Shadow

This paper may look like one of hundreds of papers rushing to show the effectiveness of some version of phonological training. And the authors should be congratulated for getting into a very good scientific journal in the field.

But who are they? You find this at the very end of the webpage:

David Moore is a founder, shareholder, and non-executive director of MindWeavers Ltd. Joy Rosenberg is a consultant to the company without other financial interest. John Coleman has done consultancy work for MindWeavers on behalf of Oxford University.
Corresponding author. Fax: +44 115 951 8503

 

MindWeavers specialises in training sensory (hearing, seeing, touching) and physical (’motor’) skills.

The idea started in 1996 following the discovery that many children had problems perceiving sounds that make up words. Other research showed auditory training could cure or help these problems.

David Moore, then a professor at Oxford University, and now visiting professor, Chief Technology Officer at MindWeavers and Director of the Medical Research Council’s Institute of Hearing Research, had a special interest in hearing difficulties of children with "glue ear" (middle ear disease). Frustrated diagnosing but not treating problems, the auditory training research he led was the starting point for a company to exploit advances in understanding how the brain learns.

In February 2000, MindWeavers was incorporated through Isis Innovation, the technology transfer arm of Oxford University, to create training products that could accelerate learning - using computer games, making it fun.

In 2002, Bruce Robinson (an expert in developing early-stage high-growth companies, entrepreneur and investor) became CEO to exploit the company’s potential.

MindWeavers’ games are scientifically proven in trials. The first product - Phonomena - accelerates language learning. The results have been remarkable - dramatic improvements from short periods of low-intensity use. Further research and trials are underway to develop additional product lines.

MindWeavers has featured in the world’s best media, from scientific journals such as The New Scientist, local and international television news such as the BBC and CNN, to newspapers and trade journals including The Times, The Times Educational Supplement, The Washington Times, The Guardian and many, many others.

What do they do (sell?) 

Phonomena increases language abilities by 2.4 years with just 6 hours use Mainstream education and Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists trials show dramatic language abilities increases

BUY PHONOMENA
Click the image below to order.

 "My pupils loved playing Phonomena and volunteered for more. It had a remarkable effect on their literacy skills, which could only have been achieved by one to one tuition.  For the first time one of the boys explained how to spell two words (’went’ & ‘really’) when someone else had misspelled them…"  Teacher, St. Andrews Primary School, Oxford.

Mainstream school children Phonomena results 
to be published  in prestigious ‘Brain and Language’ journal in June/July 2005 issue.

And here is the paper 

Brain and Language
Volume 94, Issue 1 , July 2005, Pages 72-85

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2004.11.009

Discrimination training of phonemic contrasts enhances phonological processing in mainstream school children

David R. Moore^{a, b, c, ,} , Joy F. Rosenberg^a and John S. Coleman^d

^aMindWeavers Ltd, Oxford Centre for Innovation, Mill Street, Oxford OX2 0JX, UK
^bMRC Institute of Hearing Research, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
^cUniversity Laboratory of Physiology, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK
^dPhonetics Laboratory, University of Oxford, 41 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JF, UK

Accepted 30 November 2004.  Available online 21 January 2005.

Abstract

Auditory perceptual learning has been proposed as effective for remediating impaired language and for enhancing normal language development. We examined the effect of phonemic contrast discrimination training on the discrimination of whole words and on phonological awareness in 8- to 10-year-old mainstream school children. Eleven phonemic contrast continua were synthesised using linear interpolation coding from real speaker endpoints. Thirty children were pre-tested on the Word Discrimination Test (WDT) and the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB). Eighteen then trained for 12 × 30 min sessions over 4 weeks using an adaptive three interval two alternative phonemic matching task. The remaining children participated in regular classroom activities. In Post-testing, trained children significantly increased their age-equivalent scores on both the WDT and PhAB by about 2 years. For the PhAB, no improvement was found in the controls. Enhanced performance in the trained children was maintained in a delayed test 5–6 weeks following training. Enhancements on the trained discriminations were weak and variable. The results indicate a dramatic improvement in phonological awareness following phonemic discrimination training without matching perceptual learning.

Keywords: Perceptual learning; Language impairment; Language development; Dyslexia; Phoneme; Phonological awareness; Adaptive learning; Computer training; Word discrimination; Auditory

David Moore is, according to this MRC website, which is last updated Oct 2003, the director of MRC Institute for Hearing Research. I am confused about his identity as the lead author of this paper — he is a leading academic researcher at MRC (his MRC pubs page is very up to date as of May 2005), and is also the head of the MindWeaver Ltd. How did he decide which hat to wear when he submitted the paper?

Sure, it’s a good example of full disclosure. But I still don’t know what to make of this. Do you?

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 14th, 2005 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Research, Teaching, Odds'n'Ends, Paperville, Psychology, Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.