Kids Sound Lab Pro

Award winning, research backed articulation approach - Kids Sound Lab is designed for parents and professionals who want to give their children a head-start with pronunciation of English sounds. Five star rating and excellent reviews by Educational App Store in 2017 and voted one out of six best apps in Education at BETT 2016. Created by a certified speech- language pathologist. The sounds are presented in the same order that children acquire sounds, so parents can control the difficulty level and begin by practicing easier sounds. Ideal for families with English as a second language. Children are taught to make the sounds in isolation and then practice the sounds in syllable and words, as they  prepare the key phonological skills necessary for reading later in life. 

Research shows significant progress when using the methodology of Kids Sound Lab (KSL) to promote correct articulation and literacy in beginning readers attending preschool and first grade.  (Gudmundsdottir, 2014, Aevarsdottir, 2016). Consultants for Kids Sounds Lab are Dr. Barbara Hodson at Wichita State Univ., KS, and Dr. Katherine Abbott Verdolini at Univ. of Pittsburg, PA, both leading specialists in the field of articulation, phonology and voice. 

Key features
- User friendly program for use by parents
- Voice recording and playback feature for monitoring immediate responses
- Each sound has three interactive game activities at the end of each level 
- 24 Consonant Sounds in English introduced in a systematic way with emphasis on visual and auditory recall/memory for each consonant 
- Descriptions of how to produce all sounds are provided by engaging characters Bonnie and Bobbie

CONSONANTS AND VOWELS
- Consonant sounds in the main menu listed in developmental order of sound acquisition
- Vowels introduced separately  A - E - I - O - U as long vowels that say their own names and short vowels that do not say their own names 
- A step by step approach is taken. Most consonant sounds are practiced in a sound play in CV > consonant – vowel syllables > so all sounds are produced correctly before they are put into words
- Sounds practiced at beginning of words*: /m,  n,  b,  p,  d,  t,  w,  y,  h,  k,  g,  f,  v, ng, ch, j, sh, s, z, l, r, voiceless and voiced th/
 - Prevocalic and consonantal R  is introduced and practiced (this is R followed by a vowel – which can be easier to remediate and use to shape other vocalic Rs later) 
- The (ng, zh) sounds are practiced in the middle and end of words, as they do not occur at the beginning of words
 - Voiced /th/ practiced at the beginning, middle and end of words

STUDENT PROFILES / REPORTING
- Student profiles (name, age, email, gender, notes, photo)
- Scoring and data tracking for each child/student
- Scoring provided for each sound with date, numbers, and % of correct productions for monitoring progress
- Email options to send scores with dates and notes, # of correct responses, and %age of total correct responses
- Air print (with printer) with collective data
- Dropbox storage

The author; Bryndis Gudmundsdottir  was awarded a "Special Recognition Award 2011" from Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network (GWIIN) for her innovative work in the field of speech pathology.  
Kids Sound Lab, evolved through years of clinical work and studies in collaboration with Dr. Bernard Silverstein professor at UT Knoxville (d. 2003). 

Original pictures made by illustrators/graphic designers B.Kristjansson and H.S.Thorgeirsdottir
- Original music and rhythm by Vedis, Icelandic singer and composer

The Icelandic version of Kids Sound Lab is shown on Icelandic TV, Channel 2. The Icelandic Innovation Center supported Kids Sound Lab.

More information:   www.kidssoundlab.com, Youtube.com/laerumogleikum, 
[email protected]

Review on Educational App Store:
http://www.educationalappstore.com/app/kids-sound-lab-pro
 
http://www.educationalappstore.com/app/frog-game-school-sounds-for-reading