I have been enjoying using the “Speech Box™” app by The Jonah Bonah Learning Company in my therapy sessions lately. As I explained to a speech pathology student shadowing me today, when you are in private practice, the percentage of certain types of cases ebbs and flows. Last year I had two students in middle school and this year I have one while the next oldest student is 7 years old. The mix changes so that I have many 4 and 5 year-old boys with articulation delays right now. Since there is much practice and dare I say “drill” involved with learning and making a new production a habit, we need lots of exciting ways to change up a similar lesson plan each week.
I use Articulation Station often with my students to “warm up” at the beginning of the session and for reference as we play games or do crafts as we practice our sounds. I was glad to receive a free copy of “Speech Box™” from Jonah Bonah Learning Company because the 700 available photographs of mainly one-syllable words are different and applicable to a little older audience. Each sound box contains pictures of the target sound in the initial, medial and final position of the word. They are as if thrown in a box, lying on top 
of each other. That is part of the fun–kids have to move the pictures about, or tap them to expand to full screen where the audio repeats the target word. We had fun today, tapping on a little corner of sky, dirt, or a hat peeking out from the pile of photographs and guessing what the word was before it was revealed. The best part is swiping the finished word off the screen. My little guy yesterday sent his word “Up to heaven” and “Outside” as he engaged in a little pretend play with the direction he swiped the photos.
Helpful features:
- 700 photographs of mainly one-syllable words to choose from
- Easy, quick setup and loading of pictures
- Flexible use for clients with apraxia, autism, Down’s Syndrome, language difficulties
- Customizable–add your own boxes by child or category to be worked on
- Share boxes with parents for practice
Aside from having a great bank of pictures for practice, I like the customizable feature best. Kids LOVE to create their own box and fill it with photographs. I spent a whole session photographing lego models that my little client proudly held up for the camera as he enjoyed recording a name for his picture. When I was still on the learning curve, I accidentally put James’ pictures in Holden’s box but the kids had such fun with this. They didn’t know each other but enjoyed listening to another child emphasizing his target sounds.
I have only used this app for articulation therapy but plan to use the other category boxes for “family,” “foods,” “farm animals” etc. for language learning activities. The Box Store has specialized boxes for purchase such as “emotions,” “fairy tales” or “Christmas.”
