for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists
February 23, 2004 - Vol. 14 - Issue 8 - Page 21
By Stephen Sacks, MA, CCC-SLP

Thank you very much for your program! I have seen immediate results! My students have progressed more quickly with this program than with any other program that I've used in the past 20 years!!!

"I received this e-mail from a customer and felt very proud," related Stephen Sacks, SLP and co-owner of SATPAC Speech, LLC an articulation/phonology software company. "I had that exact response 9 years earlier when I first started experimenting with this program. I continue to see growth with my students every day. It makes my job extremely rewarding."

SATPAC Version 3.0 incorporates facilitating contexts, coarticulation, and natural prosody at a conversational rate with numerous repetitions of the target sound to quickly remediate deficits. Any sound the student does not have or that interferes with the target sound can be eliminated from the customized lists that the program prints out. For example, if the student has the fronting process and substitutes t/k and d/g, all the /t,d/ sounds can be eliminated from the lists allowing the student the opportunity to develop the appropriate motor patterns without interference. When the motor patterns are developed, the end point of the program is the transfer phase lists of sentences that contrast the target sound with the former error sound (e.g., The pig bit Katy's toe.)

Recently, Sacks has devised a multimodality approach to remediating the /r/ and /s/ sounds which in most cases is the necessary precursor to the SATPAC program. "When my students develop the correct oral-motor skills and are using the sound correctly in a facilitating context, it is not unusual for them to remediate their /r/ and /s/ sounds in a matter of weeks instead of months and years. They develop the correct placement and the SATPAC program systematically takes them from using their error sound correctly in one facilitating context to using it correctly in every phonetic context."

In the year and a half since SATPAC was released, it has been used successfully in clinics, hospitals, schools and universities in 46 states. Feedback about program improvements resulted in the release of SATPAC Version 4 last month. This multiplatform PC and Mac program includes a 24 page instruction booklet and new CVCV lists.

"The new CVCV preschool supplement was critical." said Sacks. "We are definitely seeing more preschoolers with serious speech deficits." Gary Privett, the father of a preschooler saw his son with Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia make significant gains using these lists. "Practicing these words over and over really improved his speech." said Privett.

Manuel V. Pereira III, co-owner of SATPAC Speech, LLC is the technology architect and developer of SATPAC. In addition to improved graphics, ease of use throughout the program, and support for Macintosh computers in Version 4, he incorporated a number of features that provide new sophisticated functionality and an overall enriched user experience. Designed with the future in mind, Version 4 features Internet savvy automated update and diagnostic mechanisms.

SATPAC Speech, LLC is certified as a CEU provider for both ASHA and CSHA in California and travels to school districts and other venues to provide all day workshops. Because Sacks has a clinical background having worked in the public schools in Central California for the past 23 ½ years, the emphasis of the workshops is functional over theoretical. "Theory is certainly important but I've been disappointed by so many workshops that spend the majority of the time on theory and just a little on practice. These workshops are just the opposite. I want every SLP to leave my workshop confident that they have the tools to do successful articulation/phonology therapy. "


For more information contact Stephen Sacks at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or http://www.satpac.com/

Copyright ©2004 Merion Publications 2900 Horizon Drive, King of Prussia, PA 19406 • 800-355-5627 Publishers of ADVANCE Newsmagazines www.advanceweb.com

This article was published by for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists
February 23, 2004 - Page 21