APPS FOR THERAPY

The first quarter of the year flew passed just like that. It has been an exciting start at Summer's. 

On 1 March, we welcomed Hon Tjuin, our IT Engineer. Not only will he be supporting Summer's IT needs, he will be continually revamping and developing our Sing-To-Talk app series.

Sing-To-Talk

Sing-To-Talk is something which I hold very dear to my heart. The series of materials was created by myself and my Music Therapist friend, Jenny Lee from New Zealand.

http://summerstherapyservices.com/#sing-to-talk
The Little Monkey and Ice Cream Man are ready for download. They focus on basic vowel sounds and consonant-vowel (b/p/m) combinations.

Research shows that music supports the development of speech and language. I have also witness its wonderous effects in the children I work with. The children love the catchy tunes and it helps them produce the sounds and remember the long sentences.

Sing-To-Talk is still very much a work-in-progress. We hope to beef up the content in the coming months!

Besides Sing-To-Talk, below are a few of the other apps which we use in our sessions. 

Speech Blubs

Speech Blubs uses Augmented Reality (think Snapchat) to make the little ones pretend that they are an animal/character and will produce the corresponding sound. For example, when given the lion's mane, the child will say 'roar!'. When given a piggy nose and ears, he/she will say 'oink oink'.


www.speechblubs.com

This app is a big hit among our children. I have a few children with Autism who started oral imitation through the use of this app. They are unable to look at another person's face for imitation of oral movements but they love looking at the children in the app as well as their own images.

The only thing I hope for is that the children models in this app can demonstrate the sounds/words with more articulated oral movements. For example, the donkey sound 'ee-ah' can be produced with a wide, retracted upper lip for 'ee' and a big opened mouth for 'ah'. This is so that our children can imitate the big oral movements.

Speak Up Too

Speak Up Too is amazing for teaching intentional vocalisation and the use of a louder voice. The images react to a voice and an increased volume. You can set the volume accordingly. The best part is that it is free!

https://www.sensoryapphouse.com/speak-up-too/

The monkey will appear from behind when the child vocalises.

The downside is a handful of children have difficulty understanding that the images respond to their voice; they tend to touch the screen to effect the images.

The above are some of the apps which we use in our therapy sessions. Do download them and give them a try!

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