Logopaedics teaching aids

Blowing football – players try to get the ball onto the other side of the table or to a rival goal by blowing.

Magic ball – when blowing properly the ball rotates and does not fall out of the basket, commonly sold aid.

Whistles, bubble blower, propellers – stimulative logopaedics aids that are commonly sold.

Classification of logopaedics teaching aids according to Sovák

One of the best and lesser known systematic classification of various logopaedics aids and appliances was elaborated by Miloš Sovák, MD, the profesor at Charles University, the founder of Czechoslovak logopaedics, the creator of logopaedics theory and practice, in 1946 he founded Logopaedics Institute in Prague. He sorted the aids very transparently, essencially, according to the area of application into:

– stimulative (musical instruments, bubble blower, different balloons that encourage children to produce voice, blow, speak and so on), 

– motivative (for example lego or party games where communication is required), 

– didactical (for pronunciation practice of separate sounds sets of pictures, words and rhymes are used)

– derivative (They have to distract the defectively speaking person‘s attention from his own speech. In the past there were mechanical aids used. They were put into the mouth, but they had an interim effect. An application of so called white noise in headphones is used when the stammering person is speaking to distract his attention nowadays.), 

– supporting (spatulas and probes supporting a practice of articulation),

– logopaedics probes,

– illustrative (for example the Aschenbrenner‘s „therapy mirror“ that is portable and its shape of an octagonal trapezoid enables eight children to sit around belongs here),

– indicators. The devices that signalize a proper or false sound which a person with the speech disorder makes, for example a melody indicator, a tone of voice pitch and intonation indicator, an intensity indicator,

– registry, it deals with a sound (tape recorder) or optical (film, video record), possibly, compound record. These records can be used as a proof of successful logopaedics care, for monitoring, for reproduction of different texts, words, music (this is concurrently a registry, an illustrative and a motivative aid).

Many devices and aids can be classified concurrently to more categories, for example a metronome or appliances using Lee efect could be categorized as supporting but also as derivative aids, a mirror can be used as an illustrative and a diagnostic aid, indicators are concurrently illustrative and motivative devices.