Logan has a lisp and he hates to talk in kindergarten because people don’t understand him. His parents, Amy and Eric, see his frustration and they’d do anything to help but Logan hates the drill exercises the speech therapist gave them. The speech therapist says the only way to improve is saying the same sound over and over. Is there a better way?

Solution   

Yes, instead of “Say Snake 10 times,”  Amy can have a conversation with Logan about a Snake, and wonder aloud if the snake is serious or silly.  Instead of correcting, Amy continually models the correct S sound.  So instead of training the child, the Speechguy app trains the parent. To develop this type of communication, parents need to break old habits, but abstract suggestions such as “Ask open-ended questions” and “Give the child time to respond” fail to produce new habits. Parents need specific suggestions they can apply immediately. 

Strategy

1. The Speechguy app shows a beautiful engaging photo that has been automatically selected based on the child’s speech problem (S for Snake, Ball for final L)

2. It gives the parent specific prompt: “That snake looks so serious to me.” 

3. It also reminds the parent to Pause and counts down 4-3-2-1

4. Since the desired habit is to have the child say the word, not say it correctly yet,  Speechguy reinforces it by having Amy tap a counter every time Logan says an S word.

User Research

Highlights 

 •   The struggle is between a child needing to practice and the parent wanting to help without irritating the child.

 •   Many of the opportunities for a short practice session are while the parent and child are out of the house, for example waiting for a sibling at soccer practice.

  •   ​​​​​​​Kids enjoy playing games on their parents phones but not if it is too "educational."

 

wireframe & Prototype