For some time I have been thinking about how questions are asked to young children who are talking very little or not at all, as well as individuals with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) needs. My thoughts have come from observing teachers, instructional aides, parents, and even SLPs who ask a lot, I mean a lot of questions to these populations. It seems like the individuals are continually being tested, whether the adult has that intention or not. I have also recently seen blog posts from David Niemeijer, Maureen Nevers, Carole Zangari and others whose posts inspired me to write about my thoughts. The authors discussed the difference between questions that are closed-ended and open-ended. In this case, closed-ended questions refer to questions in which the answer is alr[...]

Here it is: summertime. A time when many adults are wondering how they’re going to keep children engaged and entertained during all of those free hours. Whether you are a speech-language pathologist (SLP) providing services as part of Extended School Year (ESY), or a parent with your own child to amuse, a new trend could be just what you need: coding for kids. Many schools are jumping on the computer programming bandwagon and offering children the chance to learn basic coding skills. But, with schools still reeling from the Great Recession, many kids might not have access to such classes yet. No worries. You can easily include coding in speech therapy to target expressive language or introduce it to your own child with some great mobile and web apps. No need to worry if you don’t know a[...]

LinguaPix and LinguaPix - Full version 1.0.1 were updated today. Here's a list of the new features: Updates on the information screen Added buttons for Deselect/Select All Nouns and Deselect/Select All Verbs when customizing a user’s decks Improved Save/Cancel features for user profiles Fixed a bug in the Flashcard activity that occurred during the Describe It task Improved formatting of Scores saved in the app as well as exporting out of the app Fixed a crash in the in-app store (of the free version) for incomplete in-app purchases If you like the new features, please leave a comment on the iOS App Store listing for LinguaPix and/or LinguaPix - Full. If you have feedback, please email support@expressive-solutions.com.

Happy New Year from Expressive Solutions! We hope your new year is off to a great start. If you're interested in learning more about our new app for expressive language, LinguaPix, click on the links below to look at these awesome reviews from respected websites: The iMums AppyMall TeachersWithApps SmartAppsForKids Sublime Speech The response to LinguaPix has been great so far and we'd love to hear what you think! We look forward to supporting your work with children with special needs in 2014! Link to blog post image by amytrippmyers

As an interactive app designed to build expressive language for everyone, LinguaPix is not only engaging but was also developed with research in mind. The American Speech Language and Hearing Association highly advocates for practicing Speech-Language Pathologists to use evidence-based practices which include integration of clinical expertise, the perspective of the client and family, as well as external scientific evidence (ASHA, 2005). Thus, we wanted to highlight how the skills practiced using the LinguaPix app aligns to research. Considerations for Design A study by Gilliam, Gillam, and Reece (2012) indicated that both contextualized and decontextualized intervention yielded significant statistically gains (e.g., children improved the skills on post-testing), yet, contextualized [...]

Expressive Solutions LLC is pleased to announce that the free version of LinguaPix is now available for iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/linguapix/id694730835?mt=8&at=10lcso. LinguaPix is an engaging iPad app for individuals to practice expressive language skills in three activities: Flashcards, Matching, and Pick or Spin. In the activities, users practice naming, describing, formulating sentences, and more. The free version of LinguaPix includes the Health and Safety deck, which has 77 cards with real photographs depicting nouns and verbs. LinguaPix has the following 14 additional decks available as in-app purchases: Animals, Around the House, Body Parts, Clothing, Cooking and Cleaning, Food and Drink (a-m), Food and Drink (n-z), Hygiene and Personal Care, Occupations and People,[...]

Expressive Solutions LLC is pleased to announce the release of LinguaPix - Full for iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/linguapix-full/id701111984?mt=8. LinguaPix - Full is an engaging iPad app for individuals to practice expressive language skills in three activities: Flashcards, Matching, and Pick or Spin. In the activities, users practice naming, describing, formulating sentences, and more. Users interact with real photos from 1 or more of the 15 decks in categories such as Health and Safety, Toys and Games, and Tools. Device Requirements * Compatible with iPad
 * Requires iOS 6.0 or higher
 * 95.4 MB Pricing and Availability LinguaPix - Full 1.0.0 is available on the iTunes App Store in the Education category for an introductory price of $29.99 (USD). For more informatio[...]

Check out this introductory video for LinguaPix, our upcoming iPad app for Expressive Language. The introductory video provides an overview of LinguaPix, including how to get started with adding a user and implementing the user in the Flashcards activity. In the Flashcards activity, you will learn how to navigate the tasks (Say It, Repeat It, Expand It, Describe It) and features. Please note that we're hoping to release LinguaPix around the time of the 2013 ASHA Convention, which is scheduled for Nov. 14 - 16.

We have been working hard for the last several months on an expressive language app we're calling LinguaPix. We are currently in the final testing phase in preparation of submitting the app to the iOS App Store. To learn more about LinguaPix, check out the updated website page, which has information and screenshots to get you up-to-speed on our exciting new app!