The Minimal Pairs is designed for use by individuals with developmental communication difficulties and with phonological difficulties. The app can also be used by those with dysphasia, dyslexia or dysgraphia; teachers of adult literacy; or therapists working with children who have language and literacy needs. The app can be set up by parents, teachers, and speech pathologists and can be used in both listening and practicing for speaking modes, using phrase completion tasks.
The program targets the following speech sounds in the initial, medial, final, and blend position of words: p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z, dz (as in jam), j (as in yacht), w, r, l, th, sh, ch. The user can choose to work on sounds at the beginning of words (such as wing and ring), the middle (open and ocean), the end (bed and bet), or in blends (such as clock compared to lock). Each task can also be modified to have the symbol and text, just the text or just the symbol. At the end of each set, the user can watch motivational videos of Dubdub and see their results. Results can be viewed and shared.
Key features include:
- Over 700 individual target words
- Targets auditory discrimination (identifying the difference between sounds in words)
- Targets spoken production of minimal pair contrasts at word level and within phrase completion tasks
- The app covers all consonants in English and offers both English and American voices
- Option to present the cards with symbol only, symbol + word or word only
- Spoken cues
- Engaging and colorful Widgit symbols
- Fun and motivational videos
- Fun sounds used as a reinforcement to aid learning (can also be turned off)
- Option of two themes (Dubdub’s theme of alternative theme)
- Clear visual feedback on each item
- Automatically keeps track of accuracy
- Email results table (includes performance of each item within the set and the overall percentage correct within the set.
- Parental control menu access
- Information from our resident speech therapist
- Enables self directed learning and continuation of therapy at home