Apraxia Farm (Previously Apraxia Ville) is a unique application created specifically to help children with childhood apraxia of speech and severe speech-sound disorders. With multiple levels, both vowel and consonant targets, and the ability to create custom words, Apraxia Farm is perfect for those students struggling with sound production. Designed by certified speech-language pathologists, Apraxia Farm provides video modeling of consonants and vowels, word targets by syllable structure (e.g., CV, VC, CVC, etc.), customization of targets, and progress monitoring making it perfect for use by SLPs, special educators, and parents alike.

“Whether a child is working on basic, voluntary lip closure to a child at the word level struggling with prosody, Apraxia Farm offers an evidence-based approach to target the speech difficulties children with CAS face.” Katie Miligan M.S CCC-SLP

Apraxia Farm was designed to assist in sound production therapy by utilizing technology to present sounds and words to students while collecting data. Apraxia Farm utilizes a phonotactic intervention strategy by allowing targets to be selected by consonant or vowel and by planning movement sequences within syllables. This allows the student to produce words of varying syllable shape and moving into more complex word patterns (Velleman, 2006).

Placement of the written word for each picture allows the SLP to incorporate a literacy component into therapy. Print referencing directs the students’ attention to the printed word in order to increase the metalinguistic focus of an activity (Justice & Ezell, 2004). Specifically, including the orthographic components while working on sound production, may aid in phonological awareness (Hodson, 2007).

Apraxia Farm features easy-to-follow menus and a built-in video tutorial. Under the guidance of your child’s speech therapist you can extend therapy time to your home and complete home programming as suggested. Working on the same therapy techniques at home that your child learns at school or at the clinic is an excellent way to encourage generalization of skills and improve progress.

Because Apraxia Farm is a multi-user application it can be easily utilized for group sessions. Apraxia Farm allows data to be collected on multiple utterances for each student allowing for many productions to be used for maximum therapy benefit without losing the ease in data collection (Edeal & Gildersleeve-Neumann, 2011).

Apraxia Farm is designed for single or multi-player use. Players may be imported into Apraxia Farm from the Therapy Report Center or entered on the home screen. Up to four players can be selected with individual selections for targets in both sound groups and syllable structure. If the student has used Apraxia Farm before, the adult also has the option of repeating the targets from the previous session. Multiple students can work on different targets in the same session.

The level of play depends on which area the adult chooses to visit. Apraxia Farm has three areas from which to select: The Sound Windows (sound production), The Farm House (single word production), and The Words Farm (multiple word production). Visual stimuli are present in each area from animated phoneme production in Sound Windows to multiple word pictures in The Words Farm.

The Sound Windows activity was designed to help students practice individual sounds and syllables. Each window contains animations for vowels and consonants to provide a great animated visual aid for phoneme production. For individuals using an iPad2 or higher, the Sound Windows allows the player to activate the iPad camera and monitor his or her own productions while following the visual prompt. To change the target sound, simply tap on the target window and a choice wheel will display. Turn it to the correct sound and tap done.

In the Words Farm, the player can learn and practice multi-syllabic word production by combining words from the farm house. The player can choose to repeat words and syllable structure for each area or change the options for maximum growth. Fully customizable by sound groups, number of syllables, and syllable structure, the Words Farm is the third area of Apraxia Farm and the last step toward completing sentences. To select the target, simply tap on the sign post to choose the sound and syllable structure.

Apraxia Farm has a “settings” button on the home screen. The settings button allows the user to modify the word pool and allows the adult to select the specific words used for the session. A simple touch selects or deselects the word choice.

Apraxia Farm has a “settings” button on the home screen. The settings button allows the user to modify the word pool and allows the adult to select the specific words used for the session. A simple touch selects or deselects the word choice.

The Add Custom Images window will display. The individual can choose the image, the phoneme, vowel, and the syllable structure for which the word should appear. Tap the red record button to record the audio for that image. Tap “add” to complete the steps and add the custom word into the word bank. It is now available for all students to use.

Data is collected with sound production. Each student can produce multiple targets per turn. A touch to the avatar changes the active student and begins the data collection for that student. When the session is complete, a simple touch to the home button and confirmation tap brings the app to the reports function. The data includes: date of practice, target phoneme, syllable structure level, percent accuracy and number of words attempted. Tapping on recordings brings up the student’s recordings during that session. A graph is provided for easy progress monitoring. Apraxia Farm data collection reports can be exported to The Therapy Report Center. Apraxia Farm also creates backup data in iTunes that will allow it to be restored if for some reason the app needs to be deleted or a new iDevice is purchased.

Keep your students on track towards their goals with built-in homework sheets. It has never been so easy to share an activity for your students to practice at home. Homework can be directly printed from an “air ready” printer or emailed as a PDF!

• Multiple player – multiple levels
• Data collection
• Recording feature
• Camera modeling
• Ability to choose by phoneme, syllable structure, and length of utterance
• Built-in Homework
• Data collection by session, phoneme, syllable structure,
• Compatible with The Therapy Report Center