[MUSIC] At one time, scientists might have been skeptical about acquiring literacy naturally, that is without direct instruction. More recently however, scientists and educators are embracing natural learning. In addition, reading is no longer always considered secondary to speech. The advent of portable screens with natural touch interfaces make appropriate text displays easily available to preschoolers. If you have been amongst people recently, you might wonder whether smartphones are more in demand by adults or their preschool children. The question whether acquiring written language can be viewed as analogous to acquiring spoken language is particularly critical at this time because of preschool children's rapidly increasing use of print centered mobile devices, and the important issue of naturally emerging literacy. As with most innovative ideas, some time must usually elapse before a novel idea seems reasonable and worth exploring. Researchers have placed a dozen touch tablets in an illiterate village in Ethiopia. Supposedly, without any instruction, the school age children have learned to use the tablets and are using applications to learn to read English. One caveat is that there might be a significant impediment to learning to read naturally if the child is already well schooled in spoken language. The well-documented finding of blocking, usually found in animal research, could impact learning written language. If an animal learns to behave appropriately to a cue, then a second cue is given along with the first cue, no learning of the second cue is found. The second cue was redundant with the first, and no surprise was involved. If the child has mastered a spoken word, a similar failure could occur when it is paired with a written word. A productive class project would be to device learning scenarios in which blocking could be blocked and the child will learn a written word even if it is redundant with the spoken ones she already knows. Actually, acquired reading will solve a problem previously believed unsolvable. The Read With Me! app offers the possibility that children will acquire reading skills when exposed to appropriate written language in a meaningful context. I realized that this application accounts for only a small amount of the child's time on task, and that it will be necessary to develop and employ technology that make written language a prevalent source of experience for the child. One plan is to use augmented reality devices to embed the child's experience in written language. Currently, there is a tremendous growth in the wearable devices, such as smart watches being deployed by Google, Apple, and Samsung. Devices such as this can be adapted to present text during the child's many meaningful interactions. Or it might even be possible to present written language information for reading on augmented reality eyeglasses in the form of a streamline head-up display. These devices are able to combine the normal view of the world with augmented information delivered over a display in front of the eyes. Given that we view the child's safety as essential, extreme safety precaution will be taken for these possible implementations. Google Glass is a recent consumer product that has proven capabilities for adults and is being used productivity in applications such as an additional interface between doctors and patients. Doctors are usually in front of the computer when they are interviewing patients. In this application, the doctor is face-to-face with a patient and the conversation is being transcribed by a remote person who also has the doctor’s view of the patient. Technology assisted reading acquisition might also be incorporated in popular toys, such as a play wand or an embellished camera. The child's environment is a rich source of common objects, foods, persons, and events. The goal would be to label one of these when the child is attending to or experiencing it. This reinforces an association between the written description and the experienced event. For example, a baby might be looking at her mother smiling. Automated recognition of the smiling mother generates the caption happy, which the child sees superimposed on her experiencing mother smiling. The system being proposed might seem beyond the limits of current technology, but consider Amazon's Fire Phone. Using its built-in camera and state of the art software, it can identify everyday objects as well as books, movies, and games just by pointing the camera at them and tapping a button. A system uses this or similar technology will ensure high quality identification and a written labeling of the child's world. Automated speech recognition will also be essential to implementing some immersion of the child in written language. In a typical situation, a caregiver might be saying, please give mom the toy, which is automatically recognized. The corresponding text that the child will see will depend on the age and reading ability of the child. So for example, a very young child might see only the word, give. The word might be presented on a large monitor in the room, a watch a child is wearing, or on a head-up display. [MUSIC]
