SBIR-STTR Award

The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of using microcomputers to assess and train phonological awareness skills in kindergarten-aged children. Because individual differences in phonological awareness among students entering first grade appear to contribute strongly to differences in the rate of acquisition of beginning reading skills, both of these products have direct application in reducing the incidence of reading failure in the elementary grades. The specific aims of Phase I are to:(1) develop a computerized adaptive test of phonological awareness and provide initial validation evidence for such a test, and(2) prepare prototypic training modules for computer-based training in phonological awareness and provide formative evaluation data on these modulesThis project is based on a solid research consensus concerning the importance of phonological awareness in attainment of early reading skillsAwardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:This product will produce a computer-based assessment and training package for phonological awareness that should be very attractive for use in kindergarten and other preschool programs. There are currently no products on the market that would offer direct competition to those developed in this project.

Thesaurus Terms:
Biomedical Systems Automated, Computer Assisted Diagnosis, Education, Computer Assisted Instruction, Information-Communication Behavior, Language Development, Information-Communication Behavior, Reading, Information-Communication Behavior, Speech, Psychology, Cognition, Awareness, Computer Programming Children, Preschool (1 To 6 Yrs), Ear, Hearing, Auditory Discrimination, Child Mental Development Human, Non-Clinical National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

The primary objective of this project is to develop and evaluate two products: a computerized adaptive test of phonological awareness for use with preschool to second grade children and a computer-based training program in phonological awareness suitable for the same age range of children. Both of these products have direct application in reducing the incidence of reading failure in the elementary grades.The specific aims of Phase II are to:1) complete the development and standardization of the computerized adaptive test;2) collect data concerning both the predictive and construct validity of the test;3) complete the development of the training software; and,4) collect data measuring the training effects of the program with both kindergarten children at risk for later reading failure and second grade reading disabled children.This grant is based on a solid research consensus concerning the importance of phonological awareness in the attainment of early reading skills. Since there are presently very few materials available either for testing or training phonological awareness in young children, both of the products of this project should have extremely broad commercial possibilities.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:This project will produce acomputerized test and training program for phonological awareness that should bevery attractive for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary teachers and parents. There are no competing computer-based materials, and non-computer-ized materials are very limited. These materials will fill a recognized educational need.

Thesaurus Terms:
computer assisted diagnosis, computer assisted instruction, computer program /software, diagnosis design /evaluation, language development, learning disorder, reading child mental development, computer programming, reading disorder, speech human clinical subject, middle childhood (6-11), preschool child (1-5) National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)