# COMPUTER-SPEECH FEEDBACK IN TEXT FOR DYSLEXIC CHILDREN

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 1994 · $234,180

## Abstract

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the abstract):  The proposed research  will
build on previous  and  current  studies  of  computer-based  remediation
for  reading disabilities wherein  2nd - 6th grade children read
interesting stories on the computer  for  a  half   hour  each  day
during the irremedial-reading  or language-arts class time. Children are
trained to target  difficult words in the stories with a mouse for
immediate orthographic and speech  feedback.  The computer  emphasizes
important  relations  between word or  sub-word  letter patterns and
their corresponding  speech sounds by displaying the patterns in reverse
video  while  a high-quality  speech synthesizer  simultaneously
pronounces  them.  Compared to control groups, trained subjects' average
gains across a semester  were about four times  greater in phonological
decoding  of nonwords  and  about  two times  greater  in  word
recognition.  However, individual-differences  analyses  of  disabled
readers'  gains  revealed interactions  between  deficit-severity,
initial  level of phonological awareness, and assigned level  of feedback
segmentation (whole-word, syllable, or onset-rime units).  One goal of
the proposed research is to confirm these pedagogically important
interactions in a  year-long training study with  more stable measures
of performance. The major goal of the research is  to test hypothesized
additional benefits  of computer-based training  in phonological
awareness, because the  previous subjects' gains in  phonological
decoding and word  recognition were strongly related to their initial
level of phonological awareness at pre-test.  Training effects will be
compared between subjects who use only computer-based reading  with
speech feedback, and subjects  who spend the first  4-6 weeks on
computer-based  phonological-awareness training before reading, followed
by reading on the computer  with concurrent phonological-awareness
exercises. Total training time and  experimenter contact  will be  the
same for both groups so  that  any unique benefits of phonological-
awareness  training  will not be confounded  by extraneous variables.
Main effects  and interactions will be assessed  for phonological-
awareness  vs. only reading on the computer  and the three different
levels of feedback  segmentation in reading.  Individual  differences in
subjects' gains for phonological awareness, phonological decoding, word
recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension will be assessed at  the
end, and one  or two years after training through the use of hierarchical
linear models.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2198490
- **Project number:** 5R01HD022223-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **SAM.gov UEI:** SPVKK1RC2MZ3
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD K OLSON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $234,180
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1987-01-01 → 1995-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2198490

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2198490, COMPUTER-SPEECH FEEDBACK IN TEXT FOR DYSLEXIC CHILDREN (5R01HD022223-08). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2198490. Licensed CC0.

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