Researchers have discovered that children under the age of two control speech using a different strategy than previously thought.

During the study at Queen's University, the researchers changed the vowel sounds that the participants heard over headphones as they talked. They found that while the adults and young children changed their vowel sounds in response to this altered feedback, the toddlers did not.

"We were very surprised to find that the two-year-olds do not monitor their own voice when speaking in the same way as adults do," says Ewen MacDonald, a former Queen's research associate and now associate professor at the Technical University of Denmark. "As they play music, violinists will listen to the notes they produce to ensure they are in tune. If they aren't, they will adjust the position of their fingers to bring the notes back in tune. When we speak, we do something very similar. We subconsciously listen to vowel and consonant sounds in our speech to ensure we are producing them correctly."

The researchers have proven that toddlers use a different strategy to control speech than adults. They still have not pinpointed the exact method children under two use when learning to control speech. Future studies are being developed to determine what strategy toddlers are using.

"Understanding the development of speech is a complex and challenging problem. Using novel techniques, such as the ones used in this experiment, we can isolate and better understand how the different components of speech develop," says Dr MacDonald. One possibility is that toddlers rely on the interaction with the person they are talking to in order to judge the accuracy of their speech sounds.

Source: Queen's University

More news!

http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/16/wikipedia-founder-gives-up-control-of-site-over-fox-news-kiddie-porn-scandal/

http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/05/wikipedia-porn-and-the-fbi-how-sexual-images-are-handled/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/wikipedia-porn-purge-spar_n_569980.html

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/24/why-is-wikipedia-still-doling-out-porn/

Still the same..

I get this when I click the link...

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Hi Ipz11 ,
Thanks for the summary!!:)

can you share the facebook page link? i cant seem to find it! many thanks!

reading whisperer,

have a look!
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MaJ4OvDCqkI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/MaJ4OvDCqkI&rel=1</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/NzQ9f60_e6E&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/NzQ9f60_e6E&rel=1</a>

[Youngest-ever speller disappointed by mistake]

So she didnt make it through the semifinals.. but still impressive!

Youngest-ever speller disappointed by mistake

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press – 1 day ago 

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The youngest speller in National Spelling Bee history said Thursday that she knew the word she misspelled during the competition, but she was too tired, bored and stressed out to concentrate when she stepped to the microphone.

Six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va., fell four points short of making the semifinals at the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee. If she had spelled "ingluvies" correctly during Wednesday's preliminary rounds — she began the word with an "e'' — and gotten one more word correct on a computer test, she would have achieved a qualifying score.

"I was really disappointed that I misspelled the word. I knew the word," Lori Anne said Thursday. "It was just too bad that I misspelled the word."
Admittedly overwhelmed by the media attention, the home-schooled prodigy held court with reporters for 25 minutes Thursday morning. Although she wasn't always forthcoming with her answers, making clear she'd rather be outside playing with her friends. Her blue eyes lit up when talking about her experience at a barbecue on Monday.

"I blew some absolutely huge bubbles, like this big!" she said, holding her hands a foot apart and reminding everyone of her age. Waiting for her turn to spell wasn't so much fun. She hadn't gotten enough sleep and came close to nodding off, and the hour-and-a-half wait "seemed like two millennia," she said.

"I was just stressed. It was a really, really long wait," Lori Anne said. "Overall, it was just boring. Really boring! Really boring!"
She did enjoy interacting with the other spellers — many of whom are more than twice her age and twice her size — and she gets a thrill out of hearing a word she knows and spelling it correctly. She pledged to return next year.

"I just love spelling, so I'm really excited to go to next year's bee — if I go, which is probably going to be a yes," she said.

The news conference was at times awkward, with Lori Anne squirming in her chair when asked to talk about her hobbies and the interesting people she's met this week. She fielded a question from a Finnish reporter about how to improve the popular online game Angry Birds, which was developed in Finland. "If anything, they should add some more birds," Lori Anne said.

She also subjected spelling bee director Paige Kimble, who won the bee in 1981 by spelling "sarcophagus," to some good-natured ribbing. "When you won, the words were much easier," Lori Anne said. "Someone won on 'therapy.' I mean, come on!"
Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Hi Ivjoey,

Yes that's the email that I sent my query to. They haven't quoted me any price yet. I told them that I want an answer (whether I can use the discount coupon) the soonest possible (I waited one whole day yesterday already), they told me today that if I can't wait, I should just purchase from the Online Store.

*sigh

So i think I am going ahead to purchase online. Seriously I can't see the point of having a local distributor if they are not helpful, and the products are priced more expensive than the online store.

Mommies!! Lets help stir up a storm on this issue!

Daddude, if you noticed, I've tweetbombed a lot of people! Everyone should do the same. 
You should start a hashtag (e.g. #wikipornproblem)! That way if it becomes a 'trending' issue (lots of retweets), this issue can get more 'airtime' in the tweetspace!

Hi,

I want to purchase the Little Reader deluxe set from the Brillkids local distributor (Msia) and save on shipping fees.

But after contacting them a few times (I think i made 4 phone calls, and 1 email) I still don't have an answer on whether I can use my discount coupon for the purchase. I was told that they need to ask their 'boss' and apparently he needs to check, etc?

Can someone help me out with this query? *impatient*

Many thanks!

[parents dont need to buy anything]

Hi ReadingWhisperer,

Your menthod is impressive indeed. Definitely something worth considering.
Can you clarify;
You said that for your approach parents dont need to buy anything, but in your website http://www.readaustralia.com/sound-pics-training.htm the sound pic DVD costs AUD97.00. The Reading Tutors coach fees is AUD975 !
Thanks!

For the bottom beads, yes. thumb for adding, forefinger for subtracting.
But for the top beads (number 5 beads) we use only the forefinger for adding (push up)  and subtracting (push down).

At the early stage (especially with younger kids) The goal is the ability to translate the abacus beads patterns into a number (and vice versa). So I think showing big numbers should not be a problem. It's just like how we flash words when we teach reading.
We can always worry about the formulas later on :P

Start with showing single digits, and then follow with 2 digits, then 3 digits and so on. if your child knows +1s or -1s.. then show the cards in
order. 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,..etc.. 100,101,102, etc . Show as many as you can, as much as your kid wants!
Make sure it's fun

If you wanna check for understanding.. play number games with the abacus cards!

[YMCA]

Awesome!!!

You can try to contact YMCAs of big cities all around the world. Usually they give piano lessons to the community (& most of them charge a minimal tuition fee).

Good luck! Hope to hear more about this new method!

you're welcome vanichezhiyan!

I've updated as requested

for the early stages, it's good to play around with picture cards to make learning fun! personally i think picture cards are the best way to start off. Will add some more exercises in the coming post.
thanks for dropping by

[will this method be available to everyone for FREE]

I guess the burning question on everyone's mind is..

will this method be available to everyone for FREE?

   great video by the way, very well made!

hi vanichezhiyan,

i've put up a few posts (ok well only 3) so far on how to teach mental maths using the abacus..i try to make it as much fun and interesting as possible..
it's still work in progress as i've just started..

hope it will help those who have little or no access to the world of abacus & mental maths..



http://www.sailoration.blogspot.com/search/label/abacus