Talking in sentences

Type of exercises:

• Reading/repeating sentences and paragraphs aloud

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: Yes

Record own speaking attempts: No

Correction of own speaking attempts: No

Customisation/personalisation: No

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: No

Tutorials: No

Free trial: No

Support: phone or email (in USA)

Comments:

• From 3 word sentences up to 100 word paragraphs
• Listen to sentence, point at words heard spoken and then repeat sentences
• Advised to practise for 30 minutes per day

N.B:
   Program doesn't load to the computer, it requires the CD to run
 

Type of exercises:

• Verbal and written naming of nouns, verbs, adjectives (e.g. people, weather, hobbies, nature, clothes+ customised/personalised vocab  (needs to be able to be pictorially represented))
• Single word and sentence level spoken word finding
• Word level semantics
• Spoken repetition exercises
• The My Words suite of exercises uses the words the user is practising in a range of different exercises in order to intensively work on the same words in different exerise formats (e.g. matching, repetition, naming, spelling)
• Up to 10 levels of exercise, gradually increasing in complexity
• Assessment items provided to gauge start level & vocabulary

Developed with SLT: Yes



Theory based: Yes. Lots of evidence to support this software, some of which is on the research evidence page of this site



Record own speaking attempts: Yes



Correction of own speaking attempts: No



Customisation/personalisation: Yes



Error handling: Yes. Spoken, written, phonemic & video cues given, options reduced & then correct answer provided to copy. Can’t make more than 2 consecutive errors.  Clinician can specifiy degree of accuracy required before the program automatically moves the person onto the next level of exercises or moves them to an easier level of exercise



Prompts/cues given: Yes. Written, spoken, video, phonemic



Tutorials: Yes. Comprehensive, step by step video tutorials provided for each section of the software for both users and clinicians



Free trial: Yes



Support: Free phone support & in-program video tutorials



Comments:

• Sentence level: e.g. incorporating the word ‘tea’ into the sentence ‘I would like a cup of …’
• Assessment stimuli can be used as a start guide and for re-assessment of progress
• Gradual building of skills through graded exercises. User moves on to next level automatically once competent at the previous level (SLT can set the criteria for when to move them on). Equally, if they fail to achieve a certain % the SLT can set the facility to automatically provide an easier level of exercise
• Can remotely update and download exercises & results (with the clinician version of the software)
• There is the facility to write therapy notes within the program if the clinician is doing the exercise with the user
• Personalised vocabulary and photos can be programmed and the clinician can provide the phonemic cue (phonetic keyboard provided) & a video of mouth shapes as well as sentence level examples of the word's use

N.B:

  British accent

 

Type of exercises:

• Word or sentence level speaking.
• Spoken conversation phrases
• Describing pictures
• Answering Yes/No questions
• Turning statements into questions

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No

Record own speaking attempts: Yes

Correction of own speaking attempts: No

Customisation/personalisation: Yes. Can modify the exercises provided or create your own. Opportunity to create exercises around specific sounds, not just words and phrases

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: Written model, spoken model, written cues, can provide own for customised exercises

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments: Can customise or modify exercises so can use an alternative accent

N.B:
    Exercises provided are Americanised

Type of exercises:

• Word or sentence level speaking.
• Spoken conversation phrases
• Describing pictures
• Answering Yes/No questions
• Turning statements into questions

Developed with SLT: Yes

Theory based: No

Correction of own speaking attempts: No

Customisation/personalisation: Yes. Can modify the exercises provided or create your own

Error handling: None

Prompts/cues given: Yes. Written model, spoken model, written cues, can provide own for customised exercises

Tutorials: No

Free trial: Yes

Support: Free lifetime technical support via phone, email or online livechat

Comments: Can customise or modify exercises so can use an alternative accent

N.B:
    Exercises provided are Americanised

 

Type of exercises:    Speech production, single word and sentence level targeting a range of linguistic/grammar structures.

Examples of exercises provided:

• sentences with prepositions
• sentences with adjectives
• sentences with prepositions and adjectives
• why questions
• complex sentences with multiple verbs and nouns

Access:    Mouse (including click & drag), Touchscreen

Developed with SLT:    Yes

Theory based:    Yes 

Record own speaking attempts:    Yes

Correction of own speaking attempts:    No, the program does not judge the correctness of utterances

Number of exercises:    Over 800 + unlimited if creating own

Easy to use?    To some extent

Customisation/personalisation:    Yes

Error handling:    None

Prompts/cues given:    Yes. Words/sentences are modelled. User can listen to verbal models of each word. Sentence completion words are provided. Possible to customise own prompts (e.g. semantic ones). Model sentences are also provided.

Record results:    Yes. The users’ speech (& photos) can be made into a video which they can send to others directly from within the program, via email (Windows version) or, in the iOS version, via the full range of sharing options (email, messaging, Facebook, Instagram, etc)

Tutorials:    Yes

Free trial:    Yes but not full version

Support:    Free technical support via email or phone

Comments:

• Ability to customise own exercises with target vocabulary
• Don’t need any reading or spelling skills to use
• Practising speech at sentence level at the user’s own level and speed
• Designed to encourage self-monitoring of speech so whilst there are example models, there are also no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers
• Word finder dictionaries (customiseable) are available to aid sentence construction

N.B:    

• need to use click and drag if not using a touchscreen
• interface could be difficult to follow initially for some users 
• American accent

Supplier details:    www.sentenceshaper.com