Language Trainer

Language Trainer was created specifically to help individuals improve their mastery of spoken language. Designed by a certified speech-language pathologist, Language Trainer is perfect for working on vocabulary, word finding, stuttering, and receptive or expressive language therapy. Language Trainer compliments and facilitates the work of the busy speech-language pathologist or caregiver. Language Trainer includes four activities within one application.

Picture Identification

The first activity is Picture Identification and with nearly 300 high-quality images, it provides an opportunity for practicing auditory identification of commonly used items.

Picture Naming activity

The Picture Naming activity provides the opportunity to practice verbal production of the items seen in Picture Identification while naming the image presented.

Divergent Naming

The third activity, Divergent Naming, is purely expressive and includes both categorization and expressive language components by asking the individual to name items that fall within a specific category or function.

Sentence Completion

Sentence Completion provides the opportunity to practice sentence production by completing the sentence provided and allows for multiple correct responses per sentence.

Picture Naming, Divergent Naming, and Sentence Completion all provide a built-in Audio Recorder to encourage and assist with fluency, self-monitoring, and skill discussion.

Purpose

Language Trainer was designed to assist in language therapy by utilizing technology to present pictures, phrases, and sentences to clients while collecting data. Language Trainer was created specifically to help individuals improve their mastery of spoken language. Language Trainer is ideal for those individuals who struggle with aphasia1, 2 and specific language impairment, 4, as well as for English Language Learners.

Language Trainer is designed for single-player use. From the home page the adult has the choice of selecting Support, Report, or Practice. Tap Support to watch the video tutorial, contact the developers, and back-up to iTunes. Tap report to see the data gathered for each client. A simple tap on the Practice button will bring the adult the list of clients and allow the activities to begin. Once the client is selected, a choice of activities is displayed.

Activities include: Picture Identification, Picture Naming, Divergent Naming and Sentence Completion.

Both Picture Identification and Picture Naming have high-quality pictures displayed on the screen. In Picture Identification, an audio prompt encourages the client to select the correct picture. In Picture Naming, there is no audio prompt and the client must supply the picture name. For Divergent Naming the client is asked to name items within a category; while Sentence Completion requires the user to complete the phrase or sentence. Each level increases in task complexity to provide and encourage a deeper level of understanding of language.

Data Collection

When the session is complete, a simple touch to the home button brings the app to the reports area. A touch to the client’s avatar and name brings up the data for that session. The data includes: date of practice, activity, number of attempted targets, and percent accuracy. In addition, a Notes button provides the option to write a note about the session.

Language Trainer data collection reports can be exported to The Therapy Report Center for easy progress monitoring and report writing.

Customization

Language Trainer has a “settings” button on the select user screen. The settings button allows the user to select the number of items on the screen in Picture Identification and an option to increase difficulty level if successful, as well as the number of items to name in Divergent Naming. In addition, within the settings button is an option to Modify Database which allows the user to modify the targeted words.

Language Trainer will also create backup data in iTunes which will allow it to be restored if for some reason the app needs to be deleted or a new iDevice is purchased.

Response to Intervention

The easy data collection provided by Language Trainer encourages use with RTI. The student data collected each therapy session is saved in chronological order allowing for ease of progress monitoring. The busy SLP or educator can see at a glance the activities targeted, difficulty level, and overall accuracy. In addition, the app allows data to be exported to the Therapy Report Center for easy report writing and integration with other speech-language goals.

Compatible with the Therapy Report Center

Over 300 high-quality images

Built-in audio recorder

Data compilation

Customizable target selection

Customizable difficulty level

Note taking for qualitative session information

Reviews

“ If you are looking for an app that you can use with a wide variety of ages and populations, this is it. I can see it working well for several goals: describing, object functions, sentence formulation, AAC users, etc.”

http://teachspeech365.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-language-trainer-by-smarty-ears.html

“Language Trainer looks very different than other Smarty Ears apps that I have. It is very simple, with little to no distractions/extra graphics. Because of this, it could easily be used with ANY age group, from pre-k to adult.”

http://speechymusings.com/2014/01/15/language-trainer-app-review/

”I like this app. It is really simple. There are no frills in this app. You can do as many trials as you want in each activity. This app is really great for working on simple vocabulary with my students with autism. If you are looking for an app without any extras, this is it.”

http://speechuniverse.blogspot.com/2014/01/language-trainer-app-review-and-giveaway.html

Sources

1. Drew, R., & Thompson, C. (1999). Model-based semantic treatment for naming deficits in aphasia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research Vol.42 972-989 August 1999.

2. Chapey, R., Rigrodsky, S., & Morrison, E., (1976). Dive rgent semantic behavior in aphasia. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 19, 664-677.

3. Leonard, L., & Nippold, M., Kail, R., & Hale, C. (1983), Picture naming in language-impaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 26, 609-615.

4. Sheng, L., & McGregor, K. (2010). Object and action naming in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 1704-1719.