SAILS: Speech Assessment & Interactive Learning System

Reviewer Sue Bell

AVAAZ Innovations Inc - Canada

Available from: Propeller Multimedia Ltd, P.O.Box 13791, Peebles, EH45 9YR. Price: £295 +VAT

A computer 'game' that will run efficiently on 386DX or higher processor. It is not demanding on the memory of the computer, or the clinician.

SAILS was created by clinicians to be used by clinicians. It was developed to assess and treat children who 'misarticulate' for one reason or another. Research, particularly by Jamieson & Rvachew '89, '92, '94, '95 indicates that children with phonological or functional articulation difficulties may have a concurrent perceptual disorder. SAILS addresses this perceptual disorder.

The screen has 3 sections: one presents the visual reward for having a go; one is a picture of the target word, one is a large X which is 'clicked' if the voice did not produce the target word. Digitised natural speech is presented in the format of a computer game. The child is invited to identify if the sound presented matches the target word. Activities are graded in difficulty and an increasing level of sophistication is required as the game progresses. 16 different target words are provided covering a range of phonemes e.g. "shoe"; "soap". coat"; "feet"; "thin"; "lake".

Features of the programme:

SAILS is an attractive and motivating interactive came for today's children who are familiar with exciting visual graphics.

It incorporates important differences that reflect how different speakers say the sounds of the language. Voices can differ widely from that of the therapist giving greater credibility to the task and allowing the child to generalise features of speech sounds to the whole population.

SAILS eliminates unintentional visual or acoustic cues that can bias results - what I call the 'reading the football scores phenomenon'.

Scores are automatically recorded as the task progresses and can be printed off at the end of the session. (N.B. They are not retained on the hard drive.)

Models of children's speech as well as male & female speakers are used. (In my experience the children really appreciate this and it helps them bond even more closely with the games).

SAILS does away with the therapist producing imitations of the child's speech errors and instead the child can engage in an appraisal of a wide range of child and adult attempts which target actual words. The child is not intimidated by having his/her own errors highlighted but can enjoy other people's verbal attempts.

X It is expensive.

Suitability: Rising 5s upwards. (The choice of graphics covers infants --> teenagers.)

. RegMRCSLT. ASLTIP