Method for improving listening comprehension, sentence and reading skills, and working memory skills via a computing device

1 . A computer-implemented method for improving listening comprehension, sentence and reading skills, and working memory skills in a person, the method comprising:

providing a stimulus passage set comprising a plurality of stimulus passages, wherein each stimulus passage comprises one or more blocks;

presenting a block from a stimulus passage from the stimulus passage set to the person via a computing device;

asking the person a question regarding the block;

textually presenting a plurality of answers to the person via the computing device, wherein one of the answers is a correct answer to the question;

requiring the person to select an answer from the plurality of answers to answer the question;

determining if the person selected the correct answer; and

repeating said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining for each block of each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set;

wherein said repeating improves listening comprehension and working memory skills in the person.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining for one or more additional questions regarding the block.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said presenting the block and said asking the question comprise:

if in a first mode,

aurally and textually presenting the block; and

aurally and textually asking the question; and

if in a second mode,

textually presenting the block; and

textually asking the question.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein said aurally and said presenting the block comprise:

highlighting the block one line at a time in synchrony with aurally presenting the block one line at a time.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining composes performing a trial for a block;

wherein a stimulus passage comprises a specified sequence of blocks;

wherein a unit comprises a specified set of trials directed to a respective stimulus passage;

where a level comprises a specified set of units; and

wherein said repeating said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining for each block of each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set comprises:

performing trials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels in a specified order, wherein successive levels increase in difficulty.

6 . The method of claim 5 ,

wherein an open unit comprises a unit that has not been passed;

wherein an open level comprises a level that has not been completed; and

wherein all units are initially open units, wherein all levels are initially open levels, and wherein said performing trials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels comprises:

performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels.

7 . The method of claim 6 ,

wherein a unit is completed when all trials in that unit have been performed;

wherein passing a unit comprises successfully performing a specified percentage of trials in the unit; and

wherein a level is completed when all trials in that level have been performed.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein passing a unit further comprises:

correctly answering a specified percentage of questions for the passage of the unit in a first mode, in which the passage and questions are presented textually and aurally; and

correctly answering a specified percentage of questions for the passage of the unit in a second mode, in which the passage and questions are only presented textually.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels comprises:

setting a current level to a first level of the plurality of levels;

setting a current unit to a first unit of the plurality of units;

setting a current mode to the first mode;

setting a current stimulus passage to a first stimulus passage of the plurality of stimulus passages;

setting a current block to a first block of the current stimulus passage; and

performing trials for the current block of the current stimulus passage in the current unit at the current level in the first mode.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels comprises:

if the person fails a block, repeating the block until the person passes the block, or the person fails the block a specified number of times.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if the person fails the block a specified number of times, highlighting the correct answer.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, during said repeating the block, said presenting a plurality of answers to the person via the computing device comprises:

graying out previously selected incorrect answers, wherein the grayed out answers are not selectable by the person.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if there are more blocks in the current stimulus passage,

incrementing the current block to a next block in the current stimulus passage; and

performing trials in the current block in the first mode.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if there are no more blocks in the stimulus passage and the person has passed the stimulus passage in the first mode,

incrementing the mode to the second mode;

setting the current block to the first block in the current stimulus passage; and

performing trials in the current block in the second mode.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if the person fails the current unit,

keeping the current unit open for later presentation to the person; and

if the person passes the current unit, closing the current unit.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if there are no more blocks in the stimulus passage, and the person has failed the current unit or the mode is the second mode,

if there are further units in the current level that have not been performed,

incrementing the current unit to a next unit in the current level;

setting the current block to a first block in the stimulus passage of the current unit;

setting the mode to the first mode; and

performing trials in the current block in the first mode.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if there are no more blocks in the stimulus passage, and the person has failed the current unit or the mode is the second mode,

if there are no further units in the current level that have not been performed,

performing trials with respect to units in the current level that have not been passed.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein said performing trials with respect to units in the current level that have not been passed comprises:

if the person fails a unit, repeating the unit until the person passes the unit, or the person fails the unit a specified number of times; and

if the person fails the unit the specified number of times, keeping the unit open for later presentation to the person.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises:

if all levels have been completed, and there are further open units, for each unit in the further open units:

setting the current unit to a next open unit of the further open units; and

performing trials for each block of each stimulus passage in the current unit;

if the person passes the current unit, closing the current unit;

else, keeping the current unit open for later presentation to the person.

19 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels is performed over a plurality of sessions, and wherein each successive session begins approximately where a previous session ends.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the sessions occur a specified number times each day, for a specified number of days.

21 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

performing one or more units directed to charts and/or graphs.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein performing a unit directed to charts and/or graphs comprises:

presenting a chart or graph to the person via the computing device;

asking the person a question regarding the chart or graph;

textually presenting a plurality of possible answers to the person via the computing device, wherein one of the possible answers is a correct answer to the question regarding the chart or graph;

requiring the person to select an answer from the plurality of answers to answer the question regarding the chart or graph;

determining if the person selected the correct answer to the question regarding the chart or graph; and

repeating said presenting the chart or graph, said asking the person the question regarding the chart or graph, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring the person to select an answer from the plurality of answers to answer the question regarding the chart or graph, and said determining if the person selected the correct answer to the question regarding the chart or graph, for each of a plurality of charts or graphs included in the unit;

wherein said repeating improves listening comprehension and working memory skills in the person.

23 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing one or more initial trials, comprising:

demonstrating said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining to the person.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining are performed via a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on a display of the computing device.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the GUI displays two or more of:

a student indicator;

a time indicator;

an initiation button, whereby the person invokes presenting a block in a stimulus passage;

a score indicator; and

a passage length indicator, graphically indicating the position of the current block within the current stimulus passage.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the GUI further displays a main character, wherein the main character performs said presenting the block of the stimulus passage.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the GUI further displays one or more secondary characters, wherein the one or more secondary characters perform said textually presenting the plurality of answers.

28 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to said determining, performing one or more of:

playing a sound indicating the correctness or incorrectness of the selection;

graphically indicating the correctness or incorrectness of the selection; and

awarding points based on the correctness of the selected answer.

29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said presenting the block of the stimulus passage comprises:

aurally presenting the block of the stimulus passage via headphones attached to the computing device.

30 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing said repeating a plurality of times to improve listening comprehension and working memory skills in the person.

31 . A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions for improving listening comprehension and working memory skills in a person, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to perform:

providing a stimulus passage set comprising a plurality of stimulus passages, wherein each stimulus passage comprises one or more blocks;

presenting a block from a stimulus passage from the stimulus passage set to the person via a computing device;

asking the person a question regarding the block;

textually presenting a plurality of answers to the person via the computing device, wherein one of the answers is a correct answer to the question;

requiring the person to select an answer from the plurality of answers to answer the question;

determining if the person selected the correct answer; and

repeating said presenting the block, said asking, said textually presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining for each block of each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set;

wherein said repeating improves listening comprehension and working memory skills in the person.