Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Inventor Showcase: Say-N-Play – the fun and interactive speech recognition game!


Holly Strange, MS, CCC/SLP a speech-language pathologist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, conceived of the idea to utilize speech recognition technology to create games for speech therapy practice and Advance Games, LLC was born. Getting children to speak clearly and to practice newly developed sounds daily is one of the biggest challenges facing parents and speech therapists and Holly’s primary goal was to create an interactive way for children to participate in articulation activities in a fun to play computer game format.

Advance Games’ first computer learning game, Say-N-Play, utilizes Eduspeak (a voice recognition engine developed by SRI, International) and provides a fun and visually engaging environment for children between the ages of four and nine to practice speech sound pronunciation. The idea for Say-N-Play was originally developed to provide children with speech difficulty an engaging alternative to traditional speech therapy drill activities. The game has, however, turned out to be an excellent product for all children as a means of reinforcing proper sound and word pronunciation. It also offers the additional benefit of reading skill development as all words are presented in the written as well as the pictorial format.

The graphics in Say-N-Play are vivid, full of color, fun, and child-appropriate. The software features colorful characters and various games to choose from. One of these games is a racing match where the player must pronounce words correctly in order to move ahead and win the race. For every word the player says correctly, he or she is rewarded with an entertaining animation. Multiple levels and a progress report application allow the player, parents, teacher and/or speech therapist to monitor the child’s success.

Please visit www.saynplay.com for more information.

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