Speech Therapy for Apraxia

Speech Therapy for Apraxia: In order for me to recommend a therapy app, I need to feel that it can simplify the life of the therapist and will be a fun learning experience for children. Unfortunately, Speech Therapy for Apraxia fulfills neither of these requirements.

This app was developed by Blue Whale Apps and the National Association for Child Development. It offers motor planning exercises based on sound group and level of difficulty. The consonant sounds are grouped as follows: b p m, d n t, g k h, w, f v, s z, sh ch j, and l r. There are eight levels of difficulty. All levels work with CV structures only. Level 1 presents one syllable at a time, Level 2 presents three repetitions of a syllable, Level 3 requires five repetitions of the same syllable, Level 4 targets fours repetitions of the same syllable then a vowel change for the fifth CV syllable. Level 5 contains two syllables with the same consonant but different vowels, the vowels in the CV syllables change for Level 6 but the consonants remain the same and the syllables are presented in random order. Level 7 has CV syllables with differing vowels and consonants, but the consonants are from the consonant group targeted. Level 8 offers a random combination of the syllables in Level 7, but the user must have worked through two consonant groups in order to work at this level.

The app provides pictures or the written word (example “luh”) for each syllable. But I am not sure that is necessarily good. For me, the picture is a visual aid that may make the task easier. The CV syllables can be heard by tapping on the pictures.

The tasks involved in this app are so simple that one does not need an app for them. The therapist can simply ask the client to repeat a syllable any number of times she desires. Changing the vowel in a CV syllable, randomizing syllables, and changing consonants for the client to repeat can easily be done spontaneously by the therapist at each level. The app offers no animation, interactivity, rewards, database, scoring or recording/playback features.

Ages: 3 to adult

Rating: +

Developer website: www.nacd.org and

Costs: $4.99

Availability: iPad, iOS and Android

2017-12-10T19:35:31+00:00

About the Author: Mirla G. Raz

I am an Arizona licensed speech pathologist and am certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. I have been in private practice for over 30 years working extensively with children who have speech and language problems. I received my Master’s degree from Seton Hall University in New Jersey. After graduation, I decided that I need sun and warmth and so headed south to work for the Volusia County Schools in Daytona Beach Florida. The next year I moved to California where I was offered a job working for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the severe oral language handicapped program. My next move was to UCLA where I worked in the department of Clinical Linguistics at the Neuropsychiatric Institute. In 1981, I moved to Arizona where I went into private practice. It gives me tremendous satisfaction to know that I have helped hundreds of children gain normal speech and language skills.