SBIR Phase I: Computer-based co-reading for students with reading disabilities

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提供校外阅读工具，以补充和加强特殊教育教师的在校工作。在美国，超过360万学生被评估有阅读困难，但学区在提供适当服务方面面临挑战，特别是由于教师短缺和预算限制。此外，每年接受特殊教育的学生人数都在增加。这项研究试图通过几种方式使现有教师变得更有效，从而使学区受益：学生将练习独立阅读并从技术中获得适当的反馈；教师将根据学生的个人需求定制教案；教师将有更多时间专注于教授新概念或提供个性化关注以解决具体问题；教师将拥有跟踪学生进展的数字数据。这项小型企业创新研究(SBIR)旨在制作一个原型，供学生在家中使用，以提高他们的口语阅读能力。此原型将使用基于云的基础设施和最终用户应用程序与学生进行基于计算机的协同阅读。该技术解决方案将：(1)验证学生的阅读准确性，并在学生犯错误时提供补救；(2)允许学生的阅读教师定制阅读体验和补救，并监控学生的进度；(3)使用引人入胜的书籍内容；(4)捕获和分析数据，包括学生阅读时眼睛是如何跟踪的，这些数据将显示给教师；(5)捕获学生口语阅读的音频；以及(6)向教师提供捕获的音频、使用自动语音识别的相应文本和学生的错误。这个原型将接受效能测试和客户发现，从特殊教育主任和专门阅读教师那里获得反馈，以确认与当前教学实践的可接受整合。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide an out-of-school reading tool to complement and reinforce the in-school work of special education teachers. In the US, over 3.6 million students are assessed with reading difficulties, but school districts face challenges in providing appropriate services, specifically due to teacher shortages and budgetary constraints. Additionally, the number of students receiving special education every year is increasing. This research seeks to benefit school districts by enabling current teachers to become more effective in several ways: students will practice reading independently and receive appropriate feedback from the technology, the lesson plans will be customized by the teacher for the individual needs of the student, teachers will have additional time to concentrate on teaching new concepts or providing individualized attention to resolve specific problems, and teachers will have digital data on student progress tracking. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) seeks to produce a prototype that students can use at home to improve their oral reading. This prototype will use a cloud-based infrastructure and end-user application to perform computer-based co-reading with the student. The technology solution will: (1) validate the student’s reading accuracy and offer remediation when the student makes a mistake, (2) allow the students’ reading teacher to customize the reading experience and the remediation, and to monitor the student’s progress, (3) use engaging book content, (4) capture and analyze data including how the students’ eyes track as they read and this data will be displayed for the teacher, (5) capture audio of students’ oral reading, and (6) provide to the teacher with the captured audio, the corresponding text using automated speech recognition, and the students’ mistakes. This prototype will undergo efficacy testing and customer discovery, receiving feedback from Directors of special education and specialized reading teachers, in order to confirm the acceptable integration with current teaching practices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.