For school-aged children (and even some adults) properly articulating sounds can be a real challenge. This is of course especially true for individuals with learning disabilities, or for those who struggle with auditory learning. For the most part, it’s always recommended to touch base with a certified Speech-Language Pathologist (new window), but for individuals with minor speech related issues, there are apps available that are designed to teach and reinforce proper pronunciation/articulation.
Articulation Station is a speech practice app for iOS that allows you to explore and practice every sound used in the English language. The app is bright and colorful, very intuitively designed, and it offers a wide variety of articulation-based activities to choose from. The voices and articulations are high quality and very clear, making it easier for someone with auditory or hearing challenges to approach.
When you start up the app, you’ll be prompted to choose a letter. When you simply tap on the letter itself, you’ll hear that sound being pronounced. From there, you can choose the context in which you want to hear the word. You can choose between words, phrases, sentences, or stories.
Under the “words” category, you can practice via flashcards or a matching game. You can then choose what level content you want to practice, and the app will instantly populate a flashcard game. The flashcard feature even allows you to record your voice, so you can play back your practice sessions and better identify the areas that you need work in.
The “phrases” and “sentences” features allow you to put the word in the context of a sentence or phrase, which better mirrors how you would be pronouncing a given word in your day-to-day life.
The “stories” feature puts the sound into a story-based format with pictures, and once again also users to record their own voice as they pronounce along with the story on-screen.
All in all, Articulation Station has a lot to offer, especially for school-aged children who are learning English for the first time. The premium version is not cheap, but if this is area that you or child struggles with, then it’s definitely worth checking out.
Articulation Station is available for iOS only. A limited version of the app is available for free, but you’ll have to purchase the full version of the app to get access to the full suite of sound programs. The full version of the app is available at a cost of $119.99 CDN, or you can purchase individual sound programs as needed. Click here (new window) to learn more about the app including pricing information, resources, and more.
“Thank you for being a motivational architect, designing a blueprint of success and inspiration in every post.”