Shape Coding Lite

Shape Coding Lite is a free demonstration version of the full Shape Coding app. This is designed for teachers and speech and language therapists / pathologists to use with children and young people who are having difficulties producing and understanding English sentence structure and grammar. As with the full Shape Coding app, it uses the SHAPE CODING® system which has been show in several research projects to help children and young people with language disorders increase the length and complexity of sentences they can understand and use and improve the accuracy of their sentence production. The SHAPE CODING system and the apps are designed primarily for children and young people with language disorders aged 7-20, but the system has also been successfully used with younger children, children with intellectual disability, including Down syndrome and adults with acquired aphasia. The Shape Coding Lite app has less functionality and flexibility than the full Shape Coding app but can be used to form simple sentences.

The SHAPE CODING system uses a visual coding system to show the rules for how words are put together in sentences, to develop the child’s understanding of spoken and written grammar and to develop their ability to use grammar successfully to express themselves. The system includes use of colours (parts of speech), arrows (tense and aspect) , lines (singular and plural) and shapes (syntactic structure). These are all included in the app (although not all are enabled in the Lite version), but the professional controlling the app can choose which features display for the student, so that it is personalised to their current levels and targets. Settings are preserved for the student between uses. The Lite app allows only a single teacher and student, but the full version can have multiple teachers and students.

The Shape Coding Lite app is equipped with a basic set of words which can be inserted into those shapes which are enabled to make simple sentences. A much wider range of shape options are enabled in the full version than the Lite version, so more grammatical rules can be taught and more complex sentences created.

The app uses text-to-speech, so that students who struggle to read can also use the app.

For a demonstration of the features of the full version of the app (some of which are also enabled in the Lite version), see: https://www.moorhouse.surrey.sch.uk/shape-coding-app

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This app assumes a certain degree of familiarity with the Shape Coding system. For more information see our webpage: http://www.moorhouseschool.co.uk/shape-coding , our short introductory video on how the system works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot-uekkC560 and accompanying slides: http://www.moorhouseschool.co.uk/uploads/Shapecoding%20/vodcast%20slides.pdf . Courses and a discussion group are also available for those who wish to find out more information.