Project Details

Type

Research Project

Principle Investigator(s)

University of York and James Madison University

BabblePlay

BabblePlay responds to your child’s vocalizations with fun colourful moving shapes, encouraging your child to vocalise more. Will your child discover that by making sounds they can activate the display? When that happens, your child may feel something very special – they will have actually controlled an appliance or a toy on their own – getting it to do what they want when they want it!

Meanwhile, while interacting with the app your child may vocalise more, practicing the sounds that will later help them start to produce their very first words.

The app was developed by a team of researchers at the University of York and James Madison University who are interested in voice and speech, and in particular in how producing sounds prepares children for starting to talk. We hope that long-term interaction with the app will motivate children to vocalise more, and that this will provide a solid foundation for early word use. That is something we are interested in studying, with your help!

How do you play with the app?

When the game is turned on, it responds with shapes to your child’s vocalizations. Your child may learn that in order to see more shapes s/he needs to vocalise again. That’s the game – the more you vocalise, the more shapes you see!

The game will turn itself off automatically after 5 minutes.

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