Speech Racer App Review

Nothing is more fun than starting off the new school year with fun new apps! Today I want to share Speech Racer by Complete Speech with you. I posted about their Lite version a few months ago, you can read that here. Today, I want to show you their full app that was just released. If you have students who like cars and racing or are looking for a new way to give your /r/ kids feedback, then this is an app you want to check out!

Speech Racer, from Complete Speech, uses your tablet’s microphone to analyze your student’s /r/ productions and provide visual feedback about its accuracy! It uses a racing and corresponding red, yellow, and green color indicators to show if the production is correct or not. I found the software to be pretty accurate about the productions. It was great to have an ‘impartial’ tool to help judge quality and avoid those arguments discussions of ‘That sounded fine’ and ‘It wasn’t quite there’.

There are 4 different racing areas the student can choose from. ( In the Lite version you only had two )

You can also select specific /r/ variations from word lists targeting initial, medial, and final positions. I liked that each word had a visual to go with it. This means I can use it with a variety of age groups which is always a plus! ( There are no word lists in the Lite version FYI)

To play, the student holds down the button that says ‘Hold and Speak’ and says the word, emphasizing the /r/. Then they release and the colors show them how their production was. At the bottom the screen you can track how they did then review their session at the end by tapping SCORE.

Pros:

• Voice recognition software
• Fun racing theme
• Pre-made word lists with visuals
• Can be used with multiple age groups
• App gives immediate, visual feedback
• Can track data for session
• ‘Impartial’ tool for production accuracy

Cons:

• Cannot enter students to track data over time
• Cannot use with groups unless SLP takes data instead of using app’s tracker

Overall, I would say this is a great app to have. The voice recognition software is great and I love how the student gets immediate visual feedback about the production. The pre-made word lists are huge time saver and the accompanying visuals are helpful for my students who may still be working on reading. Although you can’t really use the app with a group unless you take the data yourself, the tracking at the bottom of the screen is helpful. Perhaps in upgrades in the future those features will be added, but the fact that they are not there isn’t a deal breaker for me. My kids enjoy using the app and that wins some big points in my book. You can download this app in iTunes for $19.99.