App for helping people with Aphasia goes global

Oct. 29, 2013 - PRLog -- Smarty Ears is excited to announce that it has updated its app, iName It, adding two new languages: Spanish and Portuguese. iName It was released in 2012 and developed initially for the one million English-speaking people who suffer from forms of Aphasia in the United States. Now, iName It will serve an even bigger population by reaching out to speakers of two additional languages. These individuals are unable to find the right word to describe an item, action or thing.

Since each person is different, creating an app to address everyone’s difficulty level was challenging.  Clinicians had to develop a universal approach that would be suitable for all types of users. iName It combines multiple strategies that can assist patients who struggle in a wide variety of areas. The app has been effective at helping patients with different levels of communication.

iName It gives users a simple, systematic way to retrieve just the right word, using realistic visual scenes that are enhanced by the five methods of evidence-based cueing strategies. iName It allows speech therapists to use various combinations of cueing options in order to meet the requirements of each patient, regardless of their level of need. Each target word can be elicited by one or more of the available cues.

iName It is just one of the iPad apps created by certified Speech-Language Pathologists, Elizabeth Begley and Mary Pitti. iName it was developed under the guidance of seasoned app designer, Smarty Ears CEO and also speech-language pathologist Barbara Fernandes.  Fernandes’ company, Smarty Ears, has developed over sixty apps for those with various communication difficulties, including children and adults in a variety of languages.

According to Mary Pitti, Clinic Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at Ithaca College, “We’re excited to making some updates to our iName It app for iPad.  By adding Spanish and Portuguese, we can now reach out and provide a tool to thousands more individuals who struggle with Aphasia around the world.”

Fernandes added, “This app has become an essential tool for SLP’s who work with those struggling with Aphasia. We zero in on basic words that people use on a daily basis.  We’ve gotten great feedback from Speech-Language Pathologists in Brazil who already use one or more of our 15 apps that are available in Portuguese thus far and many of them urged us to develop a version of iName It for those who speak Portuguese.”

Smarty Ears is an award-winning company with an extensive line of educational and medical apps, many available in multiple-languages and designed to serve as tools for promoting speech and language skills to children and adults. The apps are designed for kids and adults alike and have become a favorite tool for speech pathologists and teachers working with those who have communication difficulties.

Smarty Ears has earned the “Teachers with Apps Certified Developer” certification.  This Certification recognizes App Developers who consistently create educational apps for the mobile platform that are exemplary in content, presentation, and execution, as well as overall user experience.

iName It is currently available for $14.99 and can be purchased from the iTunes app store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iname-it/id486781414?mt=8. The app is compatible with an iPad running iOS 5.1 or above.

You can watch a video to learn more about iName it here: http://youtu.be/qU7x4XLZWXQ



For more information about Smarty Ears or iName It, please visit smartyearsapps.com or email at contact@smartyearsapps.com.About Smarty Ears

Smarty Ears is an award-winning developer of educational iPad apps for children and adults. Each app is designed to educate students while making the learning experience fun and entertaining.  All apps are developed by certified speech-language pathologists & teachers with years of experience and training.  Smarty Ears was founded in 2009 by Barbara Fernandes, a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association and was the first company to create apps geared towards speech and language therapy for mobile devices.

For more information, please visit:  http://smartyearsapps.com/

Media Contact:

Jonathan Fernandes

Smarty Ears

De Soto, TX