The ArtikPix app for both iPhones and iPads is a great portable tool for travelling speech therapists and busy moms to help their children address speech and sound delays as well as to improve their articulation. ArtikPix uses a combination of flashcards and matching games to help your child focus on specific sounds as they work on their language development.
The app consists of over 900 brightly decorated cards separated into 21 different decks that are organized by what speech pathologists call phonemes, or individual sounds, such as: th, f, v, sh, etc. By breaking down each sound into its own deck of cards, your child has the opportunity to practice one individual sound with consistency before moving on to the next one. For more advanced children, a shuffle option is available to challenge your child to practice different sounds.
The sound of the phoneme is played when a flashcard appears, encouraging your child’s ability to recognize the sound, attach it to an image, and see it written. The child repeats the sound, reinforcing the correct articulation of the word. The matching games encourage the same repetition of words and sounds in the format of an engaging game with levels of easy, medium, and hard.
Designed as a teaching tool, the ArtikPix app includes a scoring mechanism that holds data for up to four students, allowing documentation of a group learning experience. Teachers or students log the number of times a student answers correctly and the app converts it into a percentage. For speech therapists, this information can be uploaded to email or a Google spreadsheet for tracking the long-term progress of their students. Parents can also make similar use of this feature to measure their children’s progress.
Speech therapy specialists also benefit from the convenience and portability of this app. Instead of carrying 900+ flashcards from their speech pathology practice into several different classrooms a week (and keeping them all organized!), they have access to the same tools as an app inside their iPhone or iPad. This also benefits parents who need an educational solution for engaging their children on-the-go in grocery stores, airports, and waiting rooms.
The ArtikPix app has an audio recording feature that lets a parent or a speech therapist to record their own voices saying different words or sounds. This tool can also be used to record the students’ efforts. Hearing their own voices back helps them to hear how their voice sounds as they get closer to the correct articulation.
Reviews for the app on iTunes show excellent praise from both parents and speech language pathologists. It is rated an average of 4+ stars and highly recommended in numerous reviewer anecdotes. The ArtikPix app is a great way to engage children in improving their articulation and overcoming speech and sound delays, and a useful resource for both parents and speech therapists.
