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Box of Tricks built on the basis of the most recent research findings on speech therapy and the teaching of the deaf, compares the child's pronounced sound, word etc. with the ideal pronunciation collected in a database. The system displays the most important features of a sound during articulation graphically on the screen. This picture is called the speech picture. The speech picture makes it easy to distinguish between incorrect articulation and the correct model. So the child is able to learn the correct pronunciation through looking at their own speech picture and comparing it with the speech picture of the correct pronunciation. For hard of hearing or deaf people, this visual feedback compensates for the missing acoustic feedback.
The program practises the developing sounds either in isolation (sustained production) or in sound sequences such as syllables, words or sentences.
At this stage, the children get used to paying the necessary attention to the screen. We can demonstrate how to play with loudness, for example how we can make a sound with less energy, or how the form of the curve on the screen changes synchronously with the position change of the speech organs.
In this case what appears on the screen is the change of the energy of the sound with time. When loudness increases, the curve moves further up on the screen. Thus the children get accustomed to using the correct dynamic level. We practise the production of each vowel at a certain level of loudness.
The child has to make the little butterfly or the small yellow ball go over the flowers, the worms or the mice. To do that, the child has to keep their pitch/loudness steady for a short time over the worm but longer over the flower. In addition, the number of flowers and worms varies from exercise to exercise, thus practising different rhythm patterns.
Note here how the different positioning of the vocal organs changes the curve on the screen. Various articulation exercises can be tried out. One must also notice the change of the curve according to the forward or backward movement of the tongue.
The neck of the duck moves up and down according to the child's pitch. The pair of cherries and the bee above them provide two thresholds for practice. The child can try to make the duck's nose reach the cherries and then the bee.
By choosing Sound Development the child can start with the forming of individual sounds.
In this exercise we can show the child which is the right position of all the organs (mouth, tongue, teeth, etc) that play a role in sound production.
Concerning the fricative sounds, we may choose whether we wish the practised sound to be at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word. Concerning vowels, we can choose between monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. A list of words belongs to each group.
This exercise practises the most commonly found pitch movements found on English accented syllables: Fall, high Fall, Rise, Fall-Rise. Each of those can be practised using the word 'really'.
With this function the child can practise any sound or sound sequence one wishes. In this exercise the therapist produces the reference example and the child attempts to produce the same example correctly. Syllables, words or sentences can be handled here in the same way.
The User Manager gives you the possibility to set the childrens data, describe the difficulties, control and document the improvements.
Children can be helped in the same way either with the guidance of a speech therapist or independently. Box of Tricks is suitable for teaching, improving articulation and consolidating sounds.
Box of Tricks is a new computer-supported, audio-visual feedback system for speech learning. It has been especially designed for helping children with speech and hearing problems with their articulation. The system displays the main features of a sound during articulation in a clear and entertaining way. Thus the child can be taught effectively how to pronounce correctly. Box of Tricks makes the work of teachers of the deaf, speech therapists and other medical workers with hearing and speech impaired clients more effective and varied. Likewise, Box of Tricks' entertaining layout motivates children to practise independently at home.
Frölunda Data AB (Lennart Ulin)
Box 4078, 426 04 Västra Frölunda
http://www.frolundadata.se
ulin@frolundadata.se
Tel: 031-29 36 04
Fax: 031-29 40 10
Mobil: 0708 - 29 36 04