Phoneme Factory

Over the past two years a large-scale research project has been led by Yvonne Wren and Sue Roulstone to develop and evaluate a computerised assessment for children with speech sound difficulties. This program, the Phoneme Factory Phonology Screener, was designed by the Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit at NBT in collaboration with NFERNelson. The Screener can be used to help identify children in need of referral to speech and language therapy due to difficulties with their speech. This screening tool consists of 66 pictures for children to name. The teacher listens to the child naming each picture and then records the production of one target sound within each word (see below).

 Sample screen from Phoneme Factory Phonology Screener

Based on the teacher's recording of the child's speech entered into the program, a report is produced. This report explains which speech error patterns the child has used during the screener and whether these error patterns are typical for the child's age or not. Where the sounds are not typical for a child's age, the screener report will indicate whether the child's responses were either developmental and therefore commonly seen in children who are younger, or non-developmental and indicative of a disorder of speech development. The recommendation to refer to speech and language therapy is based on this report.

The first phase of the research behind this software compared the reliability of teachers' use of the screener with that of speech and language therapists'. The test items producing outcomes below the required reliability level were subsequently removed from the screener. In the second phase, 408 children were assessed on the screener by a teacher. This sample was made up of a 1/3 of children identified as having speech difficulties whilst the remainder acted as controls. The children were simultaneously assessed on a gold standard assessment of children's speech which was used to determine sensitivity (71%), specificity (99%) and positive predictive values (81%) for the screener.

The Screener report also guides the teacher to appropriate activities to use in a second software title in the series, the Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter program.

Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter

This has also been developed as part of the project and is based on previous research into the use of computers in speech and language therapy for children who have difficulties with speech sounds. 

 Sample screen from rhyming task in Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter

There are few software programs available for teachers and speech and language therapists to use with children who have speech difficulties. The tasks on the Sound Sorter software are based on the phonological awarenesss activities that SLTs use in everyday clinic sessions. Although teachers are often advised on activities to aid the child's development, problems with understanding the nature of the task involved and competing demands on the teachers' time mean that such activities are often not carried out in the way which was anticipated. The Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter software together with the Phoneme Factory Phonology Screener ensure that the task will be carried out exactly as directed as the software offers little opportunity to alter the task, once it has been set up for a particular child's needs. In many instances, children will be able to carry out the tasks independently and therefore will be less affected by demands on teacher time.

The Phoneme Factory Phonology Screener will be available to purchase from May 2006 from NFERNelson at: http://www.onestopeducation.co.uk/icat/phonemefactoryphonologysc .

The Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter software is already available to buy from SEMERC at: http://www.onestopeducation.co.uk/icat/phonemefactorysoundsorter .

The Phoneme Factory book: Developing Speech and Language Skills is also being written to supplement the software titles. The author, Gwen Lancaster, has a successful track record with publications of this kind having previously written the workbooks 'Working with Phonology' and 'The Children's Phonology Sourcebook' for SpeechMark publishing. This will have ideas for teachers to use in tabletop activities with children in the classroom and will be available from David Fulton publishers from September, 2006 www.davidfultonpublishers.co.uk

 Sample Screen from pupil records in Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter

Further information

Lancaster, G. (2006) Phoneme Factory: Developing Speech and Language Skills. David Fulton; London.

Wren, Y. (2006) Computerised assessment project form speech therapy. Research at NBT, March 2006.

Wren, Y. (2005) Using computers in speech and language therapy - do they help? AFASIC News, Winter 2005.

Wren, Y. (2005) An evaluation of the use of computers in phonology therapy. Unpublished PhD thesis.

Wren, Y. (2004) Software will assisit phonological therapy. RCSLT Bulletin mid-month supplement, September 2004.

Wren, Y. (2001) Software and speech - a review of software in phonology therapy. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 36, supplement, 487-492.

Wren, Y. (2001) Supporting speech skills. Special! Sumer 2001.

Wren, Y. (2000) Software solutions. AFASIC News, September 2000