Animated Speech Corporation -- Team Up with Timo: Vocabulary Learning

Special Needs Software for Speech Therapy, Autism Learning, Apraxia and Deaf Learning

An animated language tutor with extremely realistic speech articulation,Timo captures and engages students’ attention in one-on-one practice sessions. Timo is a way for students to catch up on school and home vocabulary they have had difficulty learning. The lessons are particularly helpful for children who are deaf or hard of hearing and are learning to speak, or those who have other speech delays such as apraxia.
Timo has proven to be extremely effective in helping students increase their oral vocabulary because he:

Clearly presents accurate articulation and visual cues that accompany speech through face and mouth movements
Maximizes the valuable time students spend on face-to-face language development work
Provides multiple opportunities for the child to hear and practice saying new words
Personalizes the act of learning on the computer through a conversational model

Team Up with Timo: Speech Therapy, Apraxia and Autism Software Team Up With Timo:Vocabulary includes 127 lessons covering more than 650 words drawn from K-4th grade curricula.

	The Science of Visible Speech
	Hearing people are typically unaware of their reliance on cues of “visible speech” to understand spoken language. Yet validated research demonstrates that humans develop language skills not only by hearing spoken words, but by “reading” speakers’ facial expressions and accompanying gestures as well. Obviously, this puts children with hearing impairments at an extreme disadvantage. While they may receive the visible cues that accompany speech, they have no sounds with which to pair these cues. Thus, unless they are fortunate enough to participate in daily, one-on-one language development sessions, they will struggle to build vocabulary and attain even minimal grade-level standards.		This was a driving factor in UCSC Professor Dom Massaro’s research into animated talking agent technology. He and his team spent more than 15 years developing and refining a computeranimated talking head that excels at language and speech training. Timo— a second-generation animated agent— is the result. At his core, Timo is a true three-dimensional wire frame model. He’s powered by software tools that enable even nontechnical people to control his facial movements, emotions, intentions, and appearance.


	Helping language-delayed children identify, hear, and say new words From initial pre-test to final demonstration of student understanding, Team Up With Timo:Vocabulary provides an enjoyable and effective way for language-delayed children to measurably increase their vocabulary and improve their speaking skills. By listening and practicing with Timo, your students can learn words before they encounter them in the classroom, building both their confidence and their ability to succeed.

	Timo:Vocabulary includes dozens of subject areas and topics including animals, insects, space, the human body,weather, special days, and historical people and places.		Visually detailed photos and images provide interest and clarity for each lesson. Some images © 2005 Dorling Kindersley.All rights reserved.
	The Eight Phases of Vocabulary Building

Whether you’re a teacher, a speech language pathologist, or a parent, Team Up With Timo:Vocabulary can help:

Support classroom work by pre-teaching and reinforcing K–4th grade vocabulary

Increase the number of words your students can hear, say, read, spell, and identify

Improve students’ pronunciation in fun and effective ways

Build confidence and strategies for learning and using new words

Prepare students to learn detailed subject matter in the future

"This is an exceptional program
for students with hearing loss.At
home or in the classroom, students
can increase their vocabulary by
accessing the best practices of
master teachers through this tireless,
consistent animated tutor."

—Pamela Connors,Director,
Int’l Center for Technology in Oral Education

“To understand and learn, kids
depend on both auditory and
visual cues.Timo software combines
these cues in a very human
way so kids can learn new vocabulary faster.Timo can't replace a real teacher, but he offers an
effective substitute.”
—Christine Soland,M.S. Ed,
CCC-SP/A, CED

System Requirements
Windows
Windows 98 or higher
Minimum 600 MHz CPU with
minimum 128MB RAM
Thousands of colors
Sound Blaster or compatible
16-bit sound card
Speaker or headphones
Microphone (for Imitation and
Elicitation sections only)
CD-ROM drive, 200 MB disk space
(including lessons)

Macintosh
Macintosh OS 9.2 or higher,
including OS X
Minimum 400 MHz CPU with
minimum 128MB RAM
Thousands of colors
Speaker or headphones
Microphone (for Imitation and
Elicitation sections only)
CD-ROM drive, 200 MB disk space
(including lessons)

Animated Speech Corporation produces customizable, software-based tools and curricula that help increase the rate of learning speech and language skills. Backed by 15 years of university research and tested and refined in pilot school programs, our products are designed to accommodate individual students' needs.

Animated Speech Corporation
2261 Market Street, #293
San Francisco, CA 94114
1.800.701.9025
www.animatedspeech.com

© 2005 Animated Speech Corp.
All rights reserved.


Cheerful, personalized reports present visual progress to students.	Teachers can customize each child's lesson plan with a variety of options, such as turning captioning on or off and adjusting recording times.	Detailed progress reports can be generated on a lesson-by-lesson basis.
Team Up With Timo:Vocabulary is available in both a Home and School/Clinic Edition. For more information or to order, please call 1-800-701-9025 or visit www.animatedspeech.com.
	Team Up with Timo: Stories