Literacy toy for enhancement phonological awareness: A longitudinal study

Abstract

In this report it is presented the results of a longitudinal pre-experimental study, it was realized a technological intervention to stimulate the phonological awareness through a tangible reading toy based on the RFID technology, consisting of a teddy bear and 30 letters in 3D from the Spanish alphabet. This study started with a sample of 200 children, from them, there were selected 17 children aged between 6 and 7 years (M age = 6.47, SD =.51) with a phonological disorder from an educative institution. The procedure consisted of obtaining pre-test and post-test values with the Evaluation of Phonological Awareness (PECFO). Sampling inclusion criteria considered children presenting problems of phonemes’ recognition and its relationship with graphemes. During 30 weeks it was realized an intervention with the technological toy and at the end of the sessions, it was applied the post-test. Results of phonological awareness showed statically significant differences among the pre (M = 12.88, SD = 3.53) and post-test (M = 17.17, SD = 2.96) this contributes to the empirical evidence of the intervened group improvement in this cognitive function t(16) = −3.67, p =.002. From this research it is projected proposing technological innovations contributing in the treatment of children’s cognitive difficulties.