A Little Bit of Magic

Whether for accurate production of a target by simply encouraging an autistic child to make a sound, a hearing-impaired child to produce a sound or word accurately, of a stutterer to achieve fluency in connected speech, Video Voice motivates and applauds the desired speech behavior with colorful, graphic animations and sounds.  These reward graphics can be automatic in response to a therapist-defined goal, or manually activated by clicking the Reward button.

A while back, a husband and wife Behavioral Psychology consulting team visited our office to discuss how Video Voice might be helpful in their practice.  They work with children on the low-functioning end of the autism spectrum.  The wife, who is also a Speech-Language Pathologist, was well-acquainted with the power of Video Voice, having successfully used an earlier version (Apple IIe!!) previously in a school setting.   The husband wanted something more than a clickable Reward button, though.  He wanted to be able to activate rewards himself, secretly.  This would give him control over the reinforcement schedule, and let him "applaud" even minimal vocalization.  In his words, he wanted a "remote clicker."  The goal was for the child to associate vocalization with something fun on the screen, something he made happen by using his voice. 

In the release of Version 3.0.129, this idea came to fruition, and works anywhere you see a Reward button.  Simply start the display, then slide the cursor down to any empty space on the red button bar at the bottom of the screen.  Encourage the child to use his voice, and whenever you think he should be rewarded, right-click the mouse, and voila!  A congratulatory message and/or reward animation or progress toward a game goal will happen. Magic!!

If you have a wireless mouse, you can pick it up and place it at your side where the click won't be seen or heard.  Your mouse becomes your "remote control."  You might want to practice this on your own first, to develop a polished "slight of hand."

Hint: for a little more “magic,” remember that you can also customize the reward text and audios to personalize the experience for each child.  See our earlier post on Personalizing Feedback for more details on modifying Video Voice audio and video rewards.

You may find some individuals are motivated by the visual feedback alone - the colorful, changing displays in Pitch Painting and Kaleidoscope, movement of the train, car or horse in Chat-N-U-Go Choo-Choo, appearance of hidden pictures in Voice-A-Sketch, “eating up the dots” in Formant Gobble (Pac Man for speech!) mode. We've certainly heard from many therapists that their “kids” never want to quit trying!

In addition to animated graphic rewards, in some games and displays, performance at a therapist-defined goal reveals colorful congratulatory messages and sounds.  The child seeing his name on the electronic billboard also makes those rewards especially effective.

We're always on the lookout for new ideas on how to improve Video Voice.    Let us hear yours, too!

Yours in good speech,

Video Voice Support Team
mv@videovoice.com
1-800-537-2182
www.videovoice.com

The King's Speech!

Hooray for Hollywood!! Honoring The King's Speech for best picture, best director, best actor, and best writer of a screen play is a huge boost to stutterers and to the speech therapy community. Kudos to the makers of this relatively low-budget film for raising social awareness of fluency, a communication challenge that is a struggle for an estimated 68 million people worldwide.

As most people now know, writer David Seidler was a childhood stutterer, but learned techniques to enhance his fluency skills, and became a remarkable, articulate gentleman. In a series of recent interviews, he’s shared his own story, and talked how he came to write the award-winning screenplay.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/17/screenwriter-david-seidler-‘being-a-stutterer-puts-a-cloud-over-childhood’/

http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/18/kings-speech-writer-has-his-own-stutter-story.html

I particularly enjoyed this video interview in which he talks about his own history and that of The King’s Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6t_5sKTUk

The Stuttering Foundation is joining in the celebration of this most special motion picture, congratulating "The King's Speech, which had a royal night at the Oscars."  This non-profit organization a more than 60-year history focus on improving the lives of people with this speaking difficulty for more than 60 years.  To see their extensive online assistive resources, pay a visit to http://www.stutteringhelp.org/.

The National Stuttering Association, a large self-help organization, also applauds the increased public awareness this film brings to a problem they all share.  "... 'The King’s Speech,' focuses on the struggle of King George VI of Britain to come to terms with his stuttering and inspire a nation. We’re delighted to see a film that accurately depicts the experience of people who stutter through the compelling story of a real-life hero."    http://www.nsastutter.org/

Fluency is an ongoing challenge for people afflicted with this speech disability and speech therapists who work with them, but at least we’ve come a long way since the days when it was seen as a mental illness, something to be ashamed of and hidden. Or at least I hope we have!

Congratulations to David Seidler, Tom Hooper and Colin Firth for their excellent work!

Video Voice Support Team
1-800-537-2182
mv@videovoice.com