Patent Application
20090305208
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Many children suffer from visual attention disorder (VAD). These children have wandering eyes and difficulty focusing on any task requiring eye/hand coordination. This is especially true when these children try to write and results in these children having an extremely difficult time learning to write. The current method of teaching these children how to write is a paper based system. The children are asked to draw a line between two related objects such as a bird and its nest. Therapists have found this paper system fails to grab the child's attention for more than a few minutes. Using this paper method is costly to the taxpayer, insurance companies, and to the parents due to the extended period of time it takes the student to learn to write.
Thus, there exists a need for a training system that is more effective at capturing the student's attention and decreases the time it takes them to learn to write.
A training system that overcomes these and other problems has a stylus. An electronic tablet detects a position of the stylus (or finger) when the stylus is near a surface of the electronic tablet. A process defines and draws a tolerance band on the electronic tablet. The process may define a starting position and an end position within the tolerance band. An audio cue may play while the stylus progresses from the starting position to the end position. A failure to progress may include going outside the tolerance band. A lesson generating program generates the lessons. A tracking and measuring program stores measurements based on the stylus movement. Using this system the child is provided positive audio feedback and visual feedback of the progress they are making. This feedback captures the child's attention and increases the number of exercises they are willing to perform during a lesson with a therapist. The system also includes an auto challenge module that automatically increases the lesson difficulty as the child progress. The system tracks a child's progress and displays graphics of their progress. In one embodiment, the system announces the sound of the shape the user is attempting to draw. The system may also request that the user pronounce the name of the shape they are drawing and determine a correctness of their pronunciation.
Standard writing lessons fail to capture the attention of a child with VAD (visual attention disorder) or other attention deficient disorders. As a result, standard writing lessons that do not provide immediate positive feedback will not succeed in teaching these children fine motor skills.
A system for improving fine motor skills includes a stylus. An electronic tablet detects a position of the stylus (or finger) when the stylus is near a surface of the electronic tablet. A process defines and draws tolerance band on the electronic tablet. The tolerance band may be defined by a visual marker. The process may define a starting position and an end position within the tolerance band. An audio cue may play while the stylus progresses from the starting position to the end position. A failure to progress may include going outside the tolerance band. A lesson generating program generates the lessons. A tracking and measuring program stores measurements based on the stylus movement. Using this system the child is provided positive audio feedback and visual feedback of the progress they are making. This feedback captures the child's attention and increases the number of exercises they are willing to perform during a lesson with a therapist. The system also includes an auto challenge module that automatically increases the lesson difficulty as the child progress. The system tracks a child's progress and displays graphics of their progress. In one embodiment, the system announces the sound of the shape the user is attempting to draw. The system may also request that the user pronounce the name of the shape they are drawing and determine a correctness of their pronunciation.
Standard writing lessons fail to capture the attention of a child with VAD (visual attention disorder) or other attention deficient disorders. As a result, standard writing lessons that do not provide immediate positive feedback will not succeed in teaching these children fine motor skills.
The stylus does not contain any electronics as a result the child or user can use their finger instead of a stylus. This provides flexibility in case the user has a difficult time holding a pen, pencil, or stylus. The digitizing screen 12 may be an electronic whiteboard or a touch screen. In all cases the digitizing screen 12 acts both as a display and an input device.
The chart page includes new graphics and precise representations of student's and patient's handwriting abilities and provides new opportunities to analyze, optimize and record handwriting lessons. The charts provides the teacher, parent or therapist with computer generated analytical data that guides them in determining the next steps to take in optimizing the handwriting lesson for patients and students.
The analysis module is designed to interact with the user, stylus and tablet pc, to capture precise data of the handwriting skills of the user and display it instantly on the computer screen in a form that is easily interpreted by the user such as an active color coded bar chart, needle gauge or numerical value. The accuracy information will be displayed on the computer screen in close proximity to the handwriting task and in such a way that the user will be able to focus their attention on the handwriting task at hand and at the same time view their accuracy score through their peripheral vision.
The instantaneous handwriting accuracy information display will benefit the user because it allows the user to monitor their progress with a high degree of accuracy concurrent to their handwriting task. It removes the propensity for human error in judgment or subjective interpretations of handwriting skills typically associated with manual scoring methods. It indicates handwriting skills where the user has a high degree of accuracy and also where the user has difficulty and should continue more training. This motivates the user because it provides an easy, efficient, and effective way to challenge their previously generated scores, similar to the way challenge is found attractive in many popular video games. This is very beneficial for patients recovering from a stroke. Rehabilitating from stroke and other brain injuries may take a very long time and sometimes does not happen at all. Recovering the ability for written language may be extremely difficult, time consuming and frustrating. Patients typically become frustrated with relearning their handwriting skills because they cannot discern from one day to the next or one month to the next if they are improving. The instantaneous handwriting accuracy and average accuracy information display of this invention will benefit patients by motivating them with an accurate method for scoring and tracking their progress.
An auto challenge module 104 uses these parameters to determine if the user is ready for a higher (lower) level of difficulty for a particularly shape. Note that the difficulty can be adjusted by changing the tolerance bands or by changing the size of the shape.
A database 106 of the parameters is created. A speaker 108 is associated with the computing platform 92. The computing platform 92 may connect to a lesson server 110 through the internet 112. The lesson server 110 may have a database 114 of additional lessons that can be downloaded to the computing platform 92.
In one embodiment, the auditory association module includes a voice recognition module. The lesson prompts the uses to say the name of the object they have drawn and determines the accuracy of the pronunciation.
In one embodiment, the user continues to draw the shape without the stroke lines until they meet a certain level of accuracy for a predetermined number of times. The user is then prompted to draw the shape without the aid of the tolerance bands or the stroke lines. The user may be prompted to drawn the shape based on the computing platform telling the user to draw the shape or the user may be given the English (native language) equivalent of the shape or word.
Interactive Handwriting Training System and Method
Introduction
Problem:
The current method used around the world for teaching handwriting skills is basically the same today as it has been forever. Students and patients are given a writing instrument, something to write on and instructions that guide them through years of handwriting exercises including lines, shapes, numbers, upper and lower case letters and finally cursive handwriting. This is typically known as the paper and pencil method. Although very time consuming and difficult to quantify student and patient day to day progress, this is the universally accepted method of teaching handwriting. Those without a physical or mental learning disability typically respond well to this method, learn the accepted handwriting skills in several years time and move on to other higher education programs.
Those with physical and mental learning disabilities face additional challenges that greatly reduce the effectiveness of the traditional paper and pencil method and experience increased time and cost associated with learning to handwrite. Physical and mental challenges such as Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Cerebral Palsy, and Down Syndrome just to name a few present a whole different set of problems that the paper and pencil method does not effectively address. One of the main problems with the paper and pencil method is that the tests must be analyzed and scored manually. This allows for inaccuracies such as human error in judgment and subjective interpretations of the student's abilities that may result in inappropriate adjustments to the handwriting lessons, which has a negative impact on the educational process.
Patients recovering from stroke face a long rehabilitation process that many never complete because of the high degree of frustration associated with handwriting lessons using the paper and pencil method. The process of relearning to handwrite takes a very long time and many patients give up because they have no way of monitoring their progress. They think their handwriting skills will never improve and they become discouraged and give up.
Students attempting to learn to handwrite in different languages with different fonts and symbols such as those found in Far East and Middle East countries find the paper and pencil method very difficult and time consuming. Many students never learn to write in foreign languages because of the complexity of the different symbols, letters and shapes of foreign languages that the paper and pencil method does not effectively and efficiently teach.
A new method described herein is more effective at teaching handwriting skills to patients and students, especially those with physical and mental learning difficulties, by the combined use of an interactive handwriting training software program as described in the previous patent application and a electronic touch screen that provides audible, visual, and tactile stimulation during handwriting lessons. Precise handwriting data is captured and charted or displayed on the chart page in the software program. Handwriting lessons may be performed with instantaneous visual feedback based on accuracy. Also the program can be used for teaching the complex sequences of handwriting strokes such as those found in the handwritten languages of Far East and Middle East countries.
A software program designed specifically to be used with an electronic touch screen or any kind of touch technology that has a touch screen and can capture precise data of the handwriting skills of the user. By writing software code that interacts with the user, stylus and a touch screen, four new methods for teaching handwriting skills are described herein.
PointScribe Overview
A software program that produces an improved method for teaching handwriting skills. A computer generated handwriting analysis chart guides teachers, parents, therapists and others needing to make informed decisions for improving and optimizing handwriting lessons.
The interactive handwriting training system consists of a software program designed to work with a tablet computer to perform precise analytical measurements of handwriting skills, as described in the previous patent. The new system converts the handwriting data into informative charts that provide a visual display of student and patient handwriting abilities. Teachers, parents and therapists use the analytical charts to guide their decisions at optimizing and improving (without human error in judgment or subjective interpretations) handwriting lessons in what is called “evidence based practice”. Lessons are created, modified and optimized based on the following computer generated handwriting data:
Precise handwriting data including type of shape, height of shape, width of shape, color of shape, date and time of each shape handwriting test, accuracy of handwriting ability (computerized measurement of deviation from centerline), length of time testing a particular shape, length of time testing all shapes, notes taken during each handwriting test, snapshots of each handwriting test, comparison of multiple snapshots at one time, and skill level calculated as [( height of shape+width of shape)×5]×Accuracy Value×0.01 is captured and charted or displayed on the chart page in the software program.
The chart page includes new graphics and precise representations of student's and patient's handwriting abilities and provides new opportunities to analyze, optimize and record handwriting lessons. The charts provide the teacher, parent or therapist with computer generated analytical data that guide them in determining the next steps to take in optimizing the handwriting lesson for patients and students.
Instantaneous Visual Feedback
A Software Program that Produces Instantaneous Handwriting Accuracy and Skill Level Visual Feedback/Information in Color Code or Numerical Value.
A software program designed specifically to interact with the user, stylus and electronic touch screen, will capture precise data of the handwriting skills of the user and display it instantly on the computer screen in a form that is easily interpreted by the user such as an active color coded bar chart, needle gauge or numerical value. The accuracy information will be displayed on the computer screen in close proximity to the handwriting task and in such a way that the user will be able to focus their attention on the handwriting task at hand and at the same time view their accuracy score through their peripheral vision.
The instantaneous handwriting accuracy information display will benefit the user because it allows the user to monitor their progress with a high degree of accuracy concurrent to their handwriting task. It removes the propensity for human error in judgment or subjective interpretations of handwriting skills typically associated with manual scoring methods. It indicates handwriting skills where the user has a high degree of accuracy and also where the user has difficulty and should continue more training. This motivates the user because it provides an easy, efficient, and effective way to challenge their previously generated scores, similar to the way challenge is found attractive in many popular video games.
This is very beneficial for patients recovering from stroke. Rehabilitating from stroke and other brain injuries may take a very long time and sometimes does not happen at all. Recovering the ability for written language may be extremely difficult, time consuming and frustrating. Patients typically become frustrated with relearning their handwriting skills because they can't discern from one day to the next or one month to the next if they are improving. The instantaneous handwriting accuracy and average accuracy information display of this invention will benefit patients by motivating them with an accurate method for scoring and tracking their progress.
Foreign Language Training Method
A Software Program that Produces a New Method for the Teaching of Sequential Writing Strokes in Any Type of Font or Language.
A software program designed specifically to interact with the user, stylus and electronic touch screen, will generate handwriting lessons in any language. The lessons are intended to teach proper techniques, stroke sequences, memorization, and pronunciation of any type of handwritten language. The user will select their current or native language. Next the user will select the language they desire to learn. The user will type a desired lesson (word, character, shape, number) in their current language and the software program will generate a handwriting lesson in the desired handwritten language.
In one variation, the method is a three-step process.
Step 1:
The lesson shape appears on the screen. The student is guided through every stroke of the lesson. As the user completes each stroke in the proper order and style consistent with the proper form and shape of the desired language, the next stroke will appear or become highlighted. This process will continue until the handwriting task has been successfully completed.
Step 2:
Following successful completion of Step 1, the lesson shape appears on the screen again. There are no visual prompts for guiding the student through the stroke sequence of the lesson. The student is required to recall the proper stroke sequence of the lesson.
Step 3:
Following successful completion of Step 2, the lesson continues but no lesson shape appears on the screen. The student makes the shape from memory as the computer records and evaluates stroke sequence and shape formation.
Auditory Association
Learning written communication skills is a complex process which involves memorizing how a shape looks, and how it feels to write the shape, also known as muscle memory. An additional component to learning to write a shape is memorizing how a shape sounds, or the auditory association with the written shape.
When a student is given a vocalized task to write the capital A letter, the student must first call on his memory of the auditory or spoken sound of the shape A, then he must be able to convert his memory and perception of the shape A into a voluntary and coordinated effort of fine motor movements with all of the necessary muscles to move the stylus to create the written shape A.
Previous details of the related patent application claimed new methods and systems for guiding, measuring and teaching, among other things, written communication skills.
A new software code has been written and integrated with the existing software code of the PointScribe system. The new code module is called Auditory Association. Auditory Association (AA) will provide a new method for teaching how each shape sounds, how to speak the shape, along with how it associates with the look and feel of writing the shape.
The new software produces, in any language, the vocalized version of any given shape, such as the letter A. The new code, integrated with the existing PointScribe software code, produces the vocalized A sound when the visual version of the shape A is produced on the electronic touch screen. The student then writes the shape A on the touch screen. The computer analyzes and scores the accuracy of the handwriting skill of the student for each particular shape, the shape A in this example. Upon completion of the written shape A, the software again produces the vocalized A sound, giving additional reinforcement for the sound, sight, and fine motor formation of the shape A. Additionally, the sound of the shape A could be reproduced any number of time during the handwriting lesson of shape A.
The AA improvement also provides the student with the opportunity to speak the sound of the shape A, or any other shape as that shape appears on the screen or after the student has written the shape. The new software code instructs the student to say the shape the student sees on the touch screen. The code will acknowledge properly vocalized shapes and progress on to the next shape in the lesson. It will also acknowledge improperly vocalized shapes and ask for a repeat until proper vocalization occurs. In another option dealing with failed or flawed vocalization, the software can give a lower score and move on to the next shape as selected by the educator.
The vocalized sounds can be in any language and in any form such as the sound of a male, female, child, adult, or synthesized to meet the needs of the student.
Auto Challenge
Teaching written communication skills has many difficult challenges, including applying the appropriate challenge or size for every written shape to each individual student, and in any language. One of the challenges of written communication skills occurs when the size of the shape being written is reduced from large novice sized shapes to smaller and more refined shapes as is consistent with typical adult handwriting skills.
When students first learn to handwrite, they are given larger sized handwriting tasks, because it requires less refined fine motor skills to write larger shapes than it does to write smaller shapes. As students improve their fine motor skills, they generally reduce the size of their print. Properly matching the size, or challenge of each shape with each individual student as they are learning to handwrite has been very difficult to achieve with the paper and pencil method.
New code has been developed that works with the existing PointScribe software that provides a method for computerized analysis and adjustment of the challenge of each shape for each individual student. The existing code provides a score based on how accurately each shape has been written by each student. The new code uses this information, combines it with parameters that are predetermined by the teacher, and through simple computations, sets the size or challenge of the shape on the touch screen to match the handwriting skill level of the student.
As the student begins to practice his handwriting skills, the accuracy score improves and goes higher. When the score reaches a predetermined and preset value, the size or challenge of the shape is adjusted to a slightly smaller size by the software to match the improved handwriting skills of the student. The student continues to practice handwriting at the smaller and more challenging shape size. Soon the students' accuracy score improves and reaches the predetermined and preset value again, and the size or challenge of the shape is adjusted again by the software to match the improved handwriting skills of the student. This method of practice, improve, and adjust, continues on until the student has greatly improved their handwriting skills from very large novice shapes to much smaller and more refined handwritten shapes.
In this new code, a new method has been developed that provides automated adjustments to handwriting lessons. This new method consistently ensures that each student is being challenged appropriately for each shape. The new code efficiently teaches students to write smaller and more refined shapes in a reduced period of time when compared to the paper and pencil method.
Note that the auto challenge technology can be applied to the auditory association also, so that a student's auditory skills are constantly challenged
Conclusion
Prior to this invention, handwriting abilities were subjectively scored by observations and estimations of the accuracy and skill level of the results of handwriting tests performed on paper and pencil which produced biased, inaccurate and non-quantifiable results. The invention described herein provides a non-biased, accurate, quantifiable and standardized method for improving handwriting skills through “evidence based practice” training techniques.
The invention solves the problems described in the first section in the follow ways:
Thus there has been defined a system and method that is interactive, that is more effective at capturing the student's attention and decreases the time it takes them to learn to write. This decreases the cost of teaching these students to write. Using this system the child is provided positive audio feedback and visual feedback of the progress they are making. This feedback captures the child's attention and increases the number of exercises they are willing to perform during a lesson with a therapist. The system also includes an auto challenge module that automatically increases the lesson difficulty as the child progress. The system tracks a child's progress and displays graphics of their progress. In one embodiment, the system announces the sound of the shape the user is attempting to draw. The system may also request that the user pronounce the name of the shape they are drawing and determine a correctness of their pronunciation.
Standard writing lessons fail to capture the attention of a child with VAD (visual attention disorder) or other attention deficient disorders. As a result, standard writing lessons that do riot provide immediate positive feedback will not succeed in teaching these children fine motor skills.
The methods described herein can be implemented as computer-readable In instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium that when executed by a computer will perform the methods described herein.
While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alterations, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations in the appended claims.
The present invention is a continuation-in-part of patent application, Ser. No. 11/471,442, filed on Jun. 20, 2006 entitled “Training System and Method”, and claims priority on provisional patent application, Ser. No. 61/132,011, filed on Jun. 13, 2008, entitled “Interactive Handwriting Training System and Method” and provisional patent application, Ser. No. 61/161,492 filed on Mar. 19, 2009, entitled “Interactive Handwriting Training System and Method” and all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61132011 | Jun 2008 | US | |
| 61161492 | Mar 2009 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11471442 | Jun 2006 | US |
| Child | 12483820 | US |
