“Open door please.”
Simple Talk is designed to open the doors for simple verbal communication.
The 72 words on the Simple Talk Board have been carefully selected by an early learning specialist who has experience working with young children who are non-verbal or who are beginning talkers. The app is focused on helping adults and children with developmental delays, Autism, Verbal Dyspraxia and Down Syndrome. Developing toddlers will also love this app. Being able to look and attend to a picture, and then imitate the word is an important part of language development.
Simple Talks goal is B.A.S.E.
B: Build interactions and relationships with others.
A: Aim to be understood. According to linguist Michael Halliday, instrumental language, (Language to tell another person what you what) is the first type of language that children use is to satisfy their basic needs.
S: Saves some struggles and frustrations as children can express their needs and wants.
E: Easy for children, parents, carers and therapists to use.
Features:
• Simple big and colourful buttons to motivate children to press and listen to the word.
• 3 boards with 24 talking pictures on each board. Press the red arrow at the top of the screen to go to the next screen, and the green arrow to go back. You can also swipe between boards.
Boards are sorted into categories:
1. Basic verbs, nouns, feelings and greetings.
2. Basic objects.
3. People, places and prepositions.
• Press the cross at the bottom of the screen to clear words and stop speaking.
• Colours are also used to help visual memory and sort different groups.
• Allows non-verbal children/people or beginning talkers to create 1 word, 2 word or 3 word phrases using the pictures.
Allows for longer sentences by touching the bottom of the screen to see a text to speech keyboard. In built voice recognition is also available. Press the speech bubble to see the words appearing on the Simple Talk board.
To help young children with the sequence of words, there is a unique feature. With each new symbol pressed the entire sequence is spoken, reducing the need for a "Speak All" button.
This Simple Talk board supports the right for all to be heard and listened to.