I happened to stumble across this app in one of my speech therapy Facebook groups. They were offering a free trial to the first 10 private practioners that commented on the post. I figured “What the heck?” So I downloaded the free trial and I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!! It has been an awesome motivator for my little ones struggling to produce sound. I have several kiddos that are non-verbal, low verbal or kiddos with Autism. These clients do not respond to the general way of practicing sound production. INSERT SPEECH BLUBS!! I will point out now this is not a cheap app! So read my entire post to see if it is worth the $$$$!
What is Speech Blubs?
In their words, they are “a team of parents, digital experts and speech therapists aiming to revolutionize the way kids learn to speech and tackle some the biggest challenges in children’s speech and language development.” They recognized the need to reach kiddos in a “non traditional articulation ” approach. No child wants to sit and repeat “Moo” over and over with a plastic cow. Speech Blurbs makes it fun and interactive. Think Snapchat filters mixed with an articulation app. Kids love it!
Sections of Speech Blubs
There are 3 sections that you can choose from. My favorite to use is definitely Early Sounds. It address simple environment noise and fosters tons of imitation and repetition. I used this one with all of my kiddos who are low verbal. This instantly gets them jabbering! The child models the sound. Then you can flip the screen to your client to give them some face time. That’s when the filter goes on! So if you are working on “Moo,” cow horns will appear on your client.
Mouth Gym is the next one. It is more oral motor skills. All those general oral mech exam exercises are made way more fun when there’s a turkey on your head! There are children modeling the exercise. Then your client has the chance to be on the screen to show their stuff.
First Words is the last section. It does exactly that-work on common words like tree, elephant and star. The only thing I don’t like about this section is you can’t choose the words you want to work on. There’s no list. You choose a “blurb” and that when you find out the word. I would prefer to be able to go through the app and find the words I want to work on.
For the Parents
It’s a good app for parents because you can take your child through the screener. You can set daily reminders to work on sounds with your child. HOWEVER, and this is BIG…the app costs $9.99 each month or you can buy a yearly subscription for $99.99!
Now, remember I really like this app. But do I like it for $100…NEGATIVE GHOSTRIDER! I when it comes to apps. But if it is good, I will buy it. I don’t spend $100 on apps even if they are ridiculously awesome.
But, I have met parents at their wit’s end, desperate for their child utter a sound. They are willing to spend any amount to get their child to imitate animal sounds. If you are one of those parents, try it for a month. If it’s not for your child, you are only out $10. Maybe it works for your child, you can upgrade your subscription.
The company has given me 10 codes for 6 months free months! Want one? Email me at speechchicktherapy@sbcglobal.net to request yours! I only have 10 so once they are gone, that’s it!
