Between the Lines (Level 1)

A speech therapy app for autistic kids to help learn social inference cues!

This app is perfect for autistic elementary age students and up who need extra practice with interpreting social cues, auditory processing, facial expressions, perspective-taking, body language, and idiomatic or slang expressions. Created by a speech-language pathologist, it uses real photographs and short mini-video clips that show a variety of social situations and expressions--a dynamic way to help learn and practice interpreting the messages that are “between the lines” and simply can’t be replicated with worksheets and static flashcards. Scenes for the body language activity include a shopping mall, kitchen, restaurant, park, bedroom, school, gym, birthday party and more.

This is Between the Lines Level 1, which presents content that is an introduction to our Between the Lines app series. This app uses American expressions and body language. It is a perfect app for speech-language pathologists to use in therapy and for parents to use at home for added speech therapy practice.

There are three activities in this app, with 204 tasks total:

1. Listening/Auditory Processing: ("Who said it?") The user hears a voice speak a sentence, e.g., “Ewww!” A question is then asked, “Who said it?” The user is shown a series of photographs and touches the correct one. This task requires the user to compare the faces shown and match it to the emotion heard in the voice.

2. Body Language: ("What is she thinking?") A very short video-clip is shown that depicts an interaction or situation. For example, a girl is annoyed because her friend is ignoring her. The user’s task is to look at the choices of responses and select the one that matches the facial expression/body language shown in the video. For non-readers, they can simply listen to the choices.

3. Expressions: ("What does that mean?") A very short video-clip is shown that depicts someone speaking a sentence that contains an idiomatic or slang expression, e.g., “She’s kind of nosy.’” The user is then asked, “What does that mean?”

The game can be played by up to 75 users or as a group. The percentage correct/data is reported for each user’s performance on each of the three activities.

Progress can be tracked, and displayed or not. Reward animations are provided at selected intervals for a welcome fun and break including Dunk Tank, Bull’s Eye (darts), and Knock ‘Em Down. These are not games of skill but a fun diversion.

A perfect app for speech therapy and for children with autism and social-pragmatic communication difficulties!

*Please contact our tech support if you are experiencing any technical issues with our apps at info@hamaguchiapps.com

PRIVACY POLICY: We do NOT collect personal data from our users and have no ads. Personal data regarding user performance on the tasks on this app are self-contained and not transmitted in any way, unless the user chooses to email them to someone else. There are no in-app purchases in this app.

Designed by Patti Hamaguchi, M.A., CCC-SLP, a licensed and ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist. Check out our other apps at www.hamaguchiapps.com