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Computer Activities for Those With Speech and Language Difficulties?
An anonymous reader writes "My girlfriend is training to be a speech and language therapist here in the UK (speech pathologist in the US). A number of clients are guys who enjoy playing computer games, and for a variety of reasons some have no incentive to try and improve their speech. The issue is, this can obviously inhibit options for jobs and/or other aspects of life. I was trying to think of fun computer-based activities for those with speech and language difficulties that encourage individuals to speak, and furthermore to speak with greater clarity. Or games/activities that might encourage them to do more speech work. The first options that sprang to mind were the online games with team-speak / team-talk for those with mild difficulties. The sampling / accent issue might force them to speak with greater clarity or wish to have that ability. Obviously, they can just type. Any thoughts?"
How significant a speech impairment are you talking about?
If it is only a speech issue (like a lisp) and they don't value the therapy, then I'm not sure what to say. I know a guy here who has quirky speech, but he's doing fine as an engineering student at a major university.
The reason we target speech in kids so heavily is that speech issues may (although not always) be a symptom of an underlying language problem that interferes with many other aspects of language. It's not just making kids talk better; it's more about giving kids who need it a redundant channel to learn phonology, morphology, and syntax.
There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.
And it doesn't understand me, it usually just pisses me off, rather than cures my speech. :-/
Unless you want me to speak very loud and slow to everyone!
automated POS: "would you like to... say yes for option one"
me: "yes"
robot: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that, please repeat"
me: "YES"
robot: " I'm sorry, I didn't understand that, please repeat... or press 1 for yes, 2 for no"
[furiously presses 1]
Sent from my PDP-11
A passle of good looking girls, a few beers, and these guys will have lots of incentive to hone their language skills.
It's like the old story of the kid who grew to be twelve years old without ever uttering a word. Doctors found nothing, psychologists found nothing, neurologists found nothing - there was no reason why he shouldn't talk.
One morning though he sat down at the kitchen table picked up his breakfast, and said "This porridge is cold!"
His startled Mother says "My God Tommy! You talked! What happened?"
Tommy looks at her and says "Until now everything was OK."
Three Squirrels
Note that the poster was in the UK - so does the speech recognition understand English or just American? I remember an incredibly frustrating phonecall using the United Airlines speech "recognition" system they used a while ago to give out flight times. Being British the damn thing completely failed to understand what I was saying until I guessed that it wanted a US accent. Amazingly my fake American accent was enough to get some comprehension from the system. So, unless whatever speech recognition you use is designed for British accents and language, all you may end up doing is exchanging one speech impediment for another!