Is there an app for this? (speech pacing)

[Dmmetler]

I have very fast speech, diagnosed as a child as severe cluttering, and treated by years of therapy, diagnosed as an adult as constructive verbal apraxia. I've spent years learning to control and slow down my speech to a level that can be understood, complicated by the fact that I live in TN, where the natural regional speech pattern is on the slow side. I also have auditory comprehension and recall off the top of the charts (I'm the person who can hear a song once, sit down at an instrument, and play it, and who was regularly accused of cheating in high school because if the instructor gave the question in the same wording he'd used in class, I could sit there and write down that exact section of the lecture verbatim).

 

DD also speaks quite quickly. I can't tell if it's that she's also cluttering (she doesn't seem to have the blocking and the literal inability to get out words except in spurts that I have, though)or if it's simply that I'm her primary language model and that I can keep up with her thoughts even when she's speaking light speed so she's never learned to slow them down. She does seem to be able to slow down in conversation with someone else and match their pace, which is something that I've never gotten to the point of doing automatically, and is one reason why I suspect that this may be learned as opposed to neurological, but if she gets excited, look out!

 

This semester, she's doing a co-op class where she needs to do a weekly short presentation. And DD LOVES putting together her presentations, with multiple visuals and talking points.Until she goes into class, and says the whole thing so fast that even the teacher can't follow her. In the question section, usually half the questions are things she's already addressed, which frustrates her even more because "No one is listening to me".

 

I know one of the big things used in therapy for me was simply a cue to slow my pace. For me, these were mostly tactile, moving from a piece of wood with actual dividers, one per word, to counting beads on a bracelet, to lines of puff paint on a strip of paper taped to the underside of a podium, etc (and I still make sure I have something available for this purpose when I'm doing public speaking). I'm guessing for DD, these would become a fidget, and would probably hit her "But I don't WANT to be different" red button, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a "Follow the bouncing Ball" sort of app that I could put on my iPad or on her iPod with her presentation written out (since she's writing out the whole thing each week and reading it), since her class regularly uses digital devices anyway.

 

Does anyone know of something that would help for this? I'm guessing I could use powerpoint pretty easily, but in order to really make the animations work well, she'd have to use a computer, not the iDevice, based on the various apps I've tried to use for my talks at conferences.

[PeterPan]

Our SLP has ds *clapping* and saying syllables in long words with the claps. Yes, she's concerned that he'll speed up his speech. He does it with long words right now. I think it's a form of masking lack of motor control. Anyways, what you might do with her is get a metronome app and turn it to just the blinker. I *think* the metronome app we've been using will do a visual beat like that.

 

Sorry if that doesn't fit your parameters. I was having a brain blip and couldn't understand your explanation of the project. I think my brain has turned to mush with the February weather.

[Dmmetler]

What I was thinking was something that would show her just the next couple of words at a time, and put in the pauses for her by highlighting when to move on, adding a pause at the end of sentences, and things like that. Kind of like a teleprompter for a news personality. I know we used things like that when I was still in therapy, years ago (and this was back when Windows was extremely new and unusual), so I'm guessing it exists. I'm just not sure how to search to find it or what search terms to use.

 

A metronome would probably help at home, and we can practice with it (I'm a music teacher-I have about four or five with different auditory and visual signals). but not in class, and it's in class where it's really an issue-from what I've seen, she tends to adjust more easily in a 1-1 conversation.

[PeterPan]

Is she going to be reading the text or memorizing? You can highlight the text or put color-coding on it (dots, whatever).

[acablue]

How about making a Youtube video of the words for her presentation? Like a karaoke video?

[geodob]

As your a music teacher, perhaps you could use singing songs with her, to explore different tempos and rhythm?

Where if she can learn how to change the tempo and rhythm of songs?

This skill could then carry over to her speech?

Perhaps after she works out her weekly presentations? She could play with them and try singing them?

[Lang Syne Boardie]

A 'fidget' that I personally use is to invisibly roll my fingers of my left hand against my leg at the end of each sentence or idea. In my mind, I am pausing to let the thought sink in, as rain falls down into a field, before I go on. (If I'm too nervous to do it imperceptibly, I roll my toes within my shoe.)

 

If I don't do this, I drag everyone so swiftly down the track on a mad chase after my train of thought that afterwards they don't even know what I said. The only comment is that they're sure it was very clever. LOL

[Guest lorr85]

Check out the Speech Pacesetter app or the Conversation Paceboard app on the app store which could be of benefit. They are made by Aptus SLT

 

https://www.facebook.com/AptusSLT