This is the first app from Learning Speech Therapy.
https://talkandtalkslp64785.imweb.me/

9 Features of the Speech Therapy App: Why Is My Heart Like That

1. Directly Created by a Speech Therapist

Good content and toys don't necessarily make good therapeutic tools. Speech therapy tools must be well-understood and reflect the unique characteristics of children with developmental delays. While using existing products, I felt frustrated, thinking, "If only they could fix it like this, they could use it," which led me to take the plunge into creating my own. The content planning and illustration were all done by a speech therapist, and each drawing was revised over 20 times, with each child presenting it to the final product.

2. Learn Nine Different Emotions with Mindy

Sad, Embarrassed, Annoyed, Surprised, Scared, Upset, Jealous

I often see children in speech therapy who struggle with emotional vocabulary. Even after diligently memorizing vocabulary, it's common for children to use words like "like" or "bad" when expressing their feelings, or even use "sad" or "angry" to describe unpleasant emotions, even as they get older. Furthermore, children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or social communication disorders not only have difficulty recognizing their own emotions, but are also slow to learn vocabulary related to emotions. Using this app, we've seen our children express a wider range of emotions.

3. Social Context Understanding Tasks for Preschool Children

Children with normal language development can easily explain contextual reasons using incomplete sentences around age three (PRES Expression 12 - 28-30 months). After age five, they begin to understand contextual information in earnest, enabling them to provide more specific answers (PRES Expression 61-66 months, Language Problem Solving Test). Social context understanding develops into verbal reasoning skills as they reach school age. Children with language delays often spend a lot of time lengthening their sentences and correcting grammar. Interventions for social context and language logic should begin in the first half of the school year, when children begin to speak three- to four-word sentences. I, too, struggled to find appropriate teaching materials or illustrations to teach logic at an easy level suitable for preschool-aged children during speech therapy sessions. This app has helped alleviate my concerns during my speech therapy sessions.

4. Presenting Age-Specific Language Goals

In the "Language Problem Solving Test," a language assessment tool, Picture Board 8 shows a child unable to go home because of the rain. The answer to the question, "Why is Younghee standing there with a worried expression?" is not "Because it's raining" (incorrect), but rather "Because she doesn't have an umbrella" (1 point) or "It's raining but she doesn't have an umbrella" (2 points). In this way, when teaching logic tasks, the criteria may not be appropriate for the child. This app provides "1 point," "2 points," and "3 points" ratings, helping you tailor instruction to your child's language level. Children who struggle with logic tasks can be taught short answers, while those who can provide short answers can be taught longer, more detailed explanations during speech therapy sessions.

5. Developing Situational Awareness through Animation

One of the biggest challenges for children with social communication difficulties is situational awareness. They struggle to understand why something happened, what happened before, why a friend is angry, and so on. Showing a single still image and asking them to infer the context is incredibly challenging. Using animation to demonstrate the sequence of events helps children naturally recognize and understand situations.

6. Listening Tasks for Children Ages 5-6 and Up

During speech therapy sessions, children typically listen to each sentence individually. However, both in class and in daily life, children need to engage in continuous listening. Children with slow processing speeds, low auditory attention spans, and a lack of interest in the other person's intentions often listen to continuous speech or utterances. Practicing while listening is essential. This app is designed to help children practice asking questions like "when" and "how" after listening to a story.

7. Learning Vocabulary with a 160-Word Puzzle Game

Many vocabulary cards and games on the market are comprised of basic vocabulary and nouns. Children aged 5-6 acquire a wider vocabulary than expected, and all the expressions necessary for daily life are almost fully developed by the age of 6. This app uses fun puzzle games to teach children easy vocabulary, low-frequency words like "fence," "Ferris wheel," and "wall," as well as verbs like "spray water" and "get lost."

8. Considering the characteristics of children with developmental delays, such as visual and sensory difficulties

Children with visual impairments may struggle to recognize even slightly ambiguous drawings, and the size of the drawings can also play a role. Despite their limited drawing skills, I showed them the drawings directly, and if they didn't understand, I drew them larger and more clearly. For children with more sensitive senses, I adjusted the audible sounds in the app. Furthermore, they can follow the questions in the app or follow the instructions. Considering the children who are fixated on sounds and repeatedly press the buttons, all questions are presented in text format.

9. Fun and Spontaneity

"Teacher, show me something with a ghost," "Show me a story about a thief." Children are the first to make requests like these. There's no better learning experience than engaging tasks. In particular, language logic, situational awareness, and emotional recognition are all challenging tasks, which can lead children to avoid speech therapy or even refuse classes. To create content that children can enjoy, we chose the app as a medium.