DIAGNOSTIC AND REMEDIAL METHOD FOR LEARNING DISABILITIES

Abstract: A method for diagnosing learning disabilities such as dyslexia, and other visual, auditory or perceptual defects which are manifested by misspelling and vocabulary deficiencies; and means for palliating such disabilities comprising the processing of a text (TXT) written by an affected subject through a programmable machine (12) which compares each word to a basic vocabulary list (BWL), classifies it as correct or misspelled, and accumulates statistical data about the subject's deficiencies. The programmable machine is also made to generate a spelling dictionary (DIC) which is used to correct the common spelling mistakes of the subject. A text written by the subject which otherwise would be barely legible can be quickly upgraded; thus expanding the subject's capability to communicate in writing.

Description: -3*- Description Diagnostic and Remedial Method far Learning Di≤al≤Litifis Pricr App_ix»t_ion This applicaticn is a continuation-ir -part of United States Application No. 203,552 filed 11/05/80. Background of the Invention 5 Individuals with dyslexia experience serious problems processing language although they are of average or above average intelligence. Their impairment is of unknown etiology, and usually anifests itself as a dysfunction in the visual and/cr auditory -_ perceptual-me cry proces. A conspicuous sign of their disability -*-*-• is their poor memcry of the graphic configurations of many words. Consequently, these individuals wϋl tend to use a phonetic spelling with a certain degree of consistency throughout their writings. Their works are often barely legible to someone who is not familiar with their unorthodox spelling, ϋ would be unfortunate -5 if some of those individuals could not share their ideas in writing with others, except in a specialized scholastic environ ent. Such spelling disabilities also tend to severely af ct the choice and use of words. Consequently, a resec e word use may often be observed in such individuals in contret with a normal 20 or above average level of syntactic maturity. Accordingly, the careful analysis of a text written by a poor speller may lead to the diagnosis of dyslexia cr other types of leaning impairment. Furthermore, the analysis of a series of such texts can provide the material necessary to establish a personalised spelling 5 dictionary which can be made available to he subject to automatically, cr on demand correct his spelling mistakes. A text which otherwise would be barely l≤gihle can be quickly upgraded; thus expanding the subject's ability to com municate in writing. The analysis of such an orthogr*aphiσally deficient text can be accomplished most efficiently using program ma'rile machines which can provide prerecorded answers in response to certain stimuli or co binations thereof. The present invention can make use of either a standard processor com mercially available under various trademarks cr of a specialized program mable machine dedicated to these tasks. Summary of the Invention One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a method by which a text written by a subject with learning deficiencies can be analyzed in order to derive statistical data on the subject's vocabulary and orthograp helpful in the diagnosis of dyslsxia and other learning disabilities. A further object of the invention is zo provide a method for documenting a subject's spelling idiosyncrasies and to create a spelling dictionary which can be used in the ccrrecticn of subsequent texts written by the same subject. Another object of the invention is to provide a means by which written co nications from incivicuals affected with auditory and/or visual perceptual disorders can be quickly and automatically upgraded into an easily legible form; thus expanding the individuaTs ability to com unicate. These and other objects are achieved by a method in which a text written by a subject is mechanically analyzed in order to classify the words of the text by reference to basic vocabulary lists and a misspelled word dictionary which are periodically updated in function of new text entires. The misspelled word dictionary is also available to automatically provide the correct spelling of ords in response to the idiosyncratic version presented by the subject. Statistical data on the number and type of words found in the text are continuously accumulated in order to provide a vocabulary profile of the subject which ay be useful in the diagnosis of certain learning disabilities. Brief Description of the Drawings Figures 1A through E show the flow diagram of the diagnosis process wherein Figure 1A fHustrates the analyzing process applied to the raw text entered by the student; Figure IB ϋLustrates the computation of the diagnosis indices Figure 1C ϋlustrates the analysis process for the intermediate f&e; Figure ID illustrates the handling of new wcrds; Figure IE illustrates the process of automatLc misspelling error correction; Figure 2 is a general block diagram of the apparatus used in the claimed ethod; Figure 3 is the general block diagram of an alternate embodi ent of the apparatus; Figure 4 is a diagram of the data flow between the various fuss; Figures 5A through 5H show the structure of the program used to control the apparatus wherein Figure 5A illustrates the top level of the operator selection process; Figure 5B illustrates the text entry process; Figure 5C illustrates the text printout process; Figure 5D illustrates the printout of the files; Figure 5E ϋLustrates the printout of the diagnosis indicia; Figure 5F illustrates the selection of the corrective processes; Figure 5G illustrates toe inter mediate-to-final text process; Figure 5 H illustrates the calculation of the indicia; Figure 6 is a modified block diagram of the first embodiment illustrated in Figure 2; Figure 7 is an alternate version of toe program selection shown in Figure 5C illustrating the output of the final text in specialized fcrm; and Figure 8 illustrates the printout of oversized characters by combination of symbols. Descripfcicn of the Preferred Embodiments of the nvention --- Referring now to the drawings, a diagnostic method shall first be described f cr establishing two indicia of lexical proficiency by analyzing a particular text written by a student with learning disabilities. The first indicium is the w rd TYPE to TO KEN RATIO (TTR), which is the ratio of the number of original, words found in the text after discarding all repetitions; over the total nu ber cf words including any repetitive use of the sa e word. The second indicium is the BASIC ER R O R INDEX (3ΞD, which is the ratio of misspelled words belonging to a pre¬ determined BASIC WO RD LIST (B tfL); over the total number of misspelled words found throughout the text. The TTR gives a general indication of the student's vocabulary diversity. The 3 SI reflects the student's inability to write accurately even co on words. The flow diagrams of the figures 1A and IB Illustrate the various diagnostic steps. I the flow diagram circles represent files in which a list of alpha numerical words can be stored. Diamonds represent decision-making steps. Squares represent nu erical counting functions and rectangles denote various other operations. The process begins with the entry of a basic word list into the B WL file. This basic word list is representative of the standard vocabulary which a student within a particular age bracket is expected to know and use com only. The next step is the entry into a dictionary file DIC of the co on spelling mistakes known to recur in the particular student's writings, along with the correct spelling cf the words. A third step, optional at that time, is to enter into a personalized word list file ? L some basic vσrds which while they are not found in the basic wcrd list yet are well-known and commonly used by the particular student- Next, the student's raw text is entered into the student's raw text fHe TEX. The analysis of the text file is done word per word. The total number of words are counted and the numerical count is kept in the token register TOK. The word is first compared to the words in the 3 L file. If the wcrd is found to be in the BWL file it is transferred im mediately to the intermediate text file INTER. If the word is not found in the Ξ L fϋe, it is next co pared to the words in the P V7L ΣLe. If the word is identified as one which appears in the P WL fHe, it is transferred to the INTE R file. If the wcrd is not found either in the 3WL fϋe cr in the P WL fue, it is then checked against the misspelled words contained in the DIC Σ e. If the word cannot be found in the misspelled word list of the DIC fϋe, it is counted as an unknown word and the numerical count is kept in the unknown U NK register. That word is also entered in the ?D fϋs and into the INTER file. If the word is recognized as one of the cc __. __.cnly misspelled words listed in the DIC ϋe, then the corresponding proper spelling is fetched from the DIC file and subsequently entered into the INTER fϋe. The number of identified misspelled words is accumulated and the numerical cour~ is ke t in the MIS re sister. BAD The correction fetched from the DIC fΣLe is also compared to the words in the BWL f∑le. If correspcndence is found the number of misspelled wards from the basic wcrd list is incremented by 1 and the numerical accumulation is kept in the MB register. If the corrected spelling is not of a word found in the BWL Ue it is used to update the personalized wcrd list by entering it in the PWL fΣLe. As words are entered into the INTER fUe, they are compared to all the words that have previously been entered therein, and are counted if they are encountered for the first time. The numerical count of newly encountered wcrd is kept in the TY? register. At this point in the process the student's raw text has been updated by replacing all the misspelled wcrds which have been identified with their correct configurations derived from the misspelled word dictionary file DIC. AH the unidentified words have been stored in the NFD _ s, and the PWL fϋe has been updated by adding into it words which are not found in the basic wcrd list but have been used by the student. The TO register holds the total numbers of words used in the text. The MIS register holds the total number known to be misspelled. The M3 T .-, T register holds the total number of basic word list words which have been misspelled by the student; and The UNK register reflects the number of unknown words which have been found throughout the text, As ϋlusfcrated in Figure IB, a partial type to token ratio TTR is obtained by dividing the contents of the TIP register by the difference between the contents of the TO K register and the UNK register. A partial basic error index BEI is obtained by dividing the contents of the MBW register by the contents of the MIS register. This second phase of the process completes the diagnostics. Si a third phase of the process, both the misspelled dictionary and the personalized word list are updated by analyzing the unidentified words contained in the NFD fUe. This third phase is illustrated in Figure 1C. 3T the wcrd extracted from the NFD file is found to be correctly speBsd, it is im mediately added to the P L fUe. H by contrast the wcrd is found to be misspelLsd, then both the misspelled version and the correctlcn are stored in the DIC file. The text contained in the INTE R Sie can now be updated through a fourth and final phase of the process which is illustrated n Figure ID. Each wcrd read out of 1_he INTE R fϋs is first compared to the words of the basic word list held in the 3WL fϋe. f correspondence is found the word is im ediately entered into the FINAL fiHe. If the word is not found in the 3 VL fiϋs, it is next BAD -ID- compared to the words in the P WL fUe. If correspondence is established, the word is transferred to the FI L file. H on the contrary the wcrd is not found to be one stored in the P L file it is compared to all of the misspelling contained in the DIC file. If the word is identified as a com mon misspelling the correct spelling is fetched from the DIC fϋe and entered into the FINAL fΣLe. Wcrds that are not found in either the BWL, PWL cr DIC ile are discarded as erroneous. At this point the FINAL fUe contains a corrected version of the text initially written by the student- The diagnostic and corrective method just described is better practiced with the use of a programmable machine which can be made to automatically and repetitively perform various required steps for each word of the student's raw text entered therein. As illustrated in Figure 2, such programmable machine must include at least an input device such as a keyboard 3, a programmable processor 2 and an output device such as a printer 3«* The keyboard and printer y be co bined in an automatic, re otely controlled typewriter cr the complete process can be modified and adapted to a similar unit containing a microprocessor. This latter unit would probably serve only as a student's station, however. The progra able processor 2 may be constituted by a standard data processor with a basic architecture comprising a program memcry 4, a control unit 5, operating register 6 and a -H- flle memcry 7. The control unit 2 operates in accordance with directives received from the program memcry -4 to manipulate data stored in file memcry 7 through the operating registers 6. Such progra able machines are weU- nown to these skϋied in the electronic arts and need not be described in mere deta L The repetitive use of such a machine in applying the diagnostic and corrective method to the same individual will automatLcally result in the accumulation in the fUe memory 7 of a complete list of words com monly used by the subject in either their correct form (BWL and P WL fuss); cr their particular configuration favored by the student's (DIC file). The machine can then be used in the application of a remedial or corrective method for helping the student in the proper spelling of words. This method is illustrated in the flow diagram of Figure IS. The method generates one of the three following indications either in printed form cr other type of visual display. a. The wcrd is correctly spelled; b. The wcrd is incorrectly spelled accompanied by a display of the correct spelling; and c. The wcrd is unknown. Each word as it is entered into the machine is compared first to the words in the BWL fGe and to the P L file. A positive identification is translated as a correct essage indication. If the word is not found in one of those two files, it is next compared BAD ORIGINAL to the misspelled wcrds in the DIC fUe. If the wcrd is not found in the DIC fUe, an unknown indication is given. If the wcrd is recognized as one of the com only misspelled ones a misspell indication is given to the student and the corresponding correct spelling is fetched out of the DIC fϋe and displayed to the student. A partial configuration of the program able machine designed to practice all the methods described above, and which is particularly adapted to a schcoiroom environment is illustrated in Figure 3« The processor 2 which can be locally or remotely installed, has associated with it an automatic typewriter 8 which serves as the teacher's staticn. The processor 2 services a plurality of student stations 9-9 , each comprising a keyboard H-UN and an output device 10-10 which. is preferably an alpha-numerical and/or specialized alphabet printout. The automatic typewriter 8 is used in establishing the various files and for entering the raw student text. One of each fUe type (except fcr B L fϋe which ay be shared by several students of the same age group) must be dedicated to each student. Once sufficient data has been accumulated in the various files for each student in the group, the student's station can be used to verify or obtain the correct spelling of the wcrd according to the process illustrated in the flow diagram of Figure IE. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the program able machine may be i plemented with a standard data processing machine such as the Micronova odel manufactured by Data General Ccrporation. This machine can be easQy progra ed in the BASIC cr any other standard program ming language according to principles weU-known to those skilled in the art by reference to the flow diagrams of Figures 1A through 1H and the additional data provided hereinafter. The interactive functions of the files during the various phases of the process above-described are illustrated in the diagram of Figure 4. The four basic files shown on the left side of the diagram: TEX, BWL, DIC, and P WL are first established then used auto atically by the processor to create the INTE R and NFD files. In the intermediate phase of the cperatLcn under control of the teacher the DIC and P L files are updated to reflect the newly discovered words in the student's raw text. S the last corrective phase cf the process the text held ir. the INTE R fUe is corrected by reference to the DIC , P L, and B L files in crder to obtain the final corrected text. The various tasks of the machines are presented to the operator in a menu-type fcr mat which facilitates their orderly selection. The various functions and tasks are graced into three separate levels. Each level is presented to the operator in the form of multiple choice in successive steps until a specific lower level function is selected. The sslec Lcr. scruccure is illustrated in the diagrams of Figures 5 through 5H. At the top level of the menu structure the operator is asked to select one of the following tasks: Enter student text.? 2. Print text (TXT, INTER, and FINAL) fHes; 3- Print reference (B L, PWL, DIG and NFD) files; 4. FUe analysis; 5. Reference file maintenance; 6. Inter to final file update; 7- TTR and BΞL index calculation. The selection of one of the seven top level tasks leads to the corresponding second level menu structure inquiry and so on until the specific task is identified. It should be noted that all the functions illustrated in the flow diagram of Figure 1A are accom lished under the text entry rcutine shown in Figure 5B, including the calculation of the total were count TOK, the misspelled count MIS, the misspelled basic wcrd count M3 W, and the total number of unknown words encountered UNK. These counts can be called out and printed according to the routine shown in Figure 5S. Any file can be printed en request either under the routine Illustrated in Figure 5C for the text files, ar according to the routine illustrated in Figure 5 for the reference files. The reference file maintenance rcu ire illustrated in " " ?cr ure A 5F can be used by the teacher when updating the P WL and the DIC fϊLes after his own analysis of the unknown words printed out from the NFD file in crder to achieve the functions illustrated in Figure IC. Calculation of the final TTR and 3EI indexes may be done on the basis of the corrected text held in the final fUe by re-entering the contents of FINAL into the TXT file and re¬ processing it according to the first, second and third diagnostic phases described earlier. It should also be understood that once extensive files have been accumulated fcr a particuLar student after numerous text entry and correction passes these files could be part of a small read only memories (RO M) which could be inccrporated in a portabLe unit such as a typewriter cr one similar to those illustrated in Figure 3 . but which could operate independently from a large scale processor. The system can be adapted fcr students with serious visual handicaps by converting the final text to Bra fϋe cr another specialized alphabet. On the input side it is sufficient fcr this purpcse to impress the key of the keyboard H with ineastheϋc symbols. A reassignment of key lccatic s may sometimes be indicated in order to accom odate a particular type of disability. -1£- h order to generate a copy of the final text in a specialized alphabet, the output routine illustrated in Figure 5C can be modified as shown in Figure 7 cr the system can be equipped with a special alphabet device 13 in addition to a standard alphabet 5 device 14 as shown in Figure 6 or other output device which can generate a copy of the text in specialized form. Si this modified system the data processing takes place in a standard character form. The Intermediate Text is also outputad in standard fcr . The translation into the special alphabet version -•-0 takes place in the last stage of output, i_e., within the special .device 13 cr just bef re output, on a standard device in accordance with the How diagram of Figure 7. The final text can be printed in both standard and specialized character on alternate lines. This process could be followed in order to generate 15 geometric characters or extra, large characters using a combination cf standard types as a iistrated in Figure 8. The .student would have the option to output the final text in special alphabet style, in standard form or an interlined combination of both. 20 hue I have described the preferred embodiments of my invention and suggested variatLors thereof, other embodiments could be designed to apply my method without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. BAD ORIGINAL

Claims: Claims L • A method for diagnosing and palliating the spelling deficiencies of a student comprising the steps of: a. entering into a first fUe a first text written by the student,' b. entering into a second fUe words known to be com monly misspelled by the student in both their misspelled versions and their correct spelling farms; c. entering into a third Ue a basic vocabulary list of ords; d. comparing each wcrd of the text to the words in the se'cond and third fuss; e. consequently to said co paring, and fcr each word in the text found to be similar to a misspelled wcrd version in the second file, update the text by substutLting the corresponding correct spelling form fetched from the second file; f. counting the total number of wcrd types, excluding any recurrence of the sa e wor , fcjr.d in said updated text; and g. co uting the ratio of the total nu ber of word types over the total number of words in the text found to be similar either to a wcrd in the second Ue cr to a word in the third fie. . -13- 2. The method claimed in Claim 1 which further comprises the steps of: h. checking each said correct spelling fern fetched from the second ffle against each word of the third fUe. and i. consequently to said checking, calculate the ratio of the number of said corrsct spelling forms found in the third file over the total number of said correct spelling forms fetched from the second fQe. 3- The method clai ed in Claim 1 cr in Claim 2 which further comprises the steps of: j. analyzing the unknown words found in said updated text which are not found to be listed in the second or third f?.es; k. consequently to said analyzing, entering into the three-N fϋs unknown words fcund to be correctly spelled; L adding to the second file these of said unknown words found to be misspelled in both their misspelled versions and their correct spelling fc s; and repeating steps d and e. 4. The method claimed in Claim 3 which further comprises the steps of: n. entering the once updated text under step e into a fifth fϋe; and -*- o. entering in the twice updated text under step into a sixth fUe. 5. The .method claimed in Claim -4 v: herein step d comprises the step of: 10 p. entering into a seventh fϋe the words from the text found not to be corresponding to words in either the second cr the third file. 6. The method claimed in Claim 5 which comDrisi. 15 steps of repetitively and sequentially: ς. clearing the contents of the first, fifth, sixth and seventh fϋes; r. entering a new student text into the first file . and c s. repeating steps c, e, j. k, 1, , n, ar. c. 7. The method clai ed in Claim 3 which further comprises: repeating steps f, g, h and i. 8. The method of Claim 3 or 6 which further comprises: converting each standard character in the text to a new pattern formed by the combination of symbols. 9. The method of Claim 3 or 6 which comprises: converting standard characters in the text to special symbols. 10. The method of Claim 3 or 6 which further comprises: converting the updated text into a idneasthetic form perceptible by a student with visual disability. U. The method of Claim 5 or 5 which further comprises: t. in a preliminary phase, preparing a series of programs designed to cause a data processor to automatically perfcrm said steps on com mand; u. for each application of the method com manding said data processor to execute said programs. 12. The method of Claim H wherein said data processor comprises a microprocessor. BAD ORIGINAL 13. The method claimed in Claim 5 which co prises the steps of repetitively and sequentially: v. clearing tee contents of the first, fifth, sixth and seventh fflesj w. entering a ne student text into the first file; and x. repeating steps d, e, j, n and o. 14. The method of Claim 3 or 13 which further co prises: entering into an eighth fUe a special alphabet; converting each standard character in the text to a new pattern formed by the combination of symbols corresponding to the special alphabet. 15. The method of Claim 1-4 which further comprises converting each standard character to a 1-dneasthetic form perceptible by a student with visual disability. 16. The method claimed in Claim 13 which farther comprises converting standard characters in the text to special symbols.

Inventors: BOSSART MARION C
Applicants: BOSSART MARION C
Application year: 1981
Main classification: G09B17
IPC codes: G09B17