Speech Therapy for Apraxia - NACD Speech Therapist

Speech Therapy for Apraxia - NACD Speech Therapist is an app for children diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. It can be used in a clinical setting or for home training by the parent. The app presents speech sounds organized into groups of sounds based on their place of articulation. There are 8 groups of sounds for a total of 19 sounds presented. The groups are presented in a developmental sequence with the first group being the earliest sounds developed by a child. Each group can be selected with 8 levels of practice within that sound group. The levels of practice begin with a single syllable illustrated by a picture or written syllable. If the picture is touched, the syllable is spoken. The child is instructed to name the picture or repeat the syllable spoken. Once the child is able to produce all the single syllables in level 1, they can move on to levels 2-8. These levels require repetition of syllables with increasing difficulty. By the 8th level, the child is required to produce repetitions of sounds from different consonant groups.

Speech Therapy for Apraxia presents the syllable pictures in a sequence of increasing difficulty with open syllables that are useful in working with children that have this disorder. The pictures are clear and the voice used is pleasant. The app is intended for use with a parent or therapist and not for the child to use alone. The app does not allow the therapist to change the syllables presented or the order they are presented in. The only choices the app allows for is which consonant group to work with and which level to start with.

An in-app purchase ($4.99) allows the therapist to use progress tracking within the app. This tracking keeps the consonant group and levels completed for each session. It does not allow for measuring accuracy within the level. Each consonant group completion is tracked and work can resume from the level that was finished in the previous session. The progress report can be emailed for written documentation of progress. This report can be sent home to the parents so that they know where to begin home training or parents can send the report to the therapist to document home training.