Journey to the syllables’ world: intervention in phonological awareness

Abstract

This posters aims to present the interactive game: "Journey to the syllables’ world.” This game has two tasks with the following goals: a) to promote the acquisition of phonological skills, and b) increasing the quality and quantity of vocabulary. It can be applied by a mediator (teachers, parents, other educational professionals) or even by the child on his or her own in a variety of contexts since it has a script that guides the child through the tasks. The development of phonological awareness at the syllable level arises as the purpose for which this game was created and whre lies the whole game but, associated with this, it also provides: vocabulary development; guindance through clear instructions, accurate and adequate volume, absence of distracters’ stimuli without, however, ceasing to be appealing for the children. Four main characters were created to make it more playful and foster interaction between the child and the software in an attractive, dynamic amd familiar way. The game can be applied to children from the age of 4 or more. The task “Visit to animals” was developed in order to identify names of animals and suppress the initial syllable while the task “Going to the supermarket” consists in detecting the initial syllables of supermarket products. The exploration of the game can contribute to understand child’s language development and analyze potential difficulties in phonological skills in children that are at risk to develop language problems.