Teach2Talk is an application to help parents or therapists improve a child’s vocabulary. It makes the learning experience not only easier but also fun. Although the program can be used on any child; it was originally developed and tested for children with autism related language deficiencies.
The application runs on iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone, and iPod touch, but we do not recommend you use it on iPhones or iPods because of the size of the screen.
The application displays on the screen from one to four pictures and the name and sound associated with one of the pictures. If the child selects the wrong picture, it erases it and repeats its name until the child picks the correct picture. When this occurs, the image bounces off the sides of the screen and it is enlarged to its full size and the name is shown along with the sound. By testing the application with several children, we found that they start repeating the words much faster than with traditional methods. In some cases where the child did not respond to any other teaching tools, the application was successful in getting them to repeat words.
The application works with sets of images. There are two classes of sets, the conventional set of pictures or drawings and the customizable sets. The children respond very well to customizable sets; most promptly learn their relatives names and many other objects. In the customizable sets, you take the pictures (or use existing ones), you type the words and you record the sound. This is specially attractive for multilingual children.
After the child has picked three correct pictures, the application goes into reinforcement mode, and it presents a puzzle for the child to solve. This step goal is for the child to enjoy. The puzzles have 3 different modes. In the easiest mode, by touching a piece of the puzzle, it places itself correctly. The medium difficulty level makes the child drag the piece to a location near the correct location, and in the most difficult the child has to drag the piece to almost exact placement.
The application can be fully customized by going into SETTINGS. From there you can control wether the pictures rotate, how many pictures are displayed on the screen, and the difficulty level for the reinforcement puzzles. It is from this screen that you can also select which picture set you are using.
The free version of the application comes with a 5 picture non customizable set, and a 5 images customizable set. Once the full version is purchased, you will get a 10 picture fix set and a 10 image customizable set. You will also be able to buy other fixed or customizable sets.