Phonological disorders in children? Design and user experience evaluation of a mobile serious game approach

This paper presents the concept and the user evaluation study of the first Super-Fon’s prototype, which is a mobile health app with a serious game approach for Android Tablets. It was developed with the main goal of working as a complement to the therapeutic intervention in phonological disorders in children between 3 and 8 years old. The app comprises a range of activities, grouped into levels, presenting a therapeutic intervention that follows the Metaphon methodology. The serious game dimension was added to better engage children in its use. The paper presents a user study conducted with two groups of children, without and with the phonological disorders. The first one worked as a control group to better help finding out if the prototype is well designed and provides a positive user experience to be well received by the children, engaging them, despite their condition. The results of the study were very positive and promising.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Robust phoneme recognition for a speech therapy environment

Traditional speech therapy approaches for speech sound disorders have a lot of advantages to gain from computerbased therapy systems. With speech recognition techniques the motivation elements of these systems can be automated in order to get an interactive environment that motivates the therapy attendee towards better performances. Here we propose a robust phoneme recognition solution for an interactive environment for speech therapy. We compare the results of hierarchical and flat classification, with naive Bayes, support vector machines andkernel density estimation on linear predictive coding coefficients and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients.N/

English language learning activity using spoken language and intelligent computer-assisted technologies

This paper presents work in progress on language technologies applied to secondary school education. The application presented integrates several state-of-the-art technologies related to spoken language and intelligent computer-assisted language learning. We envision to show that the technology has reached a level of maturity that suggests that the time may be right to use it to second language learning. To achieve this objective, an activity was designed to be tested at several Spanish high schools. The aim was to carry out a proof of concept in real conditions and to obtain feedback from the students through a questionnaire as well as from the teachers by means of an interview. The activity was designed with the collaboration of some of the teachers at the secondary schools.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Review of interventions to improve pragmatic language skills in children with behaviour and attention problems

Pragmatic language is the socially appropriate use of language in accordance with the context in which interactions take place. In view of this, deficiencies in pragmatic skills have a significant impact on psychosocial adjustment. Recent evidence has shown that children who present behavioural problems usually display these linguistic difficulties as well. The aim of this work is to analyse different interventions intended to improve the pragmatic skills of children with behavioural and/or attention problems and discuss the evidence of the results. After a literature search, nine interventions were found: five aimed at children with behavioural problems and four intended for children with attention and hyperactivity problems. The results showed that, while the characteristics of the interventions varied considerably, they generally achieved positive results, especially when they were implemented using a systemic approach with other educational agents participating (such as the family or peer group). Even so, the lack of available evidence suggests that further research into evidence-based interventions to help children improve their pragmatic, communicative, and social competences is required.El lenguaje pragmático hace referencia al uso socialmente apropiado del lenguaje en función del contexto en que las interacciones tienen lugar. Por tanto, los déficits en las habilidades pragmáticas tienen importantes repercusiones sobre el ajuste psicosocial. Evidencias recientes han puesto de manifiesto que los niños y niñas que presentan problemas de conducta suelen experimentar también estas dificultades lingüísticas. Este trabajo tiene por objeto analizar diferentes intervenciones destinadas a mejorar las habilidades pragmáticas de niños y niñas con problemas de conducta y/o atención y discutir las evidencias de sus resultados. Tras la búsqueda bibliográfica, se localizaron nueve intervenciones, cinco dirigidas a niños y niñas con problemas conductuales y cuatro para menores con problemas de atención e hiperactividad. Los resultados mostraron que, aunque las características de las intervenciones eran muy variadas, en general se lograron con ellas efectos positivos, especialmente cuando se realizaban desde un enfoque sistémico y participaban otros agentes educativos (como la familia o el grupo de iguales). Aun así, la escasez de evidencia al respecto invita a seguir investigando sobre intervenciones basadas en la evidencia que ayuden a los niños y niñas a mejorar sus habilidades pragmáticas, comunicativas y sociales

Chilean Spanish transcultural adaptation of CAP-II and SIR scales in an online format for parents of children with hearing aids or cochlear implants

Spoken language acquisition is challenging for very young deaf or hard-of-hearing children (DHH) who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants (CI). Timely decision-making for treatment is essential for these children and requires suitable assessments. Two such assessments are the Categories of Auditory Performance Index II (CAP-II) and the Speech Intelligibility Rating Scale (SIR). These have been shown to be helpful for the ongoing evaluation of developing speech perception and spoken language skills in various languages, but they are not available in Chilean Spanish. This study aimed to create a Chilean Spanish translation of the CAP-II and SIR appropriate for online self-administration by parents-caregivers in Chile to assist professionals in monitoring DHH children’s progress, considering the COVID-19 restrictions. The methods used in the process started with translating a self-report proposal from the original English versions of the CAP-II and SIR scales. Finally, the Chilean Spanish versions were tested in 107 Chilean parents-caregivers of DHH children with CIs. The results suggest these instruments are suitable for use in a Chilean context

Contributo do iPad® para o desenvolvimento de crianças com necessidades educativas especiais

O estudo analisou o papel que o iPad® pode desempenhar no desenvolvimento de crianças com atraso global do desenvolvimento psicomotor (AGDPM), em contexto terapêutico. Neste sentido procurou explorar o potencial do iPad® para promover o desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor de crianças com AGDPM; descrever o modo como estas reagem à utilização do iPad® e conhecer as perspetivas de pais e profissionais face à utilização do iPad®. Participaram no estudo de caso nove crianças com AGDPM, com uma média de idade de 32 meses, nove pais e um profissional de terapia ocupacional. As crianças encontravam-se em período de intervenção em terapia ocupacional, num contexto hospitalar. Efetuaram-se entrevistas semidiretivas aos pais e ao terapeuta ocupacional para conhecer as suas opiniões, procedeu-se a pesquisa documental para caracterizar as crianças e a observações naturalistas para se caracterizar o envolvimento e atividade e participação das crianças com o iPad®. Os resultados evidenciam reações muito positivas por parte das crianças à utilização do iPad®, salientando-se os elevados níveis de envolvimento com o iPad® e de atividade e participação, mormente na dimensão «experiências sensoriais intencionais». Os pais e o profissional de saúde fizeram um balanço muito positivo da utilização do iPad® pelas crianças. Os resultados sugerem que a utilização do iPad® em contexto terapêutico poderá contribuir para o desenvolvimento cognitivo e motor de crianças com diagnóstico de AGDPM

listening to what matters for the patients and health professionals

Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the members of the medical and patient committees for the input, advice and experiences shared for the guidance of this study. Namely, to AM, SP, JP, LR, MC, RF, TR and JB for being part of the patient committee and to JJ, EM, LB, DCo, DCa, CTL, RA, CL and AE for integrating the medical committee. We also want to acknowledge the volunteers from the NOVA Sci & Tech Volunteer program that helped with the organisation of this project. Funding Information: This work was supported by the CDG & Allies—Professionals and Patient Associations International Network (CDG&Allies-PPAIN) and by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the Project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences—UCIBIO, the Project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy—i4HB C.P. and R.F. were funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia with the Grants SFRH/BD/138647/2018 and (SFRH/BD/124326/2016) respectively. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Background: Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a growing group of rare genetic disorders. The most common CDG is phosphomannomutase 2 (PMM2)-CDG which often has a severe clinical presentation and life-limiting consequences. There are no approved therapies for this condition. Also, there are no validated disease-specific quality of life (QoL) scales to assess the heterogeneous clinical burden of PMM2-CDG which presents a challenge for the assessment of the disease severity and the impact of a certain treatment on the course of the disease. Aim and methods: This study aimed to identify the most impactful clinical signs and symptoms of PMM2-CDG, and specific patient and observer reported outcome measures (PROMs and ObsROMs, respectively) that can adequately measure such impact on patients’ QoL. The most burdensome signs and symptoms were identified through input from the CDG community using a survey targeting PMM2-CDG families and experts, followed by family interviews to understand the real burden of these symptoms in daily life. The list of signs and symptoms was then verified and refined by patient representatives and medical experts in the field. Finally, a literature search for PROMs and ObsROMs used in other rare or common diseases with similar signs and symptoms to those of PMM2-CDG was performed. Results: Twenty-four signs/symptoms were identified as the most impactful throughout PMM2-CDG patients’ lifetime. We found 239 articles that included tools to measure those community-selected PMM2-CDG symptoms. Among them, we identified 80 QoL scales that address those signs and symptoms and, subsequently, their psychometric quality was analysed. These scales could be applied directly to the PMM2-CDG population or adapted to create the first PMM2-CDG-specific QoL questionnaire. Conclusion: Identifying the impactful clinical manifestations of PMM2-CDG, along with the collection of PROMs/ObsROMs assessing QoL using a creative and community-centric methodology are the first step towards the development of a new, tailored, and specific PMM2-CDG QoL questionnaire. These findings can be used to fill a gap in PMM2-CDG clinical development. Importantly, this methodology is transferable to other CDG and rare diseases with multiple signs and symptoms.publishersversionpublishe

PASS: Picture Augmentative Synsemic System : A new system for AAC habilitative practices, theoretical background

In this paper we discuss the theoretical linguistic and graphic preconditions of the design of PASS, a glyph system which we designed for use in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) habilitative practices that has been released under open source licence. We highlight the relevance of graphic design supporting sustainable practices for people with Autism Spectrum Di- sorders (ASD), in a context in which the o er of public healthcare services for rehabilitation is insufficient. We present the context in which the AAC is adopted and how a glyph system can be used by people with ASD to learn a language. is particular group of users can access a language by using the glyph system as an interlanguage or as an alternative language. We analyse the most common glyph systems (ARASAAC, PCS, WLS, Blissymbolics), highlighting their strengths and weaknesses from a graphic and linguistic point of view. We present the theoretical background of the design process for the PASS glyph system

Sociolinguistic Competence and Training Needs of Future Primary Education Teachers

La competencia sociolingüística se relaciona con la dimensión social del uso de la lengua, de vital importancia para el ejercicio docente. Este trabajo profundiza en el nivel de competencia sociolingüística de 380 estudiantes de las universidades de Jaén, Granada y Oviedo (España) e identifica el impacto post-test del programa en línea “Affective e-learning+”. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo de los datos, seguido por un estudio inferencial. Los datos fueron analizados mediante el programa estadístico SPSS v23. Los resultados evidenciaron los niveles de desempeño iniciales y mostraron en algunos casos carencias significativas. El programa en línea aportó diferencias significativas, con un impacto “alto” en la mejora del “uso del registro y adecuación al contexto”, “hablar lentamente y vocalizando” y una mejora en el “uso del lenguaje no verbal”. Se concluye la necesidad de prestar atención a la com­petencia comunicativa de los futuros docentes, y se evidencian los beneficios del programa en línea “Affective e-learning+”, empleado en esta investigación, diseñado para el progreso en esta competencia.Sociolinguistic competence deals with the social dimension of language use, of vital importance for teaching. This work delves into sociolinguistic competence level of 380 students from the universities of Jaen, Granada and Oviedo (Spain), identifying the post-test impact of the online “Affective e-learning+” program. Data analysis was performed through a pre-post-test quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group. A descriptive study was conducted, followed by inferential examination. Data were analyzed with the program SPSS v23. The results provided evidence of different levels of initial performance, showing in some cases significant deficiencies. The online program produced significant differences, with a “high” impact with regards to improvement in “registry use and adaptation to the context,” “talking slowly and vocalizing” and improvement in “use of non-verbal language.” It is concluded that there is the need to pay attention to the communicative competence of future teachers, noting the benefits of the program “Affective e-learning+”, designed to improve this competence