Tactus Therapy Solutions Introduces Essential New App for Speech Therapy and Reading

March 4, 2013 - PRLog -- Tactus Therapy Solutions announces the release of a new app already proving indispensible to therapists, teachers, and parents. Speech FlipBook is the first talking flip book organized by sounds, allowing users to put every sound in Standard American English in single-syllable words, targeting a variety of speech and reading goals. This universal iOS app is available on the App Store for just $4.99 USD.

Based on the classic phonics flip book format, Speech FlipBook replaces cumbersome paper lists of words organized by sounds in initial or final position, specific word shapes, or particular sound environments (e.g. minimal pairs).  The app is suitable for all ages and abilities: children can learn phonological awareness skills, sound-letter association, and phonics, while those in speech therapy can also use the app to improve articulation and phonological disorders as well as apraxia of speech. Adults can use the app for improving speech when recovering from a stroke or brain injury or to help reduce a foreign accent. Speech FlipBook does not target just one specific goal; instead, it gives therapists and teachers a flexible tool that can be used to target any one of hundreds of goals. Instructions for adapting the app to each major goal area can be found on the website via quick-start guides and videos. http://tactustherapy.com/apps/speechflipbook/

Speech FlipBook contains over 125 sounds and clusters individually pronounced and over 2300 words recorded in natural speech. When users flip the sounds to real-word combinations, the spelling appears, showing the links between sounds and spelling. Users can also choose to see non-words to work on blending sounds with no intrinsic meaning, a technique useful in speech therapy and a fun game for kids. Speech FlipBook includes the ability for users to record themselves to judge the quality of their speech, a critical skill for carryover.

One Speech-Language Pathologist and beta tester reports, "I've been working on sound blending with several students, but as soon as they see the pictures in other materials, they stop blending and just name the picture. Using Speech FlipBook, I can have them focus on blending the sounds and ‘discovering’ the word on their own. This has really helped them understand the importance of using the sounds to help decode, instead of relying on the pictures."

Katie Millican, a graduate student in speech pathology comments, "Drilling words, using visual cues, and using cards hadn’t worked for one kindergarten client who omits initial phonemes. Yet, the first day I let him manipulate Speech FlipBook, touch each sound, blend them, and say it, he was achieving 60%-70% accuracy when he had previously been at 50% on good days."

Megan Sutton, Speech-Language Pathologist and designer of Speech FlipBook, explains “Sometimes you want an app for a specific therapy program, but often clinicians and educators need tools that allow them to do what they do best – teach and treat using their own methods. Speech FlipBook gives these professionals a beautifully simple and customizable interface that engages users. Soon they won’t know how they worked without it.”