Speaking to read: The effects of speech recognition technology on the reading and spelling performance of children with learning disabilities

In recent literature on persons with learning disabilities (LD), speech recognition has been discussed primarily as an assistive technology to help compensate for writing difficulties. However, prior research by the authors has suggested that in addition to helping persons to compensate for poor writing skills, speech recognition also may enhance reading and spelling; that is, what was designed as assistive technology appears to serve remedial functions as well. The present study was conducted to determine whether elementary and secondary students with LD who used the technology to write self-selected compositions and class assignments would demonstrate improvements in reading and spelling. Thirty-nine students with LD (ages 9 to 18) participated. Nineteen participants used speech recognition 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks, and twenty students in a control group received general computer instruction. Results indicated that the speech recognition group showed significantly more improvement than the control group in word recognition (p<.0001), spelling (p<.002) and reading comprehension (p<.01). Pre- and posttests on five reading-related cognitive processing measures (phonological, orthographic, semantic processing, metacognitive reading strategies, and working memory) indicated that for the experimental group, only phonological processing improved significantly over the treatment period when compared to controls (p<.04). Further ANCOVA suggested that growth in phonological processing was associated with significant differences among conditions for all three academic measures: word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension. Address correspondence to 971 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, CA 91107. E-mail center@frostig.org.     

The effectiveness of simulation in a hybrid and online networking course

Conclusion The results reported here suggest that Web-based courses on computer networking can utilize simulations very effectively.     

TELEVISION IN TEACHER TRAINING

In recent years the uses of educational television in the training of teachers have achieved widespread, sometimes quite spectacular, currency and applause. Probably the best known and most widely used of these is in microtraining, where the trainee either in teaching (Brown, 1975; Wragg, 1974) or in medicine (Morrison and Cameron‐Jones, 1972) may be shown videotapes of ‘expert’ models displaying a particular professional skill to be mastered by the trainee, and may then go on to see videotape of his own use of the skill in a specially scaled‐down training situation. However, although microtraining seems set almost to become the norm, even the cliche, of the professional training world, other uses of educational television have received much less attention. These other uses include the training of student teachers in the observation and analysis of classroom behaviour, discussed with examples in the following paper