Speak To Me has recently invested in the Starling Technology to use with our clients both within the clinic and for our clients to use at home. This amazing device is a small clip on Star which the baby / preschooler wears, which allows the device to count the amount of words the child hears and sends the data via bluetooth straight to an app on the parents phone. In New Zealand there is only one distributer of the Starling devices, Megan Chinnery, who is a Speech and Language Therapist based in Christchurch. She has kindly taken the time to write us a guest blog all about the Starling and is happy to take orders from any of our clients who think it would be a good idea to purchase one for use with their child in their home. Her details are listed at the end of her blog. 

Cheers, Rosie

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The Starling is essentially a FitBit but for language with the aim of increasing the quantity and quality of talk a child hears to aid language development.                                                     

The power of talk and hearing language is HUGE. 

The Starling counts your words, encouraging you to talk more to your baby or preschooler. It gives you all of the tools you need to accelerate your child’s development! Research proves 90% of your child’s brain has grown by the time they reach age 4. The more words they have heard by that time the better they will do in school.

I love using the Starling with families on my caseload and they have loved using it! I am able to work alongside parents to increase the amount they talk each day by logging into the app remotely. I can then send them encouraging messages and help them out with ideas for times of the day when they find it challenging to talk. One Mum, who has a 14 month old son, was able to increase the amount of language her son heard each day from 7,000 to 12,000 words in just 3 weeks! The Starling goes everywhere with your child so lots of families have found it really reassuring to see the amount of language their child hears when they are not at home, for example, at grandma’s house or preschool. 

The number one place I recommend to parents as a language learning haven….the Supermarket!! You can talk to your child about what you need, label items as you get them off the shelf, talk about what they look like/feel like/smell like, you can talk about what you are going to make with that item and who loves to eat it at your house. The options are endless! 

Additional benefits:

•  Counts all languages
•  Age-specific activities sent via the app daily
•  Water & drool proof
•  Privacy: it counts but doesn’t record
•  Smartphone app
•  Size of a pacifier
•  4-day battery life
• Medical-grade plastic
• 1 year warranty and lifelong follow up support

Starlings are now available in New Zealand! They are just $235 + Postage.

 To find out more or order your Starling today contact Megan Chinnery on #0273009368 or meganchinnery@gmail.com