Quincy, Massachusetts – Everyday Speech today is proud to announce the release and immediate availability of Let’s be Social 1.1 for iPad, an update to its popular app focused on helping model and teach social skills to children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental delays. Version 1.1 includes full text to speech support for all content, allowing a wider range of access for those in the special needs community.

Let’s be Social is an interactive tool designed to help Speech Language Pathologists, Special Education professionals, and parents address areas of social communication that children and young adults may have trouble picking up naturally. Let’s be Social comes standard with 25 premium lessons, complete with custom illustrations, that cover many of the social interactions children face every day, from making friends to dealing with disappointment. Let’s be Social also provides the ability for users to create completely customized lessons using their own pictures and text.

The 25 premium lessons included in Let’s be Social were created by ASHA-certified SLPs and are based on real world experiences working with children who have a variety of needs. Lessons are organized into two parts: A Lesson Summary, and Q&A. The Lesson Summary is designed to walk through the entire lesson from beginning to end, in order to model expected actions and emotions felt during the lesson. The Q&A section breaks the lesson down into smaller pieces, and prompts the user to answer a question about the interaction. Some of the pragmatic skills worked on are: recognizing emotions, reading body language, reacting appropriately, and following conversational rules.

Let’s be Social’s content creation tools also provide incredible flexibility by providing users with an easy, intuitive way to create their own lessons. This allows users to write specific, detailed content and include pictures extremely relevant to the interaction being discussed.

“The population that we serve often responds incredbly well to the iPad as a learning platform”, said Brittany Lehane M.S. CCC-SLP, Director of Content at Everyday Speech. “By letting users use their own pictures and making the child or young adult part of the lesson, we’re able to take advantage of the platform, increase the interactivity of the lesson, and make the experience more significant.”

Lehane also added that the content creation capabilities make the app appropriate for both a single user and group setting. “Our users have found that groups really enjoy creating their own lessons. They can role play, act out the scenes, and save those memories as a lesson. We’ve also seen teachers have their older students create lessons for their younger students. That gives the older students a sense of responsibility, and promotes real-life social interaction between peers.”

Text to Speech Support, new to version 1.1, allows all the content in Let’s be Social to be read aloud by the user’s device, including user created content. “From the beginning, we’ve been dedicated to both meeting the needs of as many people as we possibly can, and listening to our users”, said Lehane. “Our current users wanted a way for those with visual impairments or trouble digesting text to use the product. By adding text to speech, we’re widening our appeal and staying true to our core values.”

Features:
* 25 Premium Lessons written by ASHA certified SLP’s
* 70 custom illustrations
* All lessons have summaries and interactive Q&A
* Create your own content
* Use your own pictures
* Text to Speech for all content (iOS 7)
* In app tutorials
* No internet connection required

Device Requirements:
* Compatible with iPad
* Requires iOS 6.0 or higher
* 56.3 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Let’s be Social! 1.1 is $14.99 (or equivalent amount) and is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Education category.

Let’s be Social! 1.1
Purchase and Download
Screenshot (Lesson Summary)
Screenshot (Q&A Example)
Screenshot (Created Content)
App Icon

Based in Quincy, Massachusetts, Everyday Speech was founded to provide the special needs community with high quality, affordable products that take advantage of the technology we already use. Copyright Everyday Speech 2014. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.