Research team from left: Wes Song, Dr. Pui Fong Kan, Allina Robertson, Shirley Cheung, and Fan Yin Cheng
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The Idea
Pui Fong said that student input has made this project possible: "This project started in class.Ìý I was talking about how the resources available to bilingual speech and language pathologists are limited."ÌýÌýAllina Roberts, a Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences graduate student, came up to Pui Fong after class that day and said, "We can do this!"Ìý Roberts introduced Pui Fong toÌýWes Song, an aspiring programmer, who happened to be looking for a goodwill project.ÌýÌýSongÌývolunteered to develop the website as his class projectÌýfor a Refactoru.com web development class.Ìý Roberts now conducts research for the project.
Pui Fong would like the website to offer comprehensive sound bites of differentÌýlanguages' syllables, consonants, and dipthongs.Ìý The team will invite peer institutions toÌýcontributeÌýtheir expertise about the languages of the world.ÌýÌýPui Fong and her team explained how time consuming and overwhelming itÌýcan be for a clinician when trying to research andÌýlearn about a client's first language.ÌýÌýPui Fong's teamÌýenvisions that with access to their website, speech therapists will be able to more quickly learnÌýaboutÌýclients'Ìýlanguages.Ìý Such knowledge will help therapists determine how to help different speech clients communicate in English.ÌýÌýPui Fong explained,Ìý"We are working with a diverse population ... Sometimes [speech patients] make errors in the second language, but they are just in the process of learning two languages; they don't have a problemÌý..."ÌýÌýThe team would also like the website toÌýoffer some, "... resources about bilingual children."Ìý The team'sÌýgoals are to finish the website and invite other speech therapy clinicians, researchers, and linguists to contribute to it.
Right now, the team isÌýworking on the first phase of the website, and Song is rushing to complete the rest.ÌýÌýHe is setting up the website so that approved users wouldÌýbe able to add new languages and tables of consonant or vowel sounds.ÌýÌýSong said that he is incorporating Web 2.0 to make the siteÌýmore responsive and easier to use: he is using Javascript, CSS, and HTML to code different parts of the site.
PuiÌýFongÌýviews the project as a team effort,Ìýand says,Ìý"We want students to be able to participate and contribute."Ìý Indeed, also working on the project are: Fan Yin Cheng, a visiting Research Assistant in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, andÌýShirley Cheung, an Honors CU Boulder Senior inÌýSpeech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.Ìý Pui Fong appreciates the input that she receivesÌýfrom her team, "As this project continues I realize thatÌý[Song] has some interesting ideas, like mobile devices."Ìý The team would like to offerÌýthe website on tablets and iPads for their portability.Ìý Pui Fong says that she would like to include even more students in the project this year.