Extra Credits - Marlene Sáez Mira

UNIT 2: THE VALUES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

1. Find two websites or apps on the web to help students with special needs learn a language.

I am going to show you two interesting apps to help students with special needs learn a language.

The first app is called "Proloquo2Go". This app is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication solution for students who suffer from speech difficulties due to autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, apraxia, aphasia or traumatic brain injury. The main aim of the app is to give children and adults with speech impediments a voice. Its visual vocabulary allows creating sentences of varying complexity to communicate wants, needs and messages that are more advanced. The app is flexible and customizable and allows choosing from a range of realistic accents for children and adults to match their “inner voice”.

In this link we can know more information about the app: 

https://www.assistiveware.com/products/proloquo2go

In this short video we can see an example of a child using the app. It is amazing!

The second is called "Articulation Station", which is an English language articulation and pronunciation app. It can help students learn and practice letter sounds and word pronunciation. With 22 letter sounds, students can practice more than 1,000 target words. Designed by a certified speech-language pathologist, the app lets students play with letter sounds via three well-crafted options: word games, sentences, and stories. Through these activities, students can learn correct pronunciation and letter and word recognition, as well as some built-in sentence structure. Articulation Station provides students with the opportunity to record and listen to their own voices as they pronounce the letters and words in conjunction with a narrator who speaks them. As a result, students can gain self-awareness and identify their own pronunciation strengths and weaknesses. There are two activities to choose from in the words section (flashcards or matching) and different levels within activities.

In this link we can know more about the app:

http://littlebeespeech.com/articulation_station.php

In this video, the designer of the app explains how it works and she use the sound "s" as an example to tell us how to use Articulation Station. It is a  wonderful and interesting way to teach pronunciation to the students with speech sound delay.