Earobics Auditory Development and Phonics Program
Innovative Developments for Educational Achievements, Inc.
North Haven, CT 06473-2342
The Earobics Auditory Development and Phonics Program, 'Earobics' for short, is a computerized tutorial program, designed to develop various auditory skills in children exhibiting developmental delays in phonological processing. This program employs many of the techniques used in therapeutic settings, and it is based on years of clinical experience and research using state-of-the-art computer technology.
The Earobics program utilizes many computerized training techniques, such as acoustic enhancement of speech signals, systematic control of learning variables, and adaptive training methods. These techniques help promote the development of auditory and phonological skills which are critical for speech and language development. The comprehensive training program includes: skill development in auditory attention, auditory discrimination, auditory figure-ground discrimination, auditory memory, phonemic synthesis, sound segmentation, auditory and phonemic identification, sound-symbol correspondence, rhyming and phonological awareness. Research has shown that mastery of these skills is necessary for success in reading as well as speech/language development.
Earobics uses six computer games to teach these auditory skills. Within each game, there are numerous levels of difficulty, as many as 114 levels; and each level is designed to be slightly more difficult than the previous one. These games are made to be appealing to children between the ages of 4-7 years; however, chronologically older children with developmental delays may also enjoy and benefit from the program. New versions are being developed for use with older children.
Cognitive Concepts have released three versions of Earobics:
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- Earobics Home version is available directly to parents at a cost of $59. No special supervision is required for use. This version tracks the progress as the child moves through the levels of each program using a simple chart.
- Earobics Pro Plus is available to professionals for $299. The features on the Plus include: the ability to select starting level of play for each child if their skill level is higher than the beginning level, being able to skip levels of play or repeat levels of play for extra review, being able to customize auditory presentations and other features, and the ability to limit games available for play. It also has unlimited re-usability, security controls for limited access for confidentiality, etc. The Pro Plus version prints out learning objectives for IEP use, tracks the child's progress, provides details such as percent correct, and stores data for up to 25 users at a time.
- Earobics Step 2. Cognitive Concepts recently released Step 2 in both the home and Professional Plus version. This program is designed for children, ages 7 to 10 years. The program contains five interactive games to teach phonological awareness, auditory processing, and phonics skills. Step 2 games also teach language comprehension skills that are critical for extracting meaning from spoken language and text.
For more information on Earobics, contact Cognitive Concepts at (847) 328-8199. You can also visit their web site at: http://www.cogcon.com
An earlier version of this article appeared in The Sound Connection, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1998. .
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