A variation of the popular “Minimal Pairs” application used by 1000s of speech therapists on a daily basis, “Speech Pairs” comes tailored specifically for parents and home practice! Complete with tips on how to improve sounds, milestones for when speech sounds should be mastered, AND helpful diagrams of tongue positioning. Learn the basics of “speech therapy 101” and have the luxury of practicing on your own time!

Speech Pairs offers a unique way of improving your child’s speech by using “minimal pairs” (a pair of words that differ by only one sound). For example, this application will put words such as “Which” and “Rich” (for children who have problems with R) side-by-side to highlight the slight differences between what children are saying and what they should be saying.

Speech Pairs allows parents to enter the names of their children (up to two names). Then the program “deals cards” with your child’s name on them! Your child can then touch the screen to reveal the words underneath. Once the word pairs are revealed your child will hear the words, have the ability to have the words repeated as many times as they would like, record/hear themselves saying the words, and view side-by-side diagrams showing the difference of where their tongue is positioned vs. where it should be positioned.

Two activities are offered within: a “Say” mode and a “Listen” mode.

In the “Say” mode parents can sit with the children and determine if they got the sound correct, incorrect, or if they were close. This is tracked by touching the appropriate buttons.

In the “Listen” activity parents can sit with their child viewing the words and ask their child which of the two cards contains the correct way of pronouncing each word. Don’t forget that the “Listen” activity is equally important! Not only does it allow your child to hear the correct way to produce their error sound but it also promotes auditory discrimination skills which is a very important developmental skill for speaking AND reading. When your child can identify which word in the pair uses the correct sound he is well on his way to success!

Speech Pairs also keeps detailed data on their progress, showing percentages and the exact words that were correct, incorrect, or close. The application also provides line graphs showing the percentage correct over the last 5 practice sessions. This is a great way of showing your child his progress in a picture format. Parents have the option to enter and view comments about any practice session they wish, and keep a running log of audio recordings so their children can hear how much they are improving.

If your child has any of the following speech errors, this is the application for you:

· Difficulty with consonant blends - e.g. “back” instead of “black”
· Difficulty with J or CH – e.g. “dog” instead of “jog” or “tease” instead of “cheese.”
· Leaves off final consonants – e.g. “go” instead of “goat”
· Changes the sound of consonants at the end of words –e.g. “back” instead of “bag” or “hit” instead of “hid”.
· Difficulty with K and/or G – e.g. “tat” instead of “cat” or “doe” instead of “go”.
· Difficulty with SH, CH, and J – For children who frequently say S, T, or D instead of SH, CH, and/or J.
· Difficulty with R – e.g. “which” instead of “rich.”
· Difficulty with L – e.g. “white” instead of “light.”
· Leave sounds off of the beginning of words –e.g. “add” instead of “Dad.”
· Changes consonant sounds before the vowel in a word – e.g. “puck” instead of “buck”.
· Difficulty with any/all of the following: CH, J, F, V, S, Z, S
· For children who delete or replace any of the previously mentioned sounds.