Hamaguchi Apps for Speech, Language & Auditory Development's groundbreaking iPad app is designed for older elementary through high school students, who would benefit from practice interpreting vocal intonation, facial expressions, perspective-taking, body language, and idiomatic or slang expressions. Using real photographs, voices and short mini-video clips of a variety of social situations and expressions, this app provides a dynamic way to help learn and practice interpreting messages that are “between the lines” and simply can’t be replicated with worksheets and static flashcards.
Check out our demo of this app on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRy4QF1E1Y8
This Lite app provides 12 samples of each of the three activities for a total of 36 tasks and is for a single user only. (The full version provides a total of 199 tasks)
This app uses American expressions and body language.
There are three activities in this app:
1. Listening: The user hears a voice speak a sentence, e.g., “What did he say?! Are you serious?!” (Often the same phrase is heard spoken in several different ways throughout the activity, but with different emotion and inflection) A question is then asked, “Who said it?” The user is shown a series of photographs. The user touches the correct facial expression that matches the voice.
2. Body Language: A very short video-clip is shown that depicts an interaction or situation. For example, in a scene at a park, there are two girls whispering to each other and clearly having “girl talk”, and giggling. Another girl walks up and attempts to join the conversation, but is ignored. The camera closes in on this actor and the narrator says, “What is she thinking?” The user’s task is to look at the choices of responses and select the one that matches the facial expression/body language.
3. Expressions: A very short video-clip is shown that depicts an actor speaking a sentence that contains an idiomatic or slang expression, e.g., “They caught the burglar red-handed.’” The user is then asked, “What does that mean?” Choices are provided.
The lite version is for a single user only. The percentage correct is reported for each user’s performance on each of the three activities. The user can select his/her own individual settings. Settings include: Selection of the activities, order of the activities (or random), praise phrases and correct sound effect bell on/off; answer choices (group of 2, 3 or 4), how to display choices (automatically or manually) and whether to move forward automatically or by touching an arrow. Progress can be tracked, and displayed or not displayed. One reward animation is included (Dunk Tank). This is not a game of skill but a fun diversion, which can be turned off or set to intervals.
*Please contact our tech support if you are experiencing any technical issues with our apps. We will always help you troubleshoot it and get back to you generally within one business day. We cannot respond to reviews and there are generally easy solutions to every issue. info@hamaguchiapps.com
PRIVACY POLICY: We do NOT collect personal data from our users and have no ads. Personal data regarding user performance on the tasks on this app are self-contained and not transmitted in any way, unless the user chooses to email them to someone else. There are no in-app purchases in this app. A demo link will allow a user with internet access to view a video on YouTube to learn about the features of this app, as well as a link to our other apps in the iTunes store.
Developed by licensed and ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and author, Patti Hamaguchi, M.A., CCC-SLP. To find out more about this app and our other upcoming projects, visit our website: www.hamaguchiapps.com
The idea of this was great, including having a choice of between 2-4 answers to make it less or more challenging. The acting, however, was mediocre, which meant there were some expressions that could easily be construed a few ways. Also, some of the answers were so far off in left field, they weren't remotely plausible, making the choices too easy for some of the questions. Some of the child actors are unclear, while the adults are much better. A plus is there are different sayings and idioms that are used, which could be helpful to many. If this were cleaned up a bit and refined, it could be a very useful tool, but as is, may leave some kids more confused than ever. Perhaps with a prelim round of showing different expressions on different people first as a level, then this quiz, would be more helpful.
