SBIR-STTR Award

Reading is the foundation of all academic learning, and children with reading problems are at serious risk of educational failure. As many as 30% of all students in America can not read English by the end of first grade. The percentage is much higher for the crowing number of students for whom English is a second language. With intense individual remedial instruction, however, most of these students can become competent readers with a much better chance at academic success. However, already overburdened teachers often find it impossible to provide the level of individual attention that is required. Orion Enterprises, Inc. (OEI) proposes to develop an automated teaching aid for at-risk readers that will diagnose their level of reading competence and introduce the specific type of remedial instruction needed based upon that level of competence. The system will be computer-based and will allow self-paced, real-time diagnosis and instruction with minimum teacher involvement. Instruction will include proven reading diagnostic and instructional material but in a multimedia environment using sounds, games, and animated presentations to make the learning process more fun.Summary Of Anticipated Results And Implications:Identifying students who are at-risk of reading failure, diagnosing exactly where they need instruction, and immediately providing the specific instruction needed, will greatly improve their chances of becoming competent readers, and achieving overall educational success. The proposed system will be operated by the student and will provide automated, self-paced, real-time diagnosis and instruction without overburdening the teacher. The commercial applications are significant. Initially, the effort will be aimed at developing a system for schools which will be located in the classroom or in a resource center. Progressively more advanced software modules will be provided to cover the development of reading skills from pre-literate through advanced readers. There are over 100,000 schools in the United States and each school could use several of the systems. Once the concept is proven and established in schools, the home market will be addressed. The proliferation of home-based computers (personal computers are projected to be in 50% of homes by late 1997) and rapidly falling prices makes this a potentially large market.

Reading is the foundation of all academic learning, and children with reading problems are at serious risk of educational failure. As many as 30% of all students in America can not read English by the end of first grade. The percentage is even higher for the growing number of students for whom English is a second language. With individual remedial instruction. most of these students can become competent readers and have a much better chance at academic success. However, already overburdened teachers often cannot provide the level of individual attention required by these students. In Phase I, OEI developed a prototype automated teaching aid for at-risk readers that will diagnose their level of reading -competence and introduce the specific type of remedial instruction needed, based upon that level of competence. The system is computer-based and allow self-paced, real-time diagnosis and instruction with minimum teacher involvement. Phase II will refine the diagnostic portion greatly expand the instructional material, evaluate system performance and effectiveness, and explore a Spanish/English version. Anticipated Result: Identifying students who are at-risk of reading failure, diagnosing exactly where they need instruction, and immediately providing the specific instruction needed will greatly improve their chances of becoming competent readers and achieving overall educational success. As these students grow up, they will be more likely to complete high school (or higher) education, and be better able to successfully compete in the workplace.