The APE program is designed to help children with severe specific speech and language problems.

The Tester program is the part of APE that the pupil uses. The specific test sequence, words and images, are defined within the APE Admin program. This page only documents the basic functions of the APE Tester program and the full program includes several other functions.

	Because test sequences are tailored to individual pupil needs, a pupil must login to the APE program to get their current test.
	The pupil using the Tester program sees a sequence of screens like this. There is one image and a choice of two words, or two phrases. The pupil must read and decide which of the two options is correct, and then click on that option. The position of the words (top,left,right,bottom), and which is correct (first or second), will normally move around randomly to keep the pupil's attention. The text is automatically sized and arranged to give a reasonable display. The font used for the text may be specified for a particular pupil. These examples use 'SassoonCRInfant' which is often used in speech and language therapy. A pupil will normally do the whole of a test sequence during one session. However, it is possible to use the Stop option during a long sequence if the pupil wishes to quit.
	One group of tests is for similarly spelt words which have totally different meanings, such as bride and bridge.
	Photos specific to the pupil may be used. The picture for the bridge is Annie on the famous 'Pooh Bridge'.
	Drawings specifically designed for speech and language therapy may also be used.
	Images are automatically scaled to remain consistent in size and position relative to the position of the words.
	Images from free, or suitably licensed, sources may be used. This helicopter drawing comes from the Microsoft clip art collection.
	Comprehension and numeracy tests can be done.
	The test sequence is usually randomised, so that the pupil does not remember a specific order. Annie started with a test sequence of ten word pairs. She now often has test sequences of over a hundred word and phrase pairs.
	The particular pairing of words/phrases in the test is defined specifically for the pupil according to their current abilities.
	At the end of doing a test sequence the result is shown to the pupil. For comparison any other recent attempts at the same test sequence are also shown. Correct selections are shown in green and bad choices are shown in red. If the Stop option was used then they are shown in white.