‘Communication is the Key!’

What is the first thing you learn at school when you exclusively start your education journey? Yes, language! It is the language that builds the base for every activity that the person is going to do in the future.

Language is the base that connects every dot of the journey that the person is going to set sail on. From learning the basics of mathematics to interesting (his)stories from history, language allows the person to not only learn on their own but also communicate effectively.

Now, in this modern contemporary world, many children struggle with socializing with children on a day-to-day basis. Starting with this, such things escalate quickly in the future, when children find it difficult to communicate with their fellow classmates, colleagues and even parents, and hence the first statement ‘Communication is the Key!’ is used.

Though children usually overcome this with time, training them with support and in an interactive learning way—at early stages—can demonstrate and instil a lifelong learning attitude in children. Moreover, having a good speech can help toddlers form their opinions and understand things and also helps in holistic emotional development.

Understanding this and the close connection that children have with technology, Jernej Fuzir, CEO, along with his three friends, Founded Speech Blubs, an ed-tech platform that helps children grow their expressive skills along with receptive vocabulary, improve articulation, build confidence, and boost several skills necessary to thrive, in this modern and digital world.

An Inspiring Journey of Necessity

The journey of Speech Blubs is as intriguing as it gets. As they say, four dedicated young friends came together and laid the foundation of Speech Blubs. Emphasizing on their journey, Jernej says, “As adults, we wanted to use our experience with speech-related struggles to make the journey towards finding their voice easier for other children. We used our skills to create a speech-promoting app that children would love.”

Further highlighting the application’s USPs, he further adds, “The Speech Blubs app is a science-backed interactive tool encouraging kids to speak more. With the help of peer role models and fun characters, children feel more motivated to practice sounds and words and reach their speech goals faster.”

Moreover, while the application aims to train students academically, it also provides a positive alternative to passive screen time, which has been an increasing concern over the last few years. Highlighting how the company is going to do that, Jernej says, “We want to create digital products that offer safe and smart screen time so that children can learn to use technology as an educational tool and not just another way to waste time.”

A Family Venture

The company’s bedrock foundation has been promoting opportunities for children by helping them find the voice they have in them. Everything that the application does is to help the children speak and speak in a better and more proficient way. Explaining the ideation behind the organization’s this philosophy, Jernej says, “We strive to create an app that is educational, affordable and prepares kids for the challenges they will face in life.”

Foreshadowing some light on this ideation and philosophy, Jernej explains it through the application’s benefit, saying, “One of the main benefits of Speech Blubs is that parents can start using it with their kids right away. We know how valuable in-person speech therapy is, but families waiting for their appointment often face long waiting lines and expensive fees. However, especially in the early years, children must get the support they need quickly or risk falling behind their peers. While the Speech Blubs app can’t replace in-person speech therapy, it can boost kids’ confidence, speech, and cognitive and social skills.“

“After the first prototype of our app was shared with the first families, our founders received thank-you mails from parents of kids with speech delay, apraxia, Down Syndrome, as well as kids on the autism spectrum. This became fundamental in defining our mission – to help every child get the speech tools they need, no matter the challenges they may be facing,” he further adds.

Science-backed Learning Composition

While using the app, the ideation that has gone before developing the prototype can be clearly seen. The app is in perfect synergy with science-backed learning components like Video Modelling and Peer Role Models.

Explaining this unique curation that makes the application smooth and easy to use, Jernej says, “Simply speaking, children learn by observing and mimicking other children, whom they find much more engaging than adults (sorry, parents!). Their task is to first watch a video of a ‘kid-teacher’ who demonstrates how to pronounce a word or sing a song. After repeating correctly after the kid-teacher, the child is rewarded with digital stickers, fun face filters, educational games, or interesting facts.“

A Global Multilingual Application

Being a prominent Ed-Tech application very popular in North American and European countries, the application provides speech training in American and British English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Planning the future of the application related to speech training, Jernej requests the audience to say, “We hope to add more languages in the future, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to write to us on Instagram with your suggestions. 🙂 We love talking to parents about how we can support their child’s development, and it seems that social media is a great way to connect with people.“

“The Speech Blubs app’s main focus is introducing kids to the foundations of speech and language. Kids start with early sounds, which help them master the first consonants. They continue by learning how to pronounce words and use them in context. The next step is combining words into sentences. Finally, they move on to phonemic awareness and connecting phonemes with graphemes, so the sound and the form of a letter, through fun early literacy activities,” he further adds.

Track, Identify & Improve!

The Speech Blubs app is curated in such a beautiful way which allows the parents and therapists to track the progress of the child. From giving them crucial insights into how much time is being spent using the app to how many exercises the child has completed using the app.

Further emphasizing on this unique tracking ability of the app, Jernej says, “That is very important as it provides an insight into how much their child has been practising and offers control over their screen time. Within the app, parents are also asked to complete a developmental assessment of their child. The answers are used to customize the app’s activities to their child’s abilities. The results also highlight their child’s talking skills, comprehension level, pragmatics, play, and hearing abilities. We suggest that parents re-take the assessment after a few weeks of using the app to see if there has been any progress.“

Preparing the Child for the Future

The Speech Blubs app has been a popular choice for many parents for the speech-building ability it provides to children in their early years. Highlighting the intricacies of the app and how it prepares children for the future, Jernej says, “The Speech Blubs app helps kids develop their communication skills, allowing them to express themselves and their needs. These are prerequisites for later success in life. The games and activities also nurture thinking-, social- and problem-solving skills, and build confidence, all while boosting their vocabulary. The activities are designed to not only be educational but fun and exciting. This is very important to us, as we believe that instilling a love of learning early on builds curiosity and courage to tackle new educational challenges as they grow older.“

Roadmap for the Future

Being a visionary Edu-prenuer Jernej Fuzir, proudly shares some of his plans, saying, “In the future, we want to offer support to even more children of all ages and abilities. We are adding more early math and literacy sections, as well as activities that support creativity and free play. The aim is to grow with the kid and become their learning companion throughout their childhood, nurturing their love of learning. We want to feed their curiosity and help them overcome developmental and educational challenges while offering support to their parents through access to expert advice when needed. We truly believe that learning should have no limits.“

Moreover, being in a business dictated by the parents’ modern needs, Jernej further adds, “We received several requests from speech and language pathologists to make the app more engaging through interactive content. Therefore, our latest project has been to boost the interactive aspect of the app with new educational games. We think that the new games are changing the meaning of play-based learning.“

Testimonials

It’s easy to use, and it really teaches in a fun way.

• Nancy Munguia

Really works! Since my daughter started using the app, she repeats what is taught, and she didn’t say anything before. It’s so cute to see her trying to talk her way, the app helps a lot! I really recommend it!

• Fraremay

My baby constantly says Blub Blubs to play this game. We have a designated time daily to play it and she has learned so many songs and words from it! She even mimicked the kids laughs and gestures it’s adorable.

• Lexi Wasabi

About Jernej Fuzir

Jernej is one of the four founders of the company, the product visionary, and the dedicated team cheerleader. His childhood experience with a speech impediment and his unlimited curiosity have directed the development of Speech Blubs from the earliest beginnings. From visiting speech therapy conferences, talking to speech and language pathologists, and testing the various app iterations with kids and parents – Jernej’s presence is a constant in the development of Speech Blubs.

Expressing his importance in the company, the management says, “He is the glue that holds the company together and the enthusiast pushing us to do better each day.“