Smarty Ears was founded in december of 2009 by  Barbara Fernandes, a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association. Smarty Ears was the first company to create apps geared towards speech therapy for mobile devices. Smarty Ears’ first application, called Mobile Articulation Probes(name changed to Smarty Speech in 2011) was released in January of 2010 and it has helped many speech therapists to make sessions more dynamic and engaging.

Fourteen month later, Smarty Ears has created over 21 applications for children with speech and language delays and disorders such as Stuttering, articulation delays, autism, down syndrome, and language disorders. Our goal is to provide the best tools that engage every children to learn, develop appropriate communication skills and become better communicators.

At Smarty Ears we believe technology can help parents and speech therapists improve the communication skills of children with speech and language difficulties. Smarty Ears brought to the world a whole new concept of how children will practice their skills. Speech Therapists many times use materials that are not current with what children experience at home. Technology is everywhere, how can we expect children to engage in worksheets and paper flashcards.

The new technology enabled us to deliver fun apps that can be used by parents, teacher and therapists all with one goal: help to meet the needs of every student with special needs. Several of our applications bring solutions that are not only much more affordable to parents, teachers and school districts but are also very intuitive and easy to customize. This way we know everyone will be able to use it.

We are constantly working on various applications that will benefit speech therapists, parents of children with communication disorders, as well as those with a communication difficulty themselves, in a variety of languages.

Smarty Ears is committed to individuals from all around the world, and we will make sure all of our apps are available in as many languages as possible because we are aware that the majority of materials currently available are in English.

Barbara Fernandes, a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist is the founder and director of Smarty Ears, LLC. She received her Master’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association. Barbara’s vision of speech therapy goes beyond the use of paper and pencil materials; she is an advocate for contextualized language.

“ Language is everywhere and it evolves with time and new trends, we must teach children using current tools and language that can be functional in the new century“.

She believes that Speech Therapists can use modern technology tools to improve practice and services.

Barbara speaks three languages and focused her graduate studies on bilingual language development and multiculturalism. She has worked with children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and native languages. Bilingualism, multiculturalism and technology have always been Barbara’s main interests as a professional; Smarty Ears is where these three areas meet.

“Technology gives us an opportunity to fill the gap between the need to communicate and the presence of a language and/or speech difficulty. We are surrounded by technology; it is time for us to start using it too! It is fun, dynamic, and practical!”, Barbara says.

Barbara Fernandes is also the host of “GeekSLP TV” a video podcast and blog where she shares innovative technology-related strategies with individuals working to improve personal communication skills or assisting others in reaching their communication potential.