Articulation Station Español: A Review

Fellow bilingual SLPs, rejoice! Little Bee Speech has a new app called Articulation Station Español and it is nothing short of excepcional!  Collectively, we’ve given feedback and Little Bee Speech delivered.  I’ve explored my fair share of apps and wished silently for improvements, different features, and of course... more Spanish material. Articulation Station Español has a ton of great features. Although this is an articulation app, it has great pictures that can help users enhance vocabulary skills as well.

Basic, yet handy, features include the ability to enter student names, track data by marking productions as correct, incorrect, or approximate, record productions, upload user name/picture, and back-up data. In addition, you can create groups so that you can log information for all students (up to 6) in your group. To allow for dialectical differences, the app allows you to add words and pictures that may be more meaningful for your students or clients. One feature, that may seem basic to an SLP, but not to a parent or teacher, is the light bulb icon you can see when you’re selecting sounds to target. Pressing the light bulb turns the card over and the text informs you when the sound should be mastered, how to produce the sound, and even tells a fun way to practice the sound. The app features various activities including: Sounds in Words, Flashcards, Matching, Sounds in Phrases, Rotating Phrases, Unique Phrases, Sound in Sentences, Rotating Sentences, and Unique Sentences. 

Read for more information regarding the aforementioned ways to use the app.

Let me describe a few of my favorite things about the app. I really like that I have the ability to show or hide the Spanish articles. This allows me to target grammar while also working on the individual’s articulation. For kids who can read, this visual helps increase awareness as they are able to visually see that their production did not match the screen. This is a good way to use visual feedback.

Finding apps for children with significant articulation, phonological deficits or apraxia of speech that are equally engaging and therapeutic can be difficult. I love the feature on this app that allows you to target vowels and diphthongs. You can select whether you want to target just one or a combination of the vowels and diphthongs. 

The app allows you to turn English translations on and the translation appears in small font on the bottom of the screen. Although this is an articulation app, this feature may help bilingual individuals who can read by reinforcing vocabulary( or even just with basic word recognition).  The target word is highlighted both in the Spanish probe and in the English translation, making it quick and easy for the individual to reinforce vocabulary understanding, while working on their articulation goals. 

Overall, the app is great and I give it five stars! My students love that there are more options than just flashcards and matching. They also liked looking for their names on the screen when it was their turn. This was a good task for my preschool kiddos who are learning to recognize their names. It also allowed for targeting following directions with conditional and temporal concepts as I told my students, "Don't press your name, until you remind me what sound you're working on today," or "Press your name, after you high-five your partner."  It’s a great feeling knowing that I now have an app that focuses on Spanish articulation that my students love! Although the app is $44.99, it’s definitely an investment worth making.  

As always, thank you for reading! 

Quick tip: Articulation refers to one’s ability to speak clearly. If you are unable to understand your child or student, or notice distorted speech, you should find out if an evaluation and speech therapy are needed. Find more information here or learn more about services. 

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