App Review: SpeechTutor

I love using Ipad apps in speech and language therapy.  I try not to let technology rule my life but it’s hard when there are so many great apps that help our students become more engaged in their learning.  I have been using “SpeechTutor” for years and I love it.  Here are the pros and cons of this app.

PROS:

Teaching placement of certain sounds, especially the ones produced in the back of the mouth, such as the /g/, /k/ and /r/ sounds is a challenge we face as Speech Pathologists.  Many of our students are visual learners and SpeechTutor gives the child a clear view of what the “speech helpers” or tongue, lips, teeth and palate are doing for these sounds!  They can now SEE what their tongues should be doing for the posterior sounds.  Here is what the screen looks like (side view) when the “mouth” is at rest or not making a sound.

I like the simplicity of the picture.  The child is not distracted by any other part of the speaker’s face.  My students find it helpful to see what their speech helpers should be doing for these posterior sounds!  So many of our students learn using more than one of their senses.  SpeechTutor  not only gives the accurate visual representation but you can hear the sound too!  There are three levels of speed: slow, medium and fast.

Check out the still photo below of the animated “speaker” producing the /s/ sound.  I love how  the airflow is depicted using the “puff” of air coming from the speaker’s mouth!

Speechtutor (side view) in action making /s/ sound.

SpeechTutor has 132 animations of the following speech sounds: P,B,T,D,K,G,N,M,ING, F,V,S,Z,SH,CH,J,L,R (retroflex and bunched) and TH (voiced and voiceless).  The sound productions can be viewed at three different speeds.  I tend to use the slow speed the most!  There is also the option of  taking a video of  the child producing the sound as they are watching the speech tutor produce it.  My students love this aspect!  I use this app with  many of my students with articulation and phonological  delays.  I think it would also be helpful teaching clients learning English as a second language.   I’ve also used it to teach my fluency students about some (although it doesn’t show the larynx or lungs) of the speech helpers too!

CONS:

Here is my biggest issue with SpeechTutor: the frontal views of the sounds are confusing to my students.  The animation for the  frontal view isn’t as clear as it is for the side views.  I don’t even use the frontal view for the s and z sounds.   I’ve had some students comment that it’s scary, (“Is that a zombie?”) or just plain confusing particularly for certain sounds. Check out the picture below of the  frontal view of the Speechtutor “speaker” at rest.

SpeechTutor frontal view

It’s hard to differentiate the tongue from the bottom lip.  My other recommendation for the SpeechTutor app developers  is to visually represent “voicing” of speech sounds.  I think it  would be an even more effective tool if it included some animation of the larynx to help students differentiate between voiced and voiceless sounds.

BOTTOM LINE??

Check out the Speech Tutor app by Synapse Apps.   As of 2024 the full app is $24.99.  Even though I don’t use most of the frontal views, I still find this app very useful with my speech students and I use it nearly daily in my school practice.   I would recommend it!

I am in no way affiliated with the developers of the SpeechTutor app and I have not been paid to review this app.