Bottom line: Avaz FreeSpeech is a powerful new app designed to help children of all learning levels and language abilities develop grammatically correct sentences using a simple building block method. A welcome addition for anyone with young writers that struggle with arranging sentences or who have a language impairment that makes it frustrating to communicate.
If you’d like to purchase Avaz FreeSpeech ($9.99, iPad/iPhone), please use the handy link below so they’ll know who sent you.
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No ads, No in-app purchase, external links for sharing through social media
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I’m not sure what I expected when I was assigned Avaz FreeSpeech to review. We all know Avaz as a developer of premier AAC apps to help children with special needs communicate. And I have to admit, I was a little bit intimidated to be reviewing one of their apps. I needn’t have worried, though, because Avaz FreeSpeech is NOT an AAC app (or not only and AAC app). Instead, it’s a tool to help children at all learning stages with varying levels of communication skills choose individual components (represented by pictures) and turn them into grammatically correct sentences.
This app opens with a very simple tutorial that shows us the mechanics of how to get around in the app. First the user chooses a simple subject (I, you, we, etc.) from the choices along the left-side pane(on the iPad) or the bottom of the screen (on and iPhone) and drags it to the middle of the screen. After the subject is “pinned” up on the screen, we begin to see arrows that prompt the user to expand their idea, continuing until they have the components to create a sentence. Once all of the items are in place (who is doing, what is being done, when it is happening, etc.), the user see that their thought is turned into a grammatically correct sentence (complete with articles and prepositions) that is verbally repeated back to the user.
The functionality of this app felt very intuitive to me. As each new piece was added, the building blocks naturally expanded with choices to lead the user in the direction that they want their sentence to go. As each choice is filled in, more options are presented and the app begins to use predictive technology to offer up words that the user is most likely to need. (Don’t worry, though. You always have the option of choosing to look at the expanded vocabulary list.) Users can continue to add components until they have completed their idea. Kids can easily decide tense by choosing “past”, “present”, “future”, or “continuous”. They can opt to turn the entire idea into a question by tapping one simple button. They can easily change the inflection of a sentence by indicating “can”, “may”, or “must”. Once a satisfactory sentence is achieved, it can easily be shared by the user through social media, text, or email.
The settings section in FreeSpeech allows the user to choose whether to see pictures or to just see words in the building blocks. Users can also change the difficulty level for the vocabulary, the inflections, and the prompts that are offered. Also, there are four different voices to choose from for the verbal parts of the app.
What I liked:
- The ease of use (with the building blocks) gives this app a non-threatening feel, which will be wonderful for timid learners who might become frustrated easily.
- It is a lovely, professional app that has the potential to be applied to so many different users. I can envision it becoming a powerful language tool for many with language difficulties.
What I might change:
- I’d love to see developers add a function to be able to add words that don’t exist in the current vocabulary list. (I should note that you can currently add items in the "people" section.)
- I would like to be able to turn off the “share” function in the settings as a measure of parental control.
Overall, FreeSpeech is a high quality app that offers language and sentence building assistance to learners at all levels. I can see so many uses for this app, from sentence building for a child who is just learning to write to helping children with language impairments. I also envision it as a wonderful tool for children and adults alike whose first language is not English. If you would like to learn more, you can visit their website here.
*****
Kelli ate a cupcake for lunch. Don't judge. Smart Apps for Kids was paid a fee to review this app in a priority manner.
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