Learning Fundamentals - Products Overview

Products

Overview

LocuTour products are designed by Speech-Language Pathologists with many years of experience working with children and adults with speech and attention issues. The speech programs use colorful pictures or graphics to grab the attention of clients. There are no extraneous noises or “rewards” to distract the client. The most important part of the software is the built-in voice recorder. Clients can hear their own voice, compare it to our production, and hear the difference. An important benefit for children is that they can practice without pressure from peers or teachers and quickly become adept at fixing their own speech.

The attention programs are based on the literature of brain plasticity. They have progressive levels of difficulty that the client works through. The objective is to master the task (86% correct rate) then improve speed of processing. Most of the exercises focus on one or two aspects of attention at a time: Immediate; Focused or Selective; Sustained or Vigilance; Divided; Alternating; and Spatial.

Our language programs are geared toward young children. Many of them include an attention component and a memory component in the exercises.

The links on the left have more information on LocuTour products. There are lots of pictures on each page so click on the Text Only View if you have dial-up.

Speech

Our speech titles consist of the Articulation series, the Phonology series, and Artic Games and More.

Articulation I: Consonant Phonemes contains 1,320 words with the target phoneme in the initial, medial, and final positions. The words are grouped by voiced/voiceless phoneme pairs into eleven categories on two CDs. Articulation II: Consonant Clusters contains 766 words that have a consonant combination in the initial, medial, or final position. Articulation III: Vowels + R and R Clusters provide attention grabbing stimuli for your clients who have difficulty articulating /r/.

Phonology I and Phonology II are based on Hodson and Paden's phonological approach to remediating unintelligible speech. The goal is to elicit a large number of productions and provide interesting auditory bombardment sessions. Target patterns are: final consonants; initial consonants; initial S clusters; initial L and R clusters; and two and three syllable words. Both CDs use the same word lists. Phonology I has three “work” exercises and three “application” exercises. Phonology II has six exercises that are more game-like than work. Because they are aimed at young children they use simple colorful drawings as stimuli.

Artic Games and More is an extremely flexible program that allows you to tailor each session for the needs of your client. Start by choosing a focus: Articulation, Phonology, Content, or It’s a... The focus area determines word choice and how the words are presented. The Articulation focus is similar to the presentation in the Articulation series. Words are presented with words, phrases, sounds, and sentences as stimuli. Unlike the Artic series, there are five more exercises that allow practice of the words in different contexts. The Phonology focus is organized by speech pattern and is designed to elicit a large number of productions of the target patterns. The Content focus is designed for clients with fund of knowledge issues. The It’s a... focus provides cueing for clients with Aphasia and Apraxia. This program is flexible enough for you to use with each of your speech clients.

Literacy

Literacy is a complete literacy program that takes the student from basic sound/symbol correlation through multisyllable spelling. Phonemic Awareness is our most important program. It has seven exercises that provide the basics of phoneme recognition and production, sound to symbol correlation, sound segmentation, blending, and syllable segmentation. Students who master this CD have a strong foundation for reading mastery. In Rules, Rules, Rules! students learn the basic rules for reading and spelling by identifying the vowel sound in a word, sounding out the word, and identifying the rule. “Spelling Test on Friday!” teaches a six-step process—look, listen, say, listen, spell, check—for accurate spelling.

Language

Our language titles cover a wide range of language issues. Look! Listen! and Learn Language! and Train Time focus on language issues faces by children with language delay, PDD, Autism, and Asperger's Syndrome. They are also fun for all children learning language. It's a Bundle is a comprehensive CD for developing basic vocabulary and treating Aphasia and Apraxia. Everyday Language introduces children to counting, colors, size, and basic geometric shapes.

En Español

Spanish Phonology: Intervention is a practical resource for the Speech-Language Pathologist working with bilingual or monolingual Spanish speaking children with phonological delay. Palabras Básicas has the basic words learned in early language development. Many photos have a white background to make it easy for children to distinguish figure/ground. Es Todo allows clients with word finding deficits to practice word finding skills using real photographs of food, household objects, animals and other objects that we see everyday.

Tools for SLPs

Speech Visualization is a spectral speech tool that allows real-time viewing of speech; visual comparison between speech models; analysis of the voice sample; and simplified record keeping. Target four communication areas: Breath Support and Loudness; Pitch and Intonation; Voicing; and Timing, Rate, and Rhythm. Client Manager helps speech professionals keep track of client progress. It can be used to track progress on LocuTour software or for sessions that do not involve any computer work.

Options

Every client begins therapy with a different skill set and therapy plan. All of the titles have an options page that allows the clinician to customize the program to the individual client. For example, you can choose which of the five models is presented first in the Artic and It's a... series. Many of the titles allow you to choose the words you want to use for a particular client and skip words you don't want to use. The software is designed fit into your style rather than forcing you to adjust your methods to the software.