ui/ux, illustration, video animation (external)
Logo Play
duration: 4 weeks
tools: sketch, illustrator, invision, after effects
Process
Research
Defining MVP objectives with speech therapist, create sketches of exercises
User flow
Fitting initial sketches of therapy exercises into UX
wireframes
Low, mid and high fidelity
video animation
Initial MVP video animation done by external source & testing with toddler group
prototype
Duck Song (Croatian version)
Project Background
This project was originally developed for Croatian market. The idea for further iterations is to translate the application and exercises into English and adjust speech therapy topics and exercises for English clients.
Exercises are divided into subcategories according to child’s age (1, 2, 3).
Main categories are clearly distinguished due to educational/therapeutic nature of work sheets.
Illustrations in the work sheets are adjusted according to child’s age group speech and visuomotor development and educational goal.
Separate category with instructions and general speech development introduction will be provided for educators and parents.
Professional Reasoning behind the Project
It is a common misconception that a child will learn how to speak if he/she learns to pronounce certain voices. This misconception stems from a misunderstanding of the concept of pronunciation and speech. Speech contains psychological and social component that goes beyond mere physiological reproduction of voices.
During his/her development, a child first adopts “visible” voices, ie those that are articulated with the lips (p, b, m). When pronounced, the consonants merge with the vowel in the form of a syllable; these are the first language forms to be adopted through play. The closest form of play for a child of this age are nursery rhymes. They contain verbal communication and satisfy the need for activity because they can be demonstrated through movement of fingers/hands and body in total (clapping, waving). Nursery rhymes consist of rhythm through which the child adopts peculiarities of tones – pitch, speed, volume – which form the prosodic basis of speech. That is why they are most often used in therapeutic work with toddlers.
The development of the articulation of voices takes place by groups of voices.
The first group consists of the sounds p, b, m, which are always associated with vowels, so the child first learns the words “mama”, “pa-pa” (goodbye in Croatian), “papa” (to eat in Croatian).
Another possibility is when child starts adopting articulation within group of sounds t, d, n, so the first words appear consistently, such as “tata” (dad in Croatian), “deda” (grandfather in Croatian), “nana” (to sleep in Croatian).
Further development includes the adoption of the group k, g, h; followed by v, j, so that by the middle of the 3rd year the child articulates all the sounds except s, z, c, š, ž, č, l, r. All the nursery rhymes for children of this age group are based on these sounds that a child can pronounce.
The program in the proposal contains an example of work on the development of the first voices and words for the purpose of communication. The child’s interest is aroused by play, counting, simple language forms and a simple pictures in vivid colors.