Order of phonological awareness skills

Phonemic Awareness | Phonological Awareness :: Read Naturally, Inc.

What Is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes four developmental levels: 

• Word awareness
• Syllable awareness
• Onset-rime awareness
• Phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken language words can be broken into individual phonemes—the smallest unit of spoken language.

Phonemic awareness is not the same as phonics—phonemic awareness focuses on the individual sounds in spoken language. As students begin to transition to phonics, they learn the relationship between a phoneme (sound) and grapheme (the letter(s) that represent the sound) in written language.

To develop phonological awareness, kindergarten and first grade students must demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

​ Read Naturally programs that develop phonemic awareness

Why Phonemic Awareness Is Important

First of all, phonemic awareness performance is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success (Put Reading First, 1998).  Students with strong phonological awareness are likely to become good readers, but students with weak phonological skills will likely become poor readers (Blachman, 2000). It is estimated that the vast majority—more than 90 percent—of students with significant reading problems have a core deficit in their ability to process phonological information (Blachman, 1995).

In fact, phonemic awareness performance can predict literacy performance more accurately than variables such as intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status (Gillon, 2004). The good news is that phonological awareness is one of the few factors that teachers are able to influence significantly through instruction—unlike intelligence, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status (Lane and Pullen, 2004).

Many students (75%) enter kindergarten with proficient phonemic awareness skills. The 25% of students who have not mastered these skills are from all socio-economic backgrounds and need explicit instruction in phonemic awareness. When instruction is engaging and developmentally appropriate, researchers recommend that all kindergarten students receive phonemic awareness instruction (Adams, 1990).

Phonological Awareness Skills

The following table shows how the specific phonological awareness standards fall into the four developmental levels: word, syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme. The table shows the specific skills (standards) within each level and provides an example for each skill.

	Less Complex	​		More Complex
	Word Awareness	Syllable Awareness	Onset-Rime Awareness	Phoneme Awareness
Less Complex	Sentence Segmentation Tap one time for every word you hear in the sentence: I like cookies.		Rhyme Recognition Do these two words rhyme:  ham, jam?  (yes)	Isolation What is the first sound in fan? (/f/) What is the last sound in fan?  (/n/) What is the middle sound in fan?  (/a/)
​			Rhyme Generation Tell me a word that rhymes with nut.  (cut)	Identification Which word has the same first sound as car:  fan, corn, or map?  (corn)
			Categorization Which word does not belong: mat, sun, cat, fat?  (sun)	Categorization Which word does not belong?  bus, ball, house?  (house)
	Blending Listen as I say two small words:  rain … bow.   Put the two words together to make a bigger word.  (rainbow)	Blending Put these word parts together to make a whole word:  rock•et.  (rocket)	Blending What word am I saying?  /b/ … /ig/?  (big)	*Blending What word am I saying /b/ /ĭ/ /g/?  (big)
	Segmentation Clap the word parts in rainbow.  (rain•bow)  How many times did you clap?  (two)	Segmentation Clap the word parts in rocket.  (roc•ket)	Segmentation Say big in two parts. (/b/ … /ig/)	*Segmentation How many sounds in big?  (three)  Say the sounds in big.  (/b/ /ĭ/ /g/)
	Deletion Say rainbow.  Now say rainbow without the bow.   (rain)	Deletion Say pepper.   Now say pepper without the /er/.  (pep)	Deletion Say mat.  Now say mat without the /m/.  (at)	Deletion Say spark.  Now say spark without the /s/.  (park)
				Addition Say park.  Now add /s/ to the beginning of park.  (spark)
More Complex				Substitution The word is mug.  Change /m/ to /r/.  What is the new word?  (rug)

*Integrated instruction in phoneme segmenting and blending provides the greatest benefit to reading acquisition (Snider, 1995).

Instruction should be systematic. Notice the arrow across the top. The levels become more complex as students progress from the word level to syllables, to onset and rime, and then to phonemes.  

Notice the arrow along the left-hand side. Students progress down each level—learning increasingly more complex skills within a level. 

For example, look at the Phoneme Awareness column. Students learn to isolate, identify, and categorize phonemes first. Then students are taught to blend phonemes to make a word before they are taught to segment a word into phonemes—which is typically more difficult. The most challenging phonological awareness skills are at the bottom:  deleting, adding, and substituting phonemes.

Blending phonemes into words and segmenting words into phonemes contribute directly to learning to read and spell well. In fact, these two phonemic awareness skills contribute more to learning to read and spell well than any of the other activities under the phonological awareness umbrella (National Reading Panel, 2000; Snider, 1995). 

So, as we plan phonological awareness instruction, our goal is to systematically move students as quickly as possible toward blending and segmenting at the phoneme level.

Consonant Phonemes

There are two types of consonant phonemes:

*Blending words with continuous sounds is easier than blending words with stop sounds.

The continuous sounds can be pronounced for several seconds without distortion. The stop sounds can be pronounced only for an instant. It is important to avoid adding /uh/ to a stop sound as it is pronounced—which confuses students. As new phonological awareness skills are introduced, using continuous sounds may be easier at first.  

Read Naturally Programs That Develop Phonemic Awareness

Read Naturally’s Funēmics is a systematic, program for pre-readers or struggling beginning readers that teaches all of the phonological awareness standards. Each lesson builds on skills taught in previous lessons, adding just a few elements at a time. With minimal preparation, teachers or aides present scripted instruction to small groups of students, using an interactive display (with brightly illustrated pages and interactive widgets) viewed on a tablet or whiteboard. Funēmics is entirely pre-grapheme.

Learn more about how Funēmics teaches phonological awareness skills:

• Learn more about Funēmics
• Funēmics sampler
• Research basis for Funēmics

Other Programs That Support Phonemic Awareness

The following programs do not focus on phonemic awareness but include phonemic awareness activities as part of a broader scope of instruction:

Read Naturally® GATE Teacher-led instruction for small groups of early readers. Focuses on phonics and fluency instruction with additional support for phonemic awareness and vocabulary. Learn more about Read Naturally GATE

Bibliography

Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

Blachman, B. A. (2000). Phonological awareness. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Rosenthal, P. D. Pearson, and R. Barr (eds.), Handbook of reading research, 3, pp. 483-502.  Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Blachman, B. A. (1995). Identifying the core linguistic deficits and the critical conditions for early intervention with children with reading disabilities. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Learning Disabilities Association, Orlando, FL, March 1995.

Gillon, G. T. (2004). Phonological awareness: From research to practice. New York: The Guilford Press.

Lane, H. B., and P. C. Pullen. (2004). A sound beginning: Phonological awareness assessment and instruction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

National Institute for Literacy. (1998). Put reading first. <http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf>

National Reading Panel.  (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Snider, V. A. (1995). A primer on phonemic awareness: What it is, why it’s important, and how to teach it. School Psychology Review, 24(3), pp. 443-456.

An Order for Teaching Phonemic Awareness Skills

Phonemic awareness is the awareness of individual speech sounds, like the /m/ sound in "moon" or the /ch/ sound in "beach."

Strong phonemic awareness skills are closely correlated with reading success! This is because, as students learn to read, they're connecting print (letters and groups of letters) to sounds.

We can help students develop strong phonemic awareness skills by playing quick, fun, language games with them.

For example, we might say 3 sounds aloud (/g/ /u/ /m/) and students have to say the "mystery word" (gum). This is an example of blending, one of 6 main phonemic awareness skills.

Speaking of the 6 phonemic awareness skills, here they are below:

Notice that the skills are listed at different levels - that's because some phonemic awareness skills are more difficult than others.

First, we have isolating sounds. Even though isolating sounds is the "easiest" skill, there are still levels of difficulty within this step:

• Children usually begin by learning to say the first sound in a word. For example, they might identify the first sound in the word "sun" as /s/. If that's still too difficult, you might try having students match pairs of pictures that begin with the same sound (without asking them to identify that sound yet).
• Eventually, children learn to isolate the final sound in a word (i.e. /p/ in "tap") and medial vowel sounds (i.e. /e/ in "bed" or the long o sound in "coat")

Next up, we have blending sounds. This is when we say sounds aloud and students say the entire word. If we say /u/ /p/, students must blend and say the word "up." Again, there are different levels of difficulty within blending. You might start with 2-sound words like "up" and "go," progress to 3-sound words, and eventually incorporate more challenging sounds like digraphs, blends, and diphthongs. 

Then we have segmenting. Phoneme segmenting is when we say a word (i.e. "flat") and students tell us the sounds (/f/ /l/ /a/ /t/). Just like with blending, different types of words can be more or less challenging for students to segment.

Starting with the 4th step, we're now moving into what's referred to as phoneme manipulation: adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes.

Adding phonemes means having students orally add a sound to a word. We might say "The word is 'go.' Go, add /t/ to the end, and we get..." (goat) You can have students add phonemes to the beginnings or ends of words.

You can even have students insert a phoneme after the first sound to make a word with a consonant blend: "The word is gab. Gab, add /r/ after /g/, and we get..." (grab) Of course, this is challenging for many young students!

Phoneme deletion is - you guessed it - deleting or removing a phoneme. Example: "The word is 'rake.' Rake, take away /k/, and we get..." (ray) Notice that the actual spelling of the word does not matter - it's about the sounds. Read the example out loud if that helps.

Phoneme substitution is simply switching out a sound in a word. You might say, "The word is 'pat.' Say /m/ instead of /p/ and we get..." (mat).

If some phonemic awareness and/or phonics programs (like From Sounds to Spelling), you may notice that the program "skips" around a bit rather than waiting for students to fully master phoneme isolation, then blending, then segmenting, etc.

This is because students can be successful with practicing a given skill with certain words, but not others. For example, students can segment 3-sound words but they can't yet blend words with consonant blends. This might be counterintuitive because segmenting should be harder than blending, but it's completely normal because words with consonant blends are often challenging for little ones. 

There are many nuances to helping students develop phonemic awareness - and you need lots of practice activities, because these skills take time to develop.

Our phonics program, From Sounds to Spelling, has a strong phonemic awareness component. The program tells you exactly how, and when, to work on these skills with your students. There's lots of flexibility to meet the needs of different students, too.

To learn more about From Sounds to Spelling and see examples of phonemic awareness and phonics activities at the Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade levels, go to FromSoundsToSpelling.com and click the "Free Trial" link.

15 Learning Disorder Terms Parents Need to Know

If your child has a speech, reading, or learning or attention disorder, you may have come across these terms on social media, forums, or at professional appointments. .

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Terms such as phonological awareness, auditory processing disorder, auditory accuracy, phonological memory…

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Understanding these 15 terms will help you better organize the help you need for your child:

1. Phonetics

Phonetics - this term refers to the sound structure of the language: the relationship between a letter or a combination of letters (for example: chi, shu, cha, yes) and the speech sounds they represent.

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Phonetics is the foundation of reading and writing skills. Thanks to phonetics, the child decodes written words in the process of reading.

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2. Phonemes

A phoneme is the sound of speech. When we speak Russian, we make 42 different speech sounds. But there are only 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. This is one of the reasons why Russian is difficult to learn. nine0003

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3. Phonemic perception

Phonemic perception is the ability to perceive individual speech sounds (phonemes) in words and work with them.

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Learn how to develop phonemic awareness from an early age.

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4. Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is the awareness that words are made up of smaller parts (such as syllables and sounds). nine0003

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The term includes a range of sound-related skills that a student needs to develop reading skills. As the child develops phonological awareness, he/she not only comes to understand that words are made up of small sound units (phonemes), but also learns that words can be broken down into larger sound "chunks" known as syllables. .

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5. Phonological accuracy

Phonological accuracy refers to the ability to correctly distinguish between individual phonemes (e.g., in similar-sounding words that begin with the same sound) or other aspects of phonology (e.g., rhyming, number of syllables). nine0003

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Phonological accuracy is key to listening and reading skills. This allows the student to make a clear distinction between similar-sounding words (e.g. "heron" and "saber" or "picture" and "basket"), including morphological differences that can drastically change the word's meaning and/or grammatical function (e.g. " known" and "unknown" or "inserted" and "exposed").

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The ability to quickly and accurately identify speech sounds is critical to learning the rules of phonetics and matching spoken language to text correctly. nine0003

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A child with well-developed phonological accuracy will more easily develop decoding skills, understand word and sentence structure, develop vocabulary, follow instructions, and participate more actively in class work.

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Well developed phonological precision helps in:

• Understanding and following verbal instructions

• Listening skills

• nine0002 Development of reading skills

• Learning the rules of phonetics

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6.

Phonological fluency is the understanding that words are made up of different sounds and the ability to quickly and accurately identify and manipulate these sounds.

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Phonological fluency is critical to learning to read. This allows the student to memorize sequences of sounds and manipulate them quickly and accurately. This makes it easier to both write words and decode them. The more effectively the reader is able to decode, the more of his cognitive resources (mental abilities) he can focus on understanding the text. nine0003

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A student with good phonological fluency will also find it easier to learn new words while reading. When confronted with a new word, a student who can accurately pronounce the word is more likely to recognize and understand its meaning.

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Well-developed phonological fluency helps in:

• Learning the rules of phonetics

• Development of reading skills

• Development of writing skills

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7.

Phonological memory is the ability to retain speech sounds in memory. This is essential for spoken language and tasks such as comparing phonemes and making connections between phonemes and letters. It also helps with listening and reading understanding of sentences, as it allows you to remember the sequence of words in order.

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Phonological memory plays a key role in the development of oral and written language skills. This allows the student to:

• Memorize and manipulate sound sequences

• Associate spoken words with written ones

• Memorize new words by determining their meanings

• Remember the beginning of a sentence by listening to it to the end.

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The ability to remember speech sounds is important for the correct understanding of sentences when changing the order of words in a sentence changes its meaning (for example, "The monkey bites the boy" and "The boy bites the monkey"). nine0003

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Accurate memory of word order also contributes to building accurate ideas about sentence structure and acquiring knowledge of syntax.

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A student with a well-developed phonological memory develops phonemic perception and decoding skills more easily, knowledge of vocabulary and sentence structure is formed. Such a student follows instructions better and takes a more active part in class work with presentations, etc.

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8. Auditory Processing / Auditory Perception

Auditory processing refers to what the brain does with the audio information it "hears". This includes various skills such as identifying and locating sounds, listening to background noise, and processing what is heard when the sound is fuzzy.

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When a student manipulates the auditory information he has heard, but it doesn't sound right, this is called an auditory processing disorder (or auditory perception disorder). nine0003

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This can happen if the child has difficulty understanding speech in background noise or has difficulty identifying where the sound is coming from. Or it could be a problem in distinguishing speech sounds that sound similar.

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Find out 5 common hearing loss (HAI) myths!

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9. Sequencing of audio information

Sequencing of audio information refers to the ability to identify and remember the order in which a series of sounds were presented. This is very important for matching sound sequences to letter sequences in decoding and writing. nine0003

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Organizing audio information is critical to developing speaking and writing skills. The ability to identify and remember the order of sounds in words is important for recognizing subtle differences between words (such as "pot" and "top") and for developing phonemic perception and decoding skills.

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A student who has a well-developed ordering of sound information understands and absorbs information better, develops better oral and written speech skills and concentrates attention. Such a student becomes an expert reader and a successful student. nine0003

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See also: How do weak cognitive skills affect learning?

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10. Listening word comprehension

Listening word comprehension refers to the ability to accurately identify words heard based on auditory cues alone, without the aid of visual or contextual cues.

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Listening comprehension of words is critical to the development of spoken language and vocabulary, and therefore essential to the development of reading and writing. This skill allows the student to accurately and efficiently identify words in speech and helps him form a correct understanding of the information presented by ear. nine0003

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A student with well developed listening comprehension will find it easier to follow instructions and participate in class discussions; it is easier to answer questions, complete tasks and remember information; and it's much easier to become a proficient reader.

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He will also find it easier to carry on a conversation in a noisy environment or when there are distractions.

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11. Hearing accuracy

Hearing accuracy is the ability to accurately identify differences between sounds and correctly identify sound sequences. nine0003

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Accuracy in listening is the foundation of speech and reading skills. This skill allows the student to quickly and accurately identify and distinguish between rapidly changing sounds, which is very important for distinguishing between phonemes (the smallest units of speech that distinguish one word from another).

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A student with well-developed listening comprehension will find it much easier to follow instructions and participate in class work; it is easier to remember questions, tasks and information; and it's much easier to become a proficient reader. He will also be able to:

1. Read and write fast

2. Focus on verbally presented information

3. Maintain a conversation in a noisy environment or when there are distractions.

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12. Listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is the ability to understand consecutive sentences and extract meaning from what is heard.

Listening comprehension is one of the foundations of oral and written speech. To develop more complex speech skills, a child needs to develop good listening comprehension. Well developed listening comprehension allows the student to recognize the meanings formed by combinations of words and series of sentences.

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A student with good listening comprehension will find it much easier to respond to assignments and class discussions; it will be easier to answer questions and remember information; and it is easier to become a proficient reader and a successful learner. He will also be able to do well:

• Focus on oral information

• Making sense of history

• Correctly follow verbal instructions

• Correctly understand and answer questions

How sound works for an autist

10/21/12

How to develop speech and other skills with sound stimulation

Authors: Paula Tallal/ Paula Tallal/ Nadine Gaab/ Nadine Gaab
Abbreviated translation: Marina Brindley
Source: TRENDS in Neurosciences Vol. 29 No.7 July 2006

Society of Psychology and the International Society of Behavioral Neuroscience, author of more than 150 papers on speech perception problems. In 1996, she founded the Scientific Learning Corporation, which produces a group of Fast ForWord software products designed to correct speech disorders. nine0003

Children with language learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group. The majority of children in this group have both impairments in the assimilation of oral and written speech, and sensorimotor impairments, moreover, associated specifically with dynamic signal processing. The question was investigated whether sensorimotor impairments - and specifically limitations in the spectral-temporal processing of audio signals - are the cause of phonological impairment leading to impaired acquisition of language skills and, in particular, reading. Emerging avenues of research into this issue include prospective longitudinal statistical studies of at-risk infants, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies, and studies evaluating the effects of auditory training (including music training) on ​​the language organization of the brain. A better understanding of language learning disorders in the developing individual will advance our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying differences in language development and lead to more effective educational and remedial strategies. nine0003

[…]

Language acquisition is a matter of keen interest for both parents and scientists. Despite the complexity of the language, most children learn it with apparent ease. However, epidemiological studies show that of all developmental disabilities, learning problems related to language skills are the most common: 20% of children suffer from them.

Longitudinal statistical studies show an association between impairments in early developmental spoken language acquisition and later literacy problems. Recognizing disorders of oral and written speech as a single violation, we will fix this terminologically and will call them in this review "impaired language acquisition" (NLL). At the same time, it should be borne in mind that children with ND are a rather heterogeneous group. Further research is needed to better understand the similarities and differences between learning disabilities in spoken and written language, the neural circuitry underlying individual differences in language learning, and how this new knowledge could lead to improved therapies for children with these disorders. nine0003

[…]

Analysis of the acoustic parameters of speech leads to the conclusion that the ability to track short, rapidly following each other (dynamic) acoustic changes within a complex acoustic wave of speech is the key to speech processing. […] each language has its own system of phonemes (and each of them is a complex of acoustic spectra), which are studied empirically and presented in the auditory cortex as neuron excitation circuits. With the help of physiometric methods, it was possible to establish that in animals the spectral, temporal and "indivisible" spectral-temporal acoustic characteristics are organized in a complex way into schemes in the central auditory cortex, which arose as a result of learning and depending on specific experience. Donald Hebb suggested that when neurons are fired by more than one sensory signal almost simultaneously, the firing pattern is remembered (represented) as a whole and subsequently plays a leading role in language acquisition and further in behavioral responses to language signals. By exposing the brain to repetitive sequential sensory cues, such as the complex acoustic waveform of current speech, we increase the likelihood that complex neuronal firing patterns (cellular structures) will generalize to specific phonemes and syllables of a language, regardless of the context or the speaker's individual pronunciation. Moreover, the order and precise temporal distribution (within tens of milliseconds) of successive firing patterns of neurons and the segmentation of current speech into syllables and words as a result of spectrometric changes that frequently occur in speech will also be encoded. This statistically dependent learning has been termed "Hebbian learning" or "pulse-time dependent synaptic plasticity". nine0003

Donald Hebb (1904−1985) - Canadian psychologist, one of the founders of neuropsychology. In 1949, he wrote the book "Organization of Behavior", in which he proposed the theory of adaptation of neurons in the brain during learning (Hebb's theory). Hebb was able to link complex psychological processes (such as learning) and the physical properties of neurons.

[…]

One of the newest trends in the study of ND is the consistent developmental monitoring of infants with and without a history of family members with ND. Let's designate them respectively SI+ and SI-. For example, using a head-turning procedure (assisted by an assistant), Benasich and Tallal [40] trained infants to recognize 2 sound tones that differ in frequency and are separated by intervals of different duration to obtain measures of individual psychoacoustic thresholds. There were significant differences in task performance between infants in both groups, however, infants in the SI+ group required a significantly longer interval between auditory stimuli for correct tone recognition than those in the SI- group. Subsequent longitudinal statistical studies revealed that among a variety of behavioral, perceptual, cognitive and social measures assessed in infancy, the threshold for speed spectrum-time processing of the audio signal at 7.5 months was for each group and also for each individual within the groups (SI+ and SI- together) is the best predictor of language development at age 3. It is noteworthy that 40% of the discrepancies in the results of standardized language tests, which the subjects of both groups performed at 3 years of age, are explained by two prognostic factors: the threshold for high-speed spectral-temporal processing of a language signal, identified in infancy, and male sex. In addition, the same two indicators were classified quite accurately >90% of these 3-year-olds who scored in the "developmental disability" range on the "verbal reasoning" scale on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Development Test. It is important to note that there was no significant correlation between the auditory speed processing thresholds and the non-verbal part of the test, which demonstrates the specificity of the relationship between individual differences in speed processing of the sound signal by infants and their subsequent individual differences in language development and verbal thinking. nine0003

These behavioral data were replicated and expanded in a study using electrophysiological measurements in the same infants. The results showed that differences in electrophysiological measurements taken at 6 months of age correlated significantly with levels of language development at 2 years of age in both groups. Moreover, SI+ infants compared with SI- infants showed specific electrophysiological differences in response to a speedy presentation of a tone sequence (separated by 70 millisecond intervals), but did not show differences in response to the same tone sequence presented at more than slow pace (with an interval of 300 milliseconds). These differences were observed in the frontal, frontocentral and central zones, selectively in the left hemisphere. These results are replicated by several other electrophysiological studies conducted in Finland, Germany and the USA with newborn infants at risk for language retardation, i.e. the results are not related to the specifics of the acquired language. nine0003

In summary, neonatal studies based on both behavioral observation and electrophysiological measurements demonstrate that abnormalities in auditory processing speed are already apparent in newborns at risk (for genetic reasons or with a family history of such abnormalities) according to NUJ . Moreover, these scores are excellent predictors of both normal and abnormal language development, no matter what language the infant is learning. These data also demonstrate that significant differences in speed processing of audio signal, reflecting dysfunction specific to the left hemisphere, are present in this group at the earliest stage of life, before language development proper begins, suggesting a commonality of neural mechanisms that provide speed processing auditory information and those that provide language development. nine0003

Rehabilitation of children with language learning disabilities through auditory training programs

Evidence is growing that many children with ND have both phonological and sensorimotor impairments, both of which directly affect dynamic auditory processing. The cause-and-effect relationships between these two factors and the exact neural mechanisms underlying the observed phenomenon are not yet clear and need further study. However, it can be hypothesized that intensive training (incorporating many of the features of synaptic plasticity training used in animal physiology), modeled to improve both dynamic audio processing and phonological processing skills, may improve the language abilities of children with ND. nine0003

This hypothesis has been tested in children with ND in a series of controlled trials using two novel approaches: speed sequence recognition training and language training, which includes the use of acoustically modified speech, in which speed spectrum-time segments sounded with increased amplitude and were extended in time. Children who participated in the prototype program (now called Fast ForWord®) showed significant improvements in acoustic processing, speech recognition and comprehension compared to a carefully matched control group of children with NDV who received the same language training but with neutral speech and without training in recognition of consecutive audio signals. Positive changes have been seen with the Fast ForWord® program for children with severe academic delays, who have shown greater than normal gains on language tasks and some tests of phonological awareness, as well as a reduction in behavioral problems after 4–8 weeks of training. compared to the control group. The positive effects of using Fast ForWord® are reported by Gillam and colleagues, although the training was conducted with only a few participants, while Hook et al. found that the positive effects of the program were commensurate with the results achieved by Orton Gillingham's well-established method of rehabilitating reading ability. nine0003

Fast ForWord is a group of software products that help speech therapists to correct speech disorders, including those manifested in children with autism or Asperger's syndrome. Based on research by scientists Paula Tallal, William Jenkins and Stephen Miller. The tasks are aimed at helping to overcome delays in speech development, to improve reading skills and understanding.

While previous studies have focused primarily on speaking skills, Temple and colleagues report for the first time significant improvements in reading and language test scores in dyslexic children after training with Fast ForWord®. In addition to standardized reading tests, dyslexic children and typical children (no abnormalities in reading ability) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging twice, 8 weeks apart. During the scanning session, the children completed tasks on rhyming letters. Between sessions, dyslexic children studied using the Fast ForWord® program. After completing the program, the children showed significant improvements in all parameters of testing oral speech and reading. The control group showed no significant improvement, i.e., the changes in the main group could not be explained by repeated testing, multiple repetitions of exercises, or maturation. Moreover, prior to the training, dyslexic children demonstrated a lack of metabolic activity in the temporo-parietal language areas during the rhyming task, while the control group showed a strong activation of this area. After the training, the scan results showed that the metabolic activity in the temporo-parietal linguistic areas of the left hemisphere increased, i.e. the picture of brain activation approached that which we observe in children who do not have deviations from the norm in reading skills. Positive changes recorded by electrophysiological and magnetic resonance methods of research were also noted after using other acoustic and / or phonological methods of correction, i.e. these highly sensitive physiological research methods can serve as a very powerful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of corrective practices in working with groups of children with developmental disorders. nine0003

Not all studies have found significant improvements with Fast ForWord®, and some have failed to document long-term positive results. However, some of these studies were conducted with very small numbers of subjects, no control group, and a number of other methodological flaws (loose adherence to a training protocol that involved very intense training based on synaptic plasticity), which reduced the value of the results. nine0332 …
The success of Fast ForWord® can be interpreted in many ways. On the one hand, we can conclude that high-speed processing of auditory information is important not only for language acquisition, but also for learning to read. On the other hand, since Fast ForWord® aims to cross-train multiple cognitive functions, working with the program can improve auditory concentration, memory development in general, and improve phonological perception and grammar understanding. All of these functions are consistently trained to result in a positive impact on all aspects of the multifactorial patterns of impairment that are characteristic of children with NUC. And, finally, the positive changes achieved with Fast ForWord® may be due to other new components of the methodology used in this program, which are not specific to auditory information processing. It is about the intensity of the program, the use of technology that can provide highly timed stimuli, encouragement and feedback, and the ability to adapt the level of difficulty and content of the presentation of stimuli from task to task, depending on the response of each individual participant. nine0003

In translating the study from the laboratory to the classroom, it becomes clear that the success of training in these two different settings may depend on various factors, considering the age and clinical condition of the participants. Further improvement of correction programs consists in their adaptation to the conditions of the "real world".

Effects of music training on auditory temporal processing and language acquisition

As mentioned in this review, there are studies showing that acoustic training can be very beneficial for children with ND. Music training has also been shown to improve many aspects of auditory information processing and improve cognitive, language and literacy skills, while promoting earlier maturation of auditory stimulus response mechanisms and changes in functional anatomical features in brain regions responsible for performing various auditory functions. So far, there are only two studies on the impact of music training on language and reading skills, based on comparisons of pre- and post-training skills. These results demonstrated a strong correlation between musical ability (or musical training) and language skills and literacy. However, the neural circuits that support this dependence are currently not known, and there is no understanding of how musical training can affect language skills. Moreover, in this study there were no control groups with which other therapies would be conducted, so the positive effect of music training today needs to be verified. nine0003

Given the proposed relationship between auditory speed time-spectrum processing and language abilities, as well as between musical training and language and reading skills, we hypothesized that music training may enhance the ability to process high-speed acoustic time-spectrum processing and lead to changes in functional anatomical features. responsible for this process. In a recent study using functional magnetic resonance scanning, 20 musicians and non-musicians listened to sequences of three tones with varying intersonic gaps and then had to manually reproduce the order of the tones. The experiment demonstrated that musical training affects the functional anatomical mechanisms underlying the high-speed spectral-temporal processing of non-linguistic signals, allowing both better results in signal processing and a more debugged functional neural network, primarily in the traditional language area of ​​the brain. Moreover, the successful completion of the tasks of the experiment with the shortest intersonic intervals strongly correlated with the age factor at which the subject began to learn to play a musical instrument. In addition to the theoretical value of these results, the findings may have important practical implications for the development of language and reading skills, especially in children with ND. The hypothesis was first put forward by Overy and modified in this article. nine0003

Musicians spend many years constantly making music and training their acoustic abilities, and it is not surprising that the ability to process auditory information increases as a result of musical training.

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