to recall a sequence of spoken items, a rapid naming test for testing the ability to rapidly name one or more items, a letter naming and symbol/sound association test for testing the ability to name letters and identify the association between a symbol and an associated sound, and a fluent reader test for testing the ability to read fluently.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising speaking a verbal response into the speech recognition device for receiving a verbal response from the user.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme recognition test further comprising providing at least two stimuli to the user and receiving user input in response to the at least two stimuli to determine the user'"'"'s ability to recognize rhyming words.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the beginning sound of a stimulus, the test comprising generating at least one stimulus having at least an initial phoneme and receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the initial phoneme of the stimulus.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the ending sound of a sound stimulus, the test comprising generating at least one stimulus having at least an ending phoneme and receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the ending phoneme of the stimulus.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme generation test comprising generating a stimulus and receiving a response from the user identifying a sound unit that rhymes with the stimulus.

28. The method of claim 18 wherein the tests further comprise a sound blender test comprising generating at least two sound stimuli and receiving a user response to the at least two sound stimuli, the response indicating an ability to blend the at least two sound stimuli into a larger sound unit.

29. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprise a sound segmentation test comprising generating at least one stimulus and receiving a response to the stimulus comprising means for segmenting the stimulus into smaller units in order to test the ability to segment the stimulus into smaller units.

30. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests comprise a sound manipulation test comprising generating a sound stimulus having one or more sound units and, in response to the sound stimulus, manipulating the sound units of the sound stimulus to test the ability to manipulate sound units.

31. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprises a verbal recall test comprising generating at least one sound stimulus and, in response to the at least one sound stimulus, receiving a user response from the user to test the ability to recall the at least one sound stimulus.

32. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprises a naming test comprising generating at least one visual stimulus and, in response to the display of the visual stimulus, speaking the name of or the sound associated with the visual stimulus using the speech recognition device.

33. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprises a word decoder test comprising displaying a visual stimulus to the user and, in response to the visual stimulus, receiving a response from the user to determine the ability to read the visual stimulus.

34. The method of claim 18, wherein the tests further comprises a fluency test comprising generating a plurality of visual stimuli and receiving a user'"'"'s response to the visual stimuli within a predetermined time interval to determine the user'"'"'s ability to read and understand the visual stimuli.

35. A server for testing one or more skills associated with the reading skills of an individual, comprising:

one or more tests for determining deficiencies in one or more reading and pre-reading skills;

means for receiving responses from the individual to the one or more tests;

a scorer for determining a score for each test; and

a recommender for recommending, based on the scores of the one or more tests, one or more training modules to the individual for improving reading or pre-reading skill of the individual as indicated by the score of the tests.

36. The server of claim 35, wherein the server further comprises a questionnaire having one or more questions for eliciting information about risk factors associated with language-based learning disabilities.

37. The server of claim 36, wherein the information comprise historical data about reading-related risk factors including one or more of medical conditions including chronic otitis media, family history data including history of dyslexia, environmental data including socioeconomic status and exposure to literacy at home and observational data about an individuals behaviors reflecting competencies in speech sound awareness.

38. The server of claim 35, wherein the receiving means further comprises means for receiving and interpreting a verbal response from a speech recognition device to the one or more tests.

39. The server of claim 35, wherein the one or more tests comprise a rhyme recognition test for testing the ability to recognize rhymes, a rhyme generation test for testing the ability to generate rhymes, a beginning and ending sound recognizer for testing the ability to recognize the beginning and ending sounds of a word, a word decoder test for testing the ability to read by sounding out a written word, a sound blender test for testing the ability to blend sound units together to form words, a sound segmenting test for testing the ability to segment a sound unit into smaller sound units, a sound manipulator test for testing the ability to manipulate sound units to form a new unit, a sequential verbal recall test for testing the ability to recall a sequence of spoken items, a rapid naming test for testing the ability to rapidly name one or more items, a letter naming and symbol/sound association test for testing the ability to name letters and identify the association between a symbol and an associated sound, and a fluent reader test for testing the ability to read fluently.

40. The server of claim 39 further comprising means for speaking a verbal response into the speech recognition device for receiving a verbal response from the user.

41. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests comprises a rhyme recognition test further comprising means for providing at least two stimuli to the user and means for receiving user input in response to the at least two stimuli to determine the user'"'"'s ability to recognize rhyming words.

42. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the beginning sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an initial phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the initial phoneme of the stimulus.

43. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the ending sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an ending phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the ending phoneme of the stimulus.

44. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme generation test comprising means for generating a stimulus and means for receiving a response from the user identifying a sound unit that rhymes with the stimulus.

45. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprise a sound blender test comprising means for generating at least two sound stimuli and means for receiving a user response to the at least two sound stimuli, the response indicating an ability to blend the at least two sound stimuli into a larger sound unit.

46. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprise a sound segmentation test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus and means for receiving a response to the stimulus comprising means for segmenting the stimulus into smaller units in order to test the ability to segment the stimulus into smaller units.

47. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests comprise a sound manipulation test comprising means for generating a sound stimulus having one or more sound units and means, in response to the sound stimulus, for manipulating the sound units of the sound stimulus to test the ability to manipulate sound units.

48. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprises a verbal recall test comprising means for generating at least one sound stimulus and means, in response to the at least one sound stimulus, for receiving a user response indicating the recalling of the at least one sound stimulus.

49. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprises a naming test comprising means for generating at least one visual stimulus and means, in response to the display of the visual stimulus, for speaking the name of or the sound associated with the visual stimulus using the speech recognition device.

50. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprises a word decoder test comprising means for displaying a visual stimulus to the user and means, in response to the visual stimulus, for receiving a response from the user to determine the ability to read the visual stimulus.

51. The server of claim 35, wherein the tests further comprises a fluency test comprising means for generating a plurality of visual stimuli and means for receiving a user'"'"'s response to the visual stimuli within a predetermined time interval to determine the user'"'"'s ability to read and understand the visual stimuli.

52. An apparatus for testing one or more skills associated with the reading skills of an individual comprising:

means for downloading one or more tests from a server, each test determining if the individual has a deficiency in a reading or pre-reading skill;

means for generating a response to the tests, the response being communicated to the server computer;

means for receiving a score for each test from the server computer; and

means for receiving a recommendation, based on the scores of the one or more tests, for using one or more training modes for improving a reading or pre-reading skill of the individual as indicated by the score of the tests to avoid or remediated language-based learning disabilities.

53. The apparatus of claim 52 further comprises a questionnaire having one or more questions for eliciting information about risk factors associated with language-based learning disabilities.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein the information comprise historical data about reading-related risk factors including one or more of medical conditions including chronic otitis media, family history data including history of dyslexia, environmental data including socioeconomic status and exposure to literacy at home and observational data about an individual'"'"'s behaviors reflecting competencies in speech sound awareness.

55. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the user input device of the one or more client computers comprise a speech recognition device for receiving and interpreting a verbal response from the user to the one or more tests.

56. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the one or more tests comprise a rhyme recognition test for testing the ability to recognize rhymes, a rhyme generation test for testing the ability to generate rhymes, a beginning and ending sound recognizer for testing the ability to recognize the beginning and ending sounds of a word, a word decoder test for testing the ability to read by sounding out a written word, a sound blender test for testing the ability to blend sound units together to form words, a sound segmenting test for testing the ability to segment a sound unit into smaller sound units, a sound manipulator test for testing the ability to manipulate sound units to form a new unit, a sequential verbal recall test for testing the ability to recall a sequence of spoken items, a rapid naming test for testing the ability to rapidly name one or more items, a letter naming and symbol/sound association test for testing the ability to name letters and identify the association between a symbol and an associated sound, and a fluent reader test for testing the ability to read fluently.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the tests further comprises means for speaking a verbal response into the speech recognition device for receiving a verbal response from the user.

58. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests comprises a rhyme recognition test further comprising means for providing at least two stimuli to the user and means for receiving user input in response to the at least two stimuli to determine the user'"'"'s ability to recognize rhyming words.

59. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the beginning sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an initial phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the initial phoneme of the stimulus.

60. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprise a test for recognizing the ending sound of a stimulus, the test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus having at least an ending phoneme and means for receiving a response to the stimulus that indicates an ability of the test taker to recognize the ending phoneme of the stimulus.

61. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprise a rhyme generation test comprising means for generating a stimulus and means for receiving a response from the user identifying a sound unit that rhymes with the stimulus.

62. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprise a sound blender test comprising means for generating at least two sound stimuli and means for receiving a user response to the at least two sound stimuli, the response indicating an ability to blend the at least two sound stimuli into a larger sound unit.

63. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprise a sound segmentation test comprising means for generating at least one stimulus and means for receiving a response to the stimulus comprising means for segmenting the stimulus into smaller units in order to test the ability to segment the stimulus into smaller units.

64. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests comprise a sound manipulation test comprising means for generating a sound stimulus having one or more sound units and means, in response to the sound stimulus, for manipulating the sound units of the sound stimulus to test the ability to manipulate sound units.

65. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprises a verbal recall test comprising means for generating at least one sound stimulus and means, in response to the at least one sound stimulus, for receiving a user response indicating the recalling of the at least one sound stimulus.

66. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprises a naming test comprising means for generating at least one visual stimulus and means, in response to the display of the visual stimulus, for speaking the name of or the sound associated with the visual stimulus using the speech recognition device.

67. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprises a word decoder test comprising means for displaying a visual stimulus to the user and means, in response to the visual stimulus, for receiving a response from the user to determine the ability to read the visual stimulus.

68. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the tests further comprises a fluency test comprising means for generating a plurality of visual stimuli and means for receiving a user'"'"'s response to the visual stimuli within a predetermined time interval to determine the user'"'"'s ability to read and understand the visual stimuli.