Carlo's Story : Apraxia of Speech and Speech Blubs App
Jan 15, 2022 My name is Carlo, I’m Fran’s father and we live in New Zealand. Our son has recently been diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech.
In This Article
What is Apraxia of Speech?
In a very simplified definition, Apraxia of Speech is a neurological speech disorder that causes great difficulty in “planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech”.
Up until his 3rd year of life, we were always told by the Health system here in New Zealand not to worry as our kid delay in speech was common in kids raised in bilingual homes. A year later our kid was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech.
Discovering Speech Blubs App
Speech Blubs is a language therapy app with a vast library of more than 1,500 activities, face filters, voice-activated activities, and educational bonus videos.
The app was initially developed for children with autism, Down syndrome, and apraxia of speech! The app uses video modeling, which is a proven method for engaging kids on the spectrum. Start your free trial today and explore engaging activities such as learning numbers, colors, shapes, animals and much more!
Boost Your Child’s Speech Development!
Improve language & communication skills with fun learning!
We started using Speech Blubs to encourage our son’s speech development a few weeks ago. We came across the app after reviewing several articles and reviews about apps that help kids develop their language.
At first our results weren’t as expected, mainly because our kid was not able to make other than a few sounds, and even then, there was little consistency in his speech.
As we started speech-language therapy (around the 4-year-old mark), we started to see progress due to his therapy complemented with Speech Blubs and an AAC device.
How We Use Speech Blubs App
We let our son pick which area he wants to play/exercise with, and within the options available we start with the words that are easier for him (i.e.: going through the “Yummy Time” area, we know Tea, Pie, and Pie are easier for him given his therapy than for example Burger or Watermelon). We then look at the pronunciation and pause now and then to work on repetition; note we are not looking for a perfect pronunciation but praise him for every attempt he makes, as we believe this booster his confidence.
He loves the selfie feature and likes pretending to drive a motorcycle, van bus, etc. We found this feature to be the one keeping him engaged.
We then go through the second round of pronunciation of the word, and again, while we correct him now and then, the idea is to booster confidence and work on some aspects of pronunciation.
The final section with animations and information we found it very interesting ourselves, and perhaps our kid being 4 is not into it just yet.
Having the ability to pause the exercise has proven to be quite useful for us, as we can work on repetition a few more times.
When it comes to diversity, we love the fact that the app has several areas thus we can talk about feelings, food, animals, vehicles, etc in a fun and engaging way.
He’s been lately picking some songs to sing. Given his disorder, it’s extremely hard for him to put words together in a sentence, yet he tries with all his heart to sing Row Row Row Your Boat, and that gives us hope as we see progress every time.
Combining Speech Therapy and Speech Blubs App
From a parent’s point of view, we know it’s a long road, and we’ve found the combination of speech therapy, AAC device and Speech Blub to be working for us. Speech Blubs keeps our son engaged while he gives his best to pronounce words like Bus, Van, Pie, Banana, Bee, etc. It also gives us a good laugh with the pictures and the videos/animation, plus we found the time spent with him using the app to be quality family time.
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