Education and demonstration – Language – Speech
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-11
2002-10-22
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Language
Speech
C434S156000, C434S169000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06468084
ABSTRACT:
COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an integrated method and system that uses multiple sensory materials with a voice recording and playback system. More particularly, this invention pertains to a method and system that uses structured materials and an analogue mono tape recorder with a microphone headset that allows the patient, student, individual, or set of structured materials including schema to improve discrimination of the sound patterns within words.
The development of the ability to process speech sounds takes place at middle ear level during the early childhood years. The critical period for developing the skills for the analysis, discrimination, and categorizing sounds within speech takes place between the ages of six months and three years. Problems in the child's development can cause difficulties in learning to recognize printed materials. These problems may be caused by the various forms of dyslexia, middle ear infections in infancy (Otitis Media), and phonemic processing difficulties.
Dyslexia is an inherent condition, neurological in nature, whereby the individual experiences a difficulty in coding and decoding “spoken speech” to “written speech” and vice versa. “Written speech,” also known as print, is “spoken speech” put on paper using an alphabetic and phonemic code. The phonemic code is composed of phonemes, which are the minimal speech sounds. In an alphabetic language, we use letters singly and in combination to represent these minimal speech sounds. The ability to deal with the speech at the phonemic level is necessary in order to acquire proficiency in the coded speech.
Some reading disabled students have difficulties in listening even though their hearing is adequate. These students may have experienced middle ear infections prior to entering school. Otitis Media, a catarrhal condition of the middle ear, subtly degrades the quality and quantity of the information passed by the middle ear to the speech and hearing centers in the developing brain. This is caused by the middle ear attenuating sounds differentially across the spectra of speech sound frequency. This condition has been shown to adversely affect the ability to acquire effective literacy skills and may also affect speech development. Otitis Media in infancy can result in difficulties in discriminating and categorizing the sound patterns within words. This problem with sound patterns can lead to difficulties in literacy development because phonemic processing skills are necessary to deal with an alphabetic phonetic language such as English.
One of the identifying aspects of Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) is the inability to “internalize” another individual's external speech. The internalization of speech from the individual himself is not a problem in the A.D.D. individual because their behavior and responses are controlled by their internal speech. The difficulty in the learning process is in getting the A.D.D. affected individual to internalize the external speech of another individual. This problem is most frequently encountered when the other individual is trying to teach or exercise control over the A.D.D. affected individual.
A recent study by the Conference Board of Canada states that individuals with high literacy skills will earn a working lifetime average of $500,000 dollars more than people with low literacy skills. People with low literacy skills are eight times more likely to experience long term unemployment. The cost in Canada of low literacy skills has been computed by the same conference board study as $8 Billion Cdn. The figures for the US will most likely be comparable in per capita terms.
Present figures indicate that approximately 35% of third grade students within the Nashville Metropolitan School District fail to acquire appropriate levels of reading skills. US national figures from a recent OECD report indicate that approximately 40% of native born and educated Americans are functionally illiterate. This means that they do not possess sufficient literacy skills to allow them to easily deal with everyday activities that involve literacy. In the less economically advantaged areas this number is probably higher. It is common knowledge that many of those who fall foul of the law have literacy problems as do many of those who find themselves recurrent welfare claimants.
The importance of phonemic processing skills and the ability to discriminate and categorize the sound pattern within words has been well documented in the literature. These skills have a proven relationship to reading disabilities. See Bradley & Bryant (1983); Vellutino & Scanlon (1987); and Wagner & Torgesen, (1987). In addition, these skills are also associated with reading comprehension. See Foorman (1997).
There are many programs that are directed towards the correction of reading disabilities. These programs range from phonic drill programs such as The Writing Road To Reading, Hooked on Phonics, DISTAR and Reading Recovery to the more complex approaches such as the Lindamood ADD program (Auditory Discrimination in Depth) and the Fast For Word Program which uses high end computers and software. The Fast For Word Program was originally designed for use with individuals suffering from severe receptive language disorders and involves high end computers. This program requires the student to attend for two hours per day, and is available mainly through ‘licensed therapists’. A scholarly review of this program can be found in Brady (1997). In addition to these programs, a cursory search of the internet will produce a plethora of remedial reading programs based on phonics and other approaches.
Phonic drill programs can be difficult for many reading disabled students. This difficulty is caused because disconnected phonemes are, in essence, meaningless unless they are associated with words. The ability to deal with the individual sound patterns as they appear within words is not a normal aspect of language development. Furthermore, many students with poor reading skills also have difficulty in the areas of attention and concentration. These additional difficulties make this learning activity especially difficult for them. These facts limit the usefulness of drill programs in developing reading in many students.
Furthermore, some of these remedial programs over complicate an already complex situation. These programs can impart information to the student that will have to be unlearned at a later time (e.g. diacritics in the Writing Road To Reading). Other programs introduce unnecessary detail such as learning redundant word or sound families (Hooked on Phonics). These programs have further disadvantages because they require a great deal of time to produce measurable results. The “ADD” program requires a four-hour daily attendance schedule and requires a range of instructors dealing with the various aspects of the program. The teacher/instructor requires a great deal of knowledge of how speech is generated and how the language works at phonemic level. The “ADD” program is effective with a range of students but takes a relatively long time. The Reading Recovery program takes to a year to yield significant results. See Shanhan & Barr (1995). For further information, a useful review of the literature on the effectiveness of many of these remedial programs can be found in Pinnel (1994).
Thirty years of research into reading difficulties shows conclusively that the ability to segment, blend and manipulate the minimal speech sounds within words (phonemes) underpins literacy development. These abilities are independent of measured IQ.
In most cases the identification of significant reading d
Beacon Literacy, LLC
Cheng Joe H.
Waddey & Patterson
Waddey, Jr. I. C.
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