Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Phonomena Suitable For?

Phonomena has been used in trials with children and adults with English as a first language, both with normal abilities and with known language based learning difficulties.

We know that the science used in Phonomena is applicable to learning English as an additional language, and with the addition of further sound-sets, for other languages, and we are carrying out field trials.

In the first-release version, the game-play and graphics are designed to particularly appeal to 6-12 year olds, and it has Administrator functions built-in tailored towards assisting training those with language-based learning difficulties.

Will Phonomena Help With Language-Based Learning Difficulties?

Phonomena is expected to help with most language-based learning difficulties. Research shows that almost all children with language problems have phonological processing difficulties - difficulties retrievingmeaning from spoken words.

Good phonological processing depends on good hearing, good listening and the ability to associate the correct meaning to the spoken sounds heard. While Phonomena is mainly aimed at improving listening skills, the training also improves auditory attention and this, in turn, helps broader phonological skills.

Our trials have shown, for example, that Phonomena training improves the ability of children of all language levels to construct 'Spoonerisms'. This is where the sound of one word has to be swapped with that of another (e.g. ‘sad cat’ and ‘cad sat’). We use these sort of word manipulations all the time, both to hear and to speak language, and they clearly involve more than just listening.

Auditory processing difficulties are often found with dyslexia, specific language impairment (SLI) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In these cases it isn't yet clear whether the auditory processing problem is a cause or an effect, or whether the association is unimportant. However, in as much as Phonomena can address auditory processing and, perhaps independently, attention, it is worth trying.

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What's The Idea Of The Games?

The idea is to get the highest scores you can. See how many points you can get in the Sound Game. The more Sound Games you play in a row, the longer you get playing the 3's Company Game. And the longer you play, the more threesomes you can make, giving you a higher score. The High Score table shows your 3's Company! Game score. Check it once you have finished to see if you are the best!

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What's The Best Environment In Which To Play Phonomena?

Phonomena trains the player to discriminate between the sounds of words to improve language learning. To be most effective, the player should be able to concentrate on this task without other sounds interfering. Headphones that isolate the player from external sounds are ideal, but other environments such as using the computer's speakers in a computer room, classroom or at home are suitable as long as the player can hear Phonomena sufficiently weel to distinguish between the sounds without being distracted or becoming de-motivated.

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What Is The Optimal Length Of Phonomena Training Sessions?

The length of time per session in our trials proved difficult for some. Once we had set this for the trials, we had to retain it and the results we publish state how they were achieved (i.e. to maintain consistency). We carried out further trials in a main stream school using similar protocols (so that there was continuation for comparison with the SLT trials) and the results are on our website. A paper which extensively details the trials and results has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication (June/July 2005) in Elsevier’s ‘Brain and Language’ journal.We think that shorter sessions should also work and we are currently planning a further trial using 10 minute sessions to prove of this. A good rule of thumb at the moment is to aim for the same total length of training (say, 6 hours), but not to worry if this is divided into a large number of shorter sessions. Anecdotally, a language therapist using Phonomena in school for just two 20 minute sessions per week for a month reported noticeable improvements in memory, alliteration, and phoneme manipulation. She feels very happy that Phonomena can be simply used by teaching assistants in schools, for example. You can find her review in the summer issue of Speech and Language Therapy in Practice. Similarly, a paediatrician has evaluated Phonomena in conjunction with practising language therapists in an NHS clinic and recommends it to parents for use with their children at home. Please note that Administrators can adjust the speed of presentation of the sounds. Therefore, subject to the ability of the child, the total time for completion of each SoundSet session can be reduced (or if required increased).

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Does Phonomena Training Improve Important Language Skills Like Reading And Speech Production?

Our recent studies with mainstream children, to be published in Brain and Language (June/July 2005), have shown that Phonomena improves reading and general phonological awareness (PA). The evidence on PA shows that it is closely correlated with a whole raft of important language skills – reading, spelling, writing and talking. So we feel confident that Phonomena training can improve all these skills. In the trials with SLTs we used our own ‘Word Discrimination Test’ developed by Professor Moore – the ability to recognise words against a noisy background. This is recognised by language professionals as a very important ability and a sensitive measure. We also wished to see and recognised the desire for more general improvements in language abilities using standard tests – to answer the ‘So what?’ question. Having consulted extensively we chose NFER’s Phonological Assessment Battery. Details of the results of the main stream trials are on our website, and published in the Brain and Language paper referred to above. Importantly in this regard, a recent paper has been published (Savage et al – including Frederickson, N. one of the authors of PhAB - , JILD, Jan/Feb 2005) proving a very high correlation between PhAB spoonerisms and nonsense word reading measures and reading accuracy, reading comprehension and spelling (measured using British Abilities Scale II, NFER Reading Test II and SPAR). Also, in the main stream trials, we measured delayed post-trial and found that improvements continued after training, showing that the children built upon their own resources.

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Are phonemes Independent Of English Dialect? (e.g. British vs American English)

To a large extent they are, but there are some small differences. For example, English Received Pronunciation has fewer phonemes (44) than some forms of American English. Internationally, there are well over 1000 phonemes. There are also small differences within countries. Phonomena is likely to have positive results for all speakers of English. This type of training may be particularly effective for people learning English as an additional language.

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Why Are Many Of The Phonomena Training Sounds Syllables Rather Than Isolated Phonemes? Does Phonomena Train Phoneme Discrimination Or Letter Sound Recognition?

We expand the consonant training phonemes into consonant-vowel (CV) syllables to help make the sounds more audible. Thus, /l/ and /r/ become ‘lee’ and ‘ree’. The method we use to produce the syllable keeps the vowel part constant for every sound, while morphing just the consonant part. So the distinction becomes progressively more difficult as the User progresses, just as it would if the consonant was presented in isolation. For very young children, especially, the consonant alone can be very rapid and therefore difficult to hear. In some cases (e.g. ‘bee’ – ‘dee’) the CV syllables sound like letter sounds but, again, it is only the phonemes /b/ and /d/ that contribute to the training.

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What Are MindWeavers' Plans For Further Research/Validation/Development Of Phonomena?

We have finished research (for first language learning)on the present version but we plan further research on a later version. Further developments include products aimed more specifically toward the general consumer with game-play, schools use in stream education, and for learning English as an additional language.

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Which Type Of Licence Should I Buy?

Single Licence: The Phonomena (Single Licence) is for installation of Phonomena on a single computer and is aimed at parents and individual language therapists/professionals. A maximum of ten user profiles can exist at any time, and user profiles can be deleted and new ones created at any time. You must buy one copy of Phonomena (Single Licence) for each computer on which you wish to install it.

Multi Licence: The Phonomena (Multi Licence) is suitable for installation of Phonomena on five (or more, in conjunction with the required number of Additional Licences) computers at the same location, (each allowing up to ten concurrent usernames), and is aimed those working in groups and schools.

Examples: To install Phonomena on one computer, purchase one copy of Phonomena (Single Licence) To install Phonomena on three computers, purchase three copies of Phonomena (Single Licence) To install Phonomena on five computers at the same location, purchase one Phonomena (Multi Licence) To install Phonomena on ten computers at the same location, purchase one Phonomena (Multi Licence) PLUS five Phonomena (Additional Licence)

Access Options And Switch Devices

Phonomena is designed to allow access to all controls required to play the Sound Game and 3’s Company! Game using either Mouse or Keyboard.

The Sound Game provides the repetitive practice that is required for Phonomena training to be effective. The 3’s Company! Game is provided for amusement, as a reward, and as an appropriate break before continuing with the Sound Game. For the Sound Game, full control over time-related and many other functions are provided under Administrator log-in. 3’s Company! is a ‘shoot ‘em up’ style game with fixed time dependencies and may not be suitable for players for whom this presents difficulty. In this case, we suggest that an alternative form of reward is used, or that the player simply moves on to the next Sound Game Session.

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