ReST word generator

ReST (Rapid Syllable Transition Training) is a speech therapy treatment developed at the University of Sydney, for children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). The treatment involves coming up with 20 nonsense words of two or three syllables made of a specific small set of vowels and consonants. This tool is designed to generate nonsense words from specific sounds and patterns, and assemble them into a downloadable worksheet to be used by a clinician.

Word generator

About the word generator

The clinician's manual suggests the following rules for coming up with a nonsense wordlist: choose one weak (always schwa) and three strong vowels, four consonants, then create 10 three-syllable words with a strong-weak-weak pattern (the strong onset nonsense words), and 10 three-syllable words with a weak-strong-weak pattern (the weak onset words).

Using the controls above, you can choose four vowels, four consonants, and the exact patterns for strong or weak onset words: for example CSCWCW means Consonant, Strong vowel, Consonant, Weak vowel, Consonant, Weak vowel. Two lists of up to 10 distinct words will be generated (there may be fewer words for very short patterns). The random seed can be changed to randomise the letters in a different way.

After generating the word list, a clinician's worksheet can be downloaded. This worksheet contains twelve sesisons, each consisting of five blocks, with the word list shuffled between each block. Within a block, some words are marked with an asterisk meaning that feedback should be given. Feedback is not always given: in the first block it should be given for 18/20 attempts, then for 14/20, 10/20, 6/20, and 2/20 respectively. These feedback asterisks are randomised between sessions as well.

There is another option to embed each word inside a short Cloze sentence. When the worksheet is generated with this option enabled, the sentences will also be shuffled within each block.