Therapy App 411: App reviews by SLPs, OTs, and other special education professionals

Category TherAppy

2012-12-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you to Aubrey Klingensmith of Speechie Apps for allowing us to repost this app review. Be sure to check out her blog for other great reviews.

App: Category TherAppy

What It Is: An app for addressing various categorization skills by Tactus Therapy.

Price: $14.99
OS: Apple

Version: 1.0

How It Works: The app has four main parts: find, classify, exclude, and add one. Each of these can be used at three difficulty levels (ranging from concrete to abstract). The therapist can change the number of trials (10, 25, 50, or “all”), target type (word, pictures, or both), and field size. In addition, both child mode and audio reinforcement can be turned on/off. You can select which exact categories you would like or choose them all.

Find–pick out the item that fits in the appropriate category. (E.g. Prompt: “Find the big thing.” Options: giraffe, bee, marbles.)

Find–in this case, I used the “picture only” setting. Note the audio button underneath to still allow for hearing the word. Touching the word underneath the picture if choosing “word & picture” will have the same effect.

Classify–choose the category that the target belongs to. (E.g. Prompt: “Which category does this [picture of checkbook] belong to?” Options: metal things, paper things.)

Classify–see how the patient incorrectly guessed and that option was grayed out; however, she was still able to continue.

Exclude–otherwise known as “what doesn’t belong?” (E.g. Prompt: “Touch the one that doesn’t belong.” Options: can, ticket, calendar.) This section also includes a “hint” button. (E.g. for the previous example, the hint would say “things made of paper.”)

Exclude–check out how the incorrect guess is highlighted in red after it is selected. When first selected, all answers are briefly blue then turn red/green if they are incorrect/correct.

Add One–pick which option on the bottom goes with the others at the top. (E.g. Prompt: “Touch the one that goes with the others [at top, light bulb, window, jar].” Options: toilet paper, glass, sheets, cactus.)

Add One–if the patient or I had hit the “hint” button, it would have provided the category to help the patient reason through which of the bottom pictures to select.

At the end of any of these, you can email the data to yourself (or your patient/student/family).

Therapy Applications: Of course, the main purpose of this app is obvious: teach categorization skills. On a deeper level, though, categorization involves many more skills than just being able to categorize. As Tactus Therapy mentions on their website, the other following goals can be addressed using the app: semantics (you have to know what the words/pictures are and how they relate before you can categorize), organization, reasoning, problem-solving, auditory comprehension, reading comprehension (you can turn on/off the pictures to assist with this depending on the person’s skill level), attention (e.g. you could have a goal of getting through 5 choices without redirection), verbal fluency, divergent naming, convergent naming. In addition to these, I’d like to add that the app is wonderful for working on processing speed in a functional way. The various parts of the app as well as the settings menu can help narrow down which skills are required during a session. I have only used the app with adults; however, I could easily see this being used with primary and secondary students.

Pros: 1. Price. $14.99 is very reasonable for all the opportunities this app offers.
2. Clean layout.
3. Settings options. In my opinion, this is what makes Tactus Therapy apps go from good to great. While many apps can only be used with a certain “type” of patient/student (e.g. certain cognitive level), the different settings in this app make it easy to use with a wide variety of individuals.
4. The prompt phrase gets phased out after a few responses, as clinicians typically do in therapy. However, touching the phrase at the top will repeat it, which is great for people with attention and/or memory difficulties.
5. There is always an option below the picture/word to hear it. This can be used for a variety of functions, but is particularly great for those with visual processing or reading deficits.
6. Areas that have already been guessed incorrectly get grayed out so the individual doesn’t keep pressing same button repeatedly.
7. Errorless learning. You’ll hear a mild ding/beep for correct/incorrect responses.
8. Seemingly endless number of targets and large number of categories.
9. Real photos for more functional representation.
10. As you can see in my reviews of Comprehension TherAppy and Visual Attention TherAppy, the developer’s customer service and networking efforts are wonderful and make using their apps that much easier.

Cons: 1. While data can be emailed, there is no option for adding patients/students and data cannot be stored over time within the app.
2. I would like to be able to change the settings options within a session instead of ending the data collection, changing the settings, and then returning to the activity.

The Take-Away: A very well thought-out, systematic app with a wide variety of uses. It will be a LONG time before you run out of content to use with one patient/student, and the app’s fantastic settings options will allow you to use it with a variety of individuals, regardless of cognitive abilities.

My Questions for You: How would you use this app in therapy? Do you often address categorization or related skills with the population you support?
Disclosure: Tactus Therapy provided me with a free copy of this app to review. I was not compensated in any way for the review, and they were aware that I would be discussing the app’s strengths and weaknesses.

Jolly Jingle

2012-12-13T08:46:00.000-05:00

Thank you to Jessica Chase of Consonantly Speaking for this review. Check out her blog for more great app reviews.

App Name/Developer: Jolly Jingle by Hompimplay

Christmas is on its way and the school halls are full of music! Every afternoon when I am walking down the hall, I hear first and second graders practicing Christmas songs for their Chrismas musical! It's definitely a great time to sing along with your children and help them learn various carols full of cheer, and Jolly Jingle is just the app to do so! With written lyrics, fun animations, and multiple versions of various Christmas carols, this application is non-stop fun for the Christmas season! Continue reading to learn how to incorporate it into your therapy room!

Main Page

The Main Page of the application shows a snowglobe which images representing each song, a postcard to send the application's information to recommend it to a friend, and a home decorated for Christmas in the background. Instrumental Christmas music also plays in the background.

Application Play

Press on the snow globe to switch between the different songs. Once you have chosen the song you would like to play, press the button at the bottom of the snowglobe. An animated scene will then show with characters related to the song. The song will begin playing and the lyrics will show as well. Press on the different items on the screen for different sounds and animations to play. Press on the musical note to change the version of the carol to be played between a kid's choir, female solo, instrumental, or piano solo. Press on Santa's hat at the bottom of the screen to turn on/off lyrics being shown at the top of the application's screen or exit back to the Main Menu.

What I Like About This Application:

The application includes multiple common Christmas carols. In addition, there are multiple versions of each song, which allows for the application to be used over and over!
There are lyrics to help children learn how to sing the song. The fact that you can turn them on and off is great too!
The fact that there are different interactive elements to the application to press while listening to the song makes it motivating to play for kids!

What I Would Like to See in Future Updates:

I would love if on the Main Page, when selecting the songs, it stated in text what each song was for children to read. Also, because I was not sure at first what two of the songs were until I played them.

Therapy Use:

Articulation/Fluency/Voice - Have students state or sing each song using their best speech sounds, fluency strategies, or vocal strategies.

Receptive Language - Children can learn different Christmas-related vocabulary and describe different holiday traditions.

Expressive Language - Have children describe a time they went caroling, saw carolers, were in a holiday musical, or a holiday tradition they participate in.

Pragmatic Language - Talk about what the different songs/figurative language within the songs mean, what each child's favorite Christmas carol or tradition is, who each child's favorite Christmas character is, etc.

WH Questions - After listening to a song, ask the child wh questions about different parts of the songs.

Price: Jolly Jingle is available for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad for $2.99. A free version is available that comes with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for you to try.

Disclaimer: Consonantly Speaking was given a copy of this application to review. No other form of compensation was given.

Review by: Jessica Chase

Consonantly Speaking

Monumental

2012-12-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

This post originally appeared on Your Therapy Source. Thank you Margaret Rice for allowing us to repost it on TherapyApp411.

App Name/Developer: Monumental/MeYouHealth LLC

Here is a fun, free app to add to your iPhone or iTouch - Monumental. It keeps track of how many stairs you climb using the phones accelerometer. Holding the iPhone at your hip, you hit the GO button. Start climbing the stairs. It will keep track of how many steps you climb. When you have climbed the correct number of steps you reach the top of your destination and then you can see the view. The first level is the Museum of Art in Philadelphia (Rocky Movie stairs). So when you reach that level it shows you a view from the top.

This adds a little bit of extra fun to stair climbing. Since many children work on stair climbing during therapy sessions this freebie app can help keep track of their progress over time.

I give this app a huge thumbs up. I have tested it out with some kids and they were motivated by it especially to get to the next level. Personally, I enjoyed checking out the views but the kids seemed to want to just achieve the next level. You can share your status on the social networking sites although I did not use the app in this manner. The only downfall is that I wish you could create different accounts. I have the kids just adding on to each other's accomplishments rather than each climbing their own monuments. The feature of counting the steps is still convenient though to track progress in therapy session notes.

Why not give it a try? Can't beat free and maybe one of the children (or yourself) will be motivated to climb the monuments of the World. Hey this even relates to the Common Core Standards right? More on that another time.

Reviewed by: Margaret Rice, PT
Your Therapy Source

Webber Photo Artic Castle

2012-12-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

This post has been reposted with permission from the blog Consonantly Speaking by Jessica Chase. Check out her blog for more great app reviews.

App Name/Developer: Webber Photo Artic Castle by Super Duper Publications

Do you love using the Webber Photo Artic Decks from Super Duper Publications but don't like always carrying them around with you? Do you want all of the sounds but purchasing all of the decks is too expensive? For the low price of $39.99, Super Duper Publications is giving you sound and blend cards at the word, phrase, and sentence levels plus fun games in app form! Continue reading to learn about what all is included in this great application!

Main Page

The Main Page of this application has five main buttons in a shape of a crown and shields on a castle with a prince and princess. These include: New Session, Continue Session, Quick Play, Players, and Results. There are five additional buttons at the bottom of the Main Page - Settings, Share, Support, Info, and Help.

Info
Pressing the "i" button at the bottom of the Main Page will show information about the app, how it can be used, how to play, credits, and security.

Help
Pressing the "?" button at the bottom of the Main Page will bring the user to a Help list with the headings of - Players and Goals, Start New Session, Games and Activities, Viewing Results, and Quick Play. Press and highlight a topic to view a visual handbook that takes you step by step through the app.

Support
Press the "thumbs up" button to report a bug, offer a suggestion, or rate the app in iTunes.

Share
Press the square button with an arrow to recommend the app via Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail.

Settings
There is only one setting available on the Settings page. This on/off switch allows you to turn on/off Auto Advance between players. If you wish to advance players manually, slide it to "Off". Press "Save" to save the setting.

Players

Before you can begin application play, you must input players to use the application with. To add a player, press the "+" button. Then, type the students' name in the white rectangle. Next, add a goal/multiple goals by pressing the "+" next to the "Add Goal" text. Then, select a sound class or sound from the following:

Class:
Stops
Nasals
Glides
Fricatives
Affricates
Liquids
L-blends
R-blends
S-blends

Sound:
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /w/, /y/, /h/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /th/ (voiced), /th/ (voiceless), /ch/, /j/, /l/, /r/, /bl/, /fl/, /gl/, /kl/, /pl/,
/br/, /dr/, /fr/, /gr/, /kr/, /pr/, /tr/, /sk/, /sl/, /sm/, /sn/, /sp/, /st/, or /sw/

Once you tap on a sound or class button, it will bring you to the goal screen. Type in a title for the goal if you wish. Then, choose the response type you wish to target: Imitated (Im) or Spontaneous (Sp). Next, choose the position of the word to practice the sounds in: Initial (I), Medial (M), or Final (F). You can choose more than one. After that, choose the syllableness between 1, 2, and >2 syllables. The next choice is to determine the level(s) in which to practice sounds: Word (W), Phrase (P), or Sentence (S) level. A sliding bar will help you determine the accuracy in which to set the goal at. If you would like, you can then view a word list and photo for each word by pressing on the option and then the word. Finally, you can determine how to score each response (check mark for correct, "x" for incorrect, "~" for approximate, or "C" for cued) by pressing on the icons you wish to show. If you need to know what any button's abbreviation means, press the "Key" button at the bottom of the Goal list. Once all of the settings for the goal have been chosen, press "Done".

You can also use the "Players" list to select a player to view his or her goals and progress from the last 5 sessions. The SLP can also view completed goals, mark a goal as completed, or delete a player from this list.

Start New Session

To begin a new session, choose a player/players from the list. You can select or deselect all using the buttons at the bottom of the page as well. A checkmark will appear next to the user(s) selected to play. Be sure to note that whomever played the application last will be selected. Once you have chosen a player/players, press the "Next" button. Each players' goal to focus on will appear and you can choose a different goal to focus on by pressing "Change Goal" and highlighting the one you wish to focus on. Then, press "Next".

A "Games" list will appear with game names/images on 9 different crests. Choices for games include:

Photo Fun - flashcards with scoring at the bottom of the card

Balloon Pop - press a colored, floating in the air, balloon and an animation of it popping will appear with the number of a card

Duck Derby - press a yellow rubber duck floating on the water and it will squeak. After a word/phrase/sentence is stated and scored, it will move faster on the screen.

Hidden Treasure - press a colored gem and a digging sound will play with the gem appearing larger

Raceway - different colored cars will be shown racing on a track. Press a car to hear it honk and after a word/phrase/sentence is scored, it will drive faster.

Space Explorer - press a spaceship and a sound will play. Then, after the word/phrase/sentence is scored, the spaceship will turn red and zoom away.

Match: Level 1 - match cards on a grid of 4 x 3

Match: Level 2 - match cards on a grid of 5 x 4

On each of the games, when a card or object is pressed, a card with the child's sound on it will appear full-screen to be scored and/or recorded. If you choose to record a word/phrase/sentence, you can play it back and save it as well. Press the "More" button at any time to end the session, view results of the current session, show/hide the recorder, take notes on a student, switch games, or adjust game settings.

Continue Session

Pressing the "Continue Session" button on the Main Page will allow you to continue previously played, non-closed session. Sessions are shown by date/game played. You can close a session by swiping right to left over it. You can continue a session by pressing on it. Finally, to close all sessions, press the "Close All Sessions" button.

Quick Play

If you do not wish to save data but want to begin application play quickly, press the "Quick Play" button. Then, select the phoneme/class to be addressed. Next, select the position of the sound in the word. You cannot choose a level. Finally, choose the game to play. The "Key" button is at the bottom in case you need help. Press the "Start" button once everything is set.

There are still check and "x" buttons to score and you can view the score by pressing the "Score" button; however, data will not save. You also do not have any of the other options of regular gameplay. Press "Home" when done using Quick Play.

Results

You can view a list of students' reports or dates/times saved within the app via the Results page. Press on the person or session date/time you wish to review a report on. If a person is chosen, it will show the goals categorized by month, date, time, amount correct via a percentage and fraction, and a colored bar with the goal marked. View even more information by pressing an individual goal to view the words stated correctly, incorrectly, approximate, and cued. Press the goal to view it as a chart by totals or percentages.

If you choose to view reports by dates, choose a date/time and the student(s) along with their goal(s), and accuracy will appear. You can view an individuals' progress by tapping on his or her name and view further information by pressing the goal.

Press the "More" button at the top of the app to view options for e-mailing, printing, or writing notes on the session. If you choose to e-mail or print a session, it will show as a chart. You can add graphs to the charts by sliding the on/off switch.

What I Like About This Application:

There are over 3,000 photos/words.
Games are more motivating than static cards, especially for younger students. There are 9 different games as well.
You can choose to practice sounds at each students' level.
Multiple students can use the application at the same time.
Data collection is recorded within the app and can be e-mailed and/or printed. Multiple students can be saved to the application.
The application uses animations which are motivating, but for the cards uses mostly real-life photos which are great for carryover.
The application includes a manual to help users learn how to use the application.

What I Would Like to See in Future Updates:

The "More" menu is quite a bit long. It might be a better idea to include scoring, recording, and note taking options in the Settings menu to be on/off depending on the game.
I would like it if an individual student was able to adjust settings to focus on more than one goal at a time without having to change between goals via the "More" button.
When more than one player is playing one of the Matching games, each person has his or her own Matching game board. It switches between the two games when turns are changed. It would be better if the app could somehow combine the two into one board with all of the childrens' goals so that it is less difficult to recall where cards are. Otherwise, this may be better as a one-player game.
The arcade games sometimes take a bit to bring up a card after pressing an object. This causes additional time to play and less time practicing sounds. It would be nice if there was less wait time in between pressing an object and bringing up the card.

Therapy Use:

Articulation - The main focus of this application is to work on articulation skills. Choose the sound(s) to focus on, which level to work on the sound, imitated vs. spontaneous, position of the sound in the word, etc. Use the application for quick artic, a fun break from the regular drill, or to work on phrases/sentences. Have students listen to their speech by recording/playing it back.

Fluency/Voice - Have students state the words/phrases/sentences using appropriate fluency/vocal strategies. Have students rate their speech by recording/playing it back.

Expressive Language - Have students create sentences using words from the application.

Receptive Language - Children can describe different images, give definitions for different words, discuss which category a word falls into, talk about what different objects do/actions are in the image, etc.

Price:
Webber Photo Artic Castle is available for the iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone for $39.99. If you would like to trial the application before buying it, you can download the Webber Photo Artic Castle B Sound - Free version which allows you to trial the application using the /b/ sound for free. I understand that compared to many applications, this application is priced high; however, if you think about all that is included in the application and what you are saving compared to the Jumbo Artic Drill Book Volume 3 (which the photos are taken from) and Fun Decks, you are getting a huge deal!

Jumbo Artic Drill Book - $69.95
Artic Photos Fun Decks: Set 1 - $114.99
Artic Photos Fun Decks: Set 2 - $114.98
Say and Do Action Artic Combo Cards - $119.50
Webber Photo Artic Castle: $39.99 (includes data collection, data tracking, word/phrase/sentence levels, all-in-one app instead of carrying around all of the decks, recording, and more!)

Disclaimer:
Consonantly Speaking was given a copy of this application to review. No other form of compensation was given.

Reviewed by:
Jessica Chase
Consonantly Speaking

Ten Apps to Get you Moving!

2012-12-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Margaret Rice of Your Therapy Source for allowing us to repost her blog post "Ten Apps to Get you Moving"! Be sure to check our her awesome blog for her fantastic ideas!

Here are 10 apps to get you moving with your iPhone or iPad (in no particular order). You can click on the links to get more information about the apps.

1. Dance Party Zoo - dance and the iPhone measures your rhythm

2. Walk N Play - track physical activity with the iPhone

3. Footsteps - pedometer that can track gait speech and distance

4. Move Like Me - dance steps to follow

5. Time Motion App - use this video app to analyze movement

6. Using Apps to Evaluate Posture - doesn't exactly get you moving but does get you to sit up straight

7. FitQuest - Jog, hop and duck with this app

8. Egg and Spoon - walk with iPhone trying to keep egg on spoon

9. Short Sequence - Kids Yoga - nice images to provide as a visual

10. Motion Maze - maze powered by your movement.

Written by:
Margaret Rice, PT
Your Therapy Source

iLearn with Boing: Ocean Adventures

2012-11-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

This review originally appeared on Consonantly Speaking. Thanks to SLP author Jessica Chase for allowing us to re-post. Be sure to check out her site!

Boing the alien has tackled math concepts as well as letters before, but now he is helping children learn language concepts! In Tribal Nova's latest application, iLearn With Boing: Ocean Adventures, children can work on vocabulary, sentence formation, and listening comprehension skills! Continue reading to learn how this adorable alien can help your students work on these language skills.

Main Page

The Main Page of the application is similar to other iLearn With Boing applications. There are three choices for learning games: Vocabulary, Sentence Formation, and Listening Comprehension. Each is paired up with a type of underwater animal.
There are also two blue buttons in the top corners. These are for tracking a child's data. The one on the left is to register for an account with iLearn With to track progress and receive news about upcoming applications and information. The other is a "Parents Center" in which you can log in with your iLearn With account to see progress and recommended skills for your student.

Application Play

Choose one of the following activities to begin application play: Vocabulary (octopus), Sentence Formation (crab), or Listening Comprehension (fish). There is a time-limit to complete each activity. The timer will begin to blink and make a ticking sound when the student is close to running out of time. If time a child does not complete the activity within the time limit, they do not advance and must complete the activity again. Boing will state "Oops, let's start again". Each time a student completes an activity within a certain amount of time correctly, they will advance on the segmented bar at the top right hand corner of the application. When a student has correctly completed three activities in a given time limit, he or she will receive a medal which will color in a segment on the bar. When three sets of three activities have been completed, the student will receive a reward and move up a level.

Vocabulary

This game is a one-player activity. When pressed, it will ask you to choose and recommend a level based on what the child has played through. This application asks students to find different vocabulary items. Level 1 asks students to find specific nouns. Level 2 will ask a student to find four items in a given broad category. Level 3 will ask a student to find four items in a given specific category. Items to find will be narrated by Boing, and pressing on him again will have him restate what to look for. Students must look under, behind, and inside of different underwater rocks, objects, coral, and animals. When correct, the octopus will juggle the bubbles with the vocabulary items in them.

Sentence Formation

This activity can be played with one-player or two-players. The child(ren) is/are asked to make a story and place the noun/verb/preposition/adjective images on the colored crabs in the correct order on the matching colored spaces. If one student is playing the application, each time he or she presses a crab, it will state the noun/verb/preposition/adjective prior to putting it in a circle. If two players are playing the application, it will not state the items aloud so that the sentence is a surprise for the other student, and the students take turns. Once a sentence has been correctly placed, the student must press the shell for the application to check and make sure the sentence is in the correct order. Level 1 focuses on a noun + verb + with + noun sentence. Level 2 adds prepositions and adjectives. Level 3 allows children to assign adjectives to various nouns by pressing, holding, and dragging them to nouns. In addition, in later levels, the color coded spaces will change to black spaces for students to work on sentence structure on their own. When correct, the sentence will be stated, appear in text, and an animation of the sentence will be shown.

Listening Comprehension

This is a one-player game. Boing will give a direction of a preposition of a circle to touch. Prepositions could include next to, in, behind, in front of, to the left of, to the right of, or on top of. 3-4 different circles surround different underwater objects. Level 1 gives one direction and objects that are their normal colors. Level 2 adds a color component. Level 3 includes a color and size component. When the correct circle has been pressed, a fish in a costume will appear. Once all four directions have been correctly touched, the fish will dance under spotlights.

Progress Tracking

Go into the Parents Center to view student progress. Then press the "More Details" button to view more specific details about each part of the application. Press on the Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension, or Sentence Formation tabs to view a graph with the number of attempts, success rate, and age group average for each level. You can also view skills from other iLearn With applications that have been played by the particular student.

Rewards

Every so often a child may win a prize (usually every three trials). These prizes are collected within the application and can be opened to play within iLearn With's free application: Planet Boing! You must have downloaded this application on your iPad to play with them.

What I Like About This Application:

The application focuses on three different areas of language.
The games on the application increase in difficulty/language complexity.
I like how the entire application has an underwater theme.
There are different levels of difficulty.
You can track student progress through the Parent Center.
Directions are stated aloud and can be restated by pressing on Boing the alien. Some words are stated aloud.
The games are motivating from the inclusion of searching for vocabulary items to dancing fish to creating silly sentences with matching animations. My students in particular were jumping up and down yelling to check different places for vocabulary items and pointing on the projected screen where to look.
iLearn With applications are integrated together through the Parent Center and rewards.

What I Would Like to See in Future Updates:

I am not a big fan of in app purchases on many applications. I had a bit of difficulty accessing them due to the fact that they were blocked at my workplace. Therefore, I only got to trial the Vocabulary game with my students. I would much rather pay for the full version out-right.
Some of the vocabulary is a bit above some of my students' levels. For example, apples and forks are more common than plums and colanders. Most vocabulary is appropriate while I am interested in knowing how other vocabulary was chosen.
It would be great to have a setting in which text could be associated with directions or vocabulary.
I agree with the iMums' review in the fact that it would be nice to have a setting to adjust the time for students. Some of my students had difficulty recalling which objects they looked by already, knowing where the hot-spots of places that they could look by, or understanding different vocabulary for the Vocabulary game and ran out of time.
I would love it if I could choose the level of difficulty for a child rather than having a student master each level.

Therapy Use:

Articulation/Fluency/Voice - Have students state where to look for various objects on the Vocabulary game or read the sentences created on the Sentence Formation game using age-appropriate speech sounds, fluency strategies, or vocal strategies.
Expressive Language - Have students state where to look for various objects including nouns and prepositions on the Vocabulary game. Have students state the sentence in which they have created prior to pressing the shell to check their sentence on the Sentence Formation game. In addition, discuss nouns, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives and have students discuss which words on the crabs fit in each category. Discuss the prepositions in the Listening Comprehension game.
Receptive Language - Have students describe different vocabulary items, what group they fit into, what they do, what they look like, and compare/contrast. Talk about what different prepositions mean.
Categorization - Play the Vocabulary game Level 2 or 3 to have students place items in a given category.
Following Directions - Students can play the Listening Comprehension game to hear directions stated aloud increasing in length and complexity in which they must follow by pressing on the screen.

Price:
You can download iLearn With Boing: Ocean Adventures for free and try out the Vocabulary game. If you would like to download the two other games, Sentence Formation and Listening Comprehension, you can buy them through an in-app purchase of $2.99.
Disclaimer:
Consonantly Speaking was given a copy of the application to review. No other form of compensation was received.

Sentence Workout

2012-11-26T04:05:00.000-05:00

This post originally appeared on Speech Time Fun. Thanks to Miss Speechie for allowing us to re-post. Be sure to visit her blog!

I was contacted by Virtual Speech Center when they released this week their newest app, Sentence Workout. I was honored to be given the opportunity to try it out and share with you. Don't forget, the opinions are all mine!

This app uses a fun soccer theme. I don't know about you but about 80% of my students are OBSESSED with soccer! So yay!

This app uses over 350 sentences with 37 different sentence structures. Each sentence type includes 10 pages.

I like to edit the sentences before using. I like to alter them for my students' need. I have several older elementary students with syntax goals, so I made the settings appropriate for them. I set the award counter to 5 since that was the lowest amount possible. 10 is the highest. You can use this app with up to 5 students.

Now it is time to enter students into the app. Once you add and save, to enter them into the activity is click their names and then hit next.

Then you get to select the activities for each student. You can individualize or just click all if your students are ready for the randomization. There are 37 activity types. Each type gets more linguistically complex and abstract.

There are two activity types: "Say it" and "create a sentence." You can pick one or both for each student.

The app uses a soccer coach to encourage students and keep them motivated. If you use this app with multiple students, it switches amongst them after each turn which is great for keeping them involved.

Say it:
Students are presented with a question and an image. Students should use POQ or part of question to elicit the correct sentence structure for the answer response. Students can record and replay sentence. Then they can score themselves or you can do it for them by clicking the "x" or the check. This helps gather data. This does require knowledge of the picture vocabulary. Students collect soccer balls along the bottom as they respond accurately. For each activity, students go through all 10 sentences before being rewarded.

Students are then reinforced with an opportunity to play a soccer game. They use their finger to "fling" the ball into the goal.

Create a sentence:
Students are presented with a picture and parts of a sentence in blocks. They must move the blocks to rearrange them to create a sentence. As they tap the pieces, it does provide an audio presentation which is great for weak readers. Once they place the sentence into the correct placement, students are rewarded with a soccer ball and the data is collected automatically. Then they have the opportunity to record and replay themselves producing the sentence. This is great for practicing. Also, if incorrect, this is a great way for them to check their work and listen to see if the sentence makes sense. I think it is helpful to teach students which activity or sentence structure you will be using in the activity. This was a great strategy when I used this app with my students today.

When students responded incorrectly, they were provided a sound and no % increase. This was a great way for them to assess themselves.

Again, students are rewarded with a soccer game.

At any point, you can click "done" to end a session. You will be able to access reports from that point.

You can also access reports from all sessions from the main page. The reports are very detailed and lets you know which activity (sentence structure level) was worked on and with what success level. You can access information by activity or by date. This is great for planning future lessons.

Things I like about this app:

Great and motivating theme
Reinforcing games
Ability to use with multiple students and individualize to each
Detailed reports which can be saved and emailed
Targets receptive and expressive sentence structure
Ability to record and play back for student self assessment and correction
Easy to use and navigate

Things I would like to see in an update:

An easy way to email or print review worksheets that relate to the sentences used in the app for home practice or follow up activities

Learn more about this $9.99 app by visiting the links provided above or iTunes!

BrainWorks App

2012-11-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

This app review was originally posted on YourTherapySource. Thank you to Margaret Rice, PT for kindly allowing for this review to be reposted here.

App Name/Developer: BrainWorks by Sensational Brain LLC

Sensational Brain LLC has released a new app to go along with their online tools to create sensory diets. I received a free copy to review for this blog post. This app is quite comprehensive when it comes to creating sensory diets for home, school and the community.

If you are not familiar with the BrainWorks system, it is an online resource to create sensory diets using picture cards to help supplement sensory diets. A tachometer is used as a visual image to help children determine if their bodies are just right, slow and sluggish, fast and stressed or fast and hyper. This system is carried over on the app as well.

The BrainWorks app was very easy to set up. I did watch the available YouTube videos to get a jump start but if you are comfortable with app usage you may not even need the video. If you are a parent you will benefit from watching the videos since Gwen Wild (the creator of BrainWorks) offers some helpful tips.

Basically, you set up user accounts with appropriate activities on each account. For this example, I set up an account for a "John Doe". I can go into settings and deselect activities so that only the activities that are available for John can be selected. Once that is all set the app is ready to go. You can add other users and customize the activities for that user.

You would give the child the iOS device and he can select himself, "John Doe". Once selected, John can choose to use the timer or not. The next step is to choose your location (picture 1. above). Once the location is selected John can pick how he feels (picture 2. above). Now John can pick activities based on how he is currently feeling (picture 3. above). For this example, the cross crawl activity was picked (picture 4. above). You can see the timer counting down in the cross crawl activity.

I tested this app on the iPhone and the iPad. The images shown above are all from the iPhone. The only difference is on the iPad up to 16 activities can be shown at one time whereas the iPhone shows 4 activities at a time.

All the above features are customizable. You can add your own activities with images from your photo library or take a picture. You can remove any activities that are not suitable for the child on the settings page. Also, to change the settings require a password to prevent children from altering the app once you have set it up.

Here are the pros for the BrainWorks app:

Easy to set up.
Many activities provided with new ones being added.
Images are appropriate for all ages, not just young children.
The ability to have an unlimited number of users is great for occupational therapists, teachers and parents who have more than one child with sensory needs. You could set up different accounts for children in the same classroom. If a sensory break is needed the student could access an iTouch, iPhone or iPad independently and follow their own, personal sensory diet. No printing and cutting out picture cards required.
The step by step choices allow children to be more independent in following a sensory diet.
You can add your own activities - if you have specialized equipment or other simple activities you can simply snap a photo and add it to the sensory diet.
The timer offers nice visual support to indicate how much time is left and to help the child transition following the sensory break.
This would be a great app for older elementary students through adulthood. Once the student was instructed in how to carry out the activities, he/she would be able to carry out the sensory breaks independently.
I had no problems with the app crashing - worked properly every time I tried it.
It provides activities for at home, school, community and desk/table all in one location.

Here are the cons for the BrainWorks app:

Although each activity has a written description in the settings section is does not show up with the picture image. It would be helpful to have an easier way to access the written description especially when teachers or parents are supervising the sensory activities.
This app would require extra instructional time for younger students to be completely independent in carrying out the sensory breaks.
The iPad version shows up to 16 activities at a time which may be too many choices although you can easily decrease the choices in the settings.

I was financially compensated for this post but the opinions are completely my own based on my experience. Overall, I definitely give this app a thumbs up. Personally, I love the features of unlimited users for pediatric therapists to be able to customize an iTouch, iPhone or iPad to share in the classroom or clinic. It offers a wide range of activities to choose from. In addition, the tachometer images are very helpful in reinforcing getting the body into a just right state. It would be an even better app if the written description of the activity could pop up if necessary. One other idea that would be great is if they added a push reminder. Perhaps a sensory break reminder every hour for children to take a sensory break. That would be wonderful during homework time or even for adults who need reminders to step away from their desk top work.

Get more information about the BrainWorks app and purchase it for $5.99.

Interested in the online version of BrainWorks? You can get more information here about membership.

Margaret Rice

www.yourtherapysource.com

Language TherAppy Lite

2012-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

This app review originally appeared on the blog Speech Adventures by Mary Huston, MS, CCC-SLP. Thanks so much Mary for being so kind to share this review on TherapyApp411.

App Name/Publisher: Language TherAppy Lite by Tactus Therapy Solutions

As you most likely know by now, I don’t work with adults. But, every once in a while an app comes along that is just too good not to talk about. If I worked with adults, this (these really) would be must haves. As it is, these are great skill builders for my students that are a bit older (or who annoyed me and now have to work without a game! wait…did I say that outloud?).

Tactus Therapy is one of the “go-to” places for adult therapy. They specialize in products and apps specifically for adult therapy. They truly are phenomenal. They have several apps that are designed for adult therapy, their newest one (at this time) is Category TherAppy. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be reviewing that one just yet.

The app I’m going to review is their free “demo” version of the other four apps. It’s called Language TherAppy Lite and has free versions of Tactus Therapies’ Comprehension TherAppy, Naming TherAppy, Reading TherAppy, and Writing TherAppy.

When I first downloaded this, I wasn’t at all sure it was something I could use. In fact, if truth be told, I downloaded specifically so I had something “adult-like” to present on when I presented on using iPads in therapy. Boy was I surprised, and I’m very glad I didn’t admit it to anyone (until now).

While this app won’t keep preschoolers entertained…and probably won’t do a lot for the K, 1, 2 group… The older students can definitely benefit from it. I can definitely see where adults dealing with TBI or stroke would be able to get some excellent help.

To do this justice, I’m going to go through each section (briefly). First is Comprehension TherAppy. In this section, the SLP has the option of clicking “listen,” “read,” and “listen & read.” The free version only allows you to do a “trial” of Nouns (but that’s okay – it gives you a good feel for the app). The paid version has verbs, adjectives, and nouns – lots of nouns.

In the “listen” area, three pictures of real items are shown. A voice prompt comes on and the user selects the correct picture. In the “read” area, three pictures are shown with a written prompt at the bottom of the screen. The user selects the correct picture. In the “read & listen” area – there are 3 written words and a voice prompt comes on with a word. The user needs to match the written word with the spoken word. If the wrong word is selected, there’s a negative sound and the prompt is repeated. Data is kept up on the top right corner.

Naming TherAppy has four areas: Naming Practice, Describe, Naming Test, and Flashcards. Naming Practice is separated into categories. A picture of an item (say dog) is presented, and the user has the ability to select different prompts from the bottom of the screen. The open book prompt is a verbal cue (e.g., “a man’s best friend”). There are spelling options (either first letter or whole word), a common saying (idiom) option, a phonetic (initial sound) option, and finally the spoken word. WHEW! This app really does an amazing amount of cueing.

Here’s a screenshot. Even though the selections appear “greyed out” they are still able to be selected.

The “describe” area is again separated by categories. There are 6 areas or prompts. They include “what does it look like,” “what sound does it make,” “what is it used for,” “what type of thing is it,” “who uses it,” and “where do you find it.” This feature in particular is one of my favorites. Building these categorization scaffolds is critical to gaining better vocabulary. I actually, can see myself using this now with a few kids in my therapy.

The Reading TherAppy section has “Phrase Matching,” “Phrase Completion,” “Sentence Matching,” and “Sentence Completion.” In Phrase Matching, a picture prompt is shown with four written phrases. The user needs to pick the best phrase to match the picture. For instance, a picture of a dog is shown. The phrases are “furry dog,” “woolly mammoth,” “wool blanket,” and “fluffy cat.” Obviously there are two that are similar enough the user needs to read – not just guess from the first letter. I happen to have a few 3rd and 4th graders who would benefit from this! If the wrong phrase is selected, it grays out and a negative sound is heard. In Phrase Completion the written phrase is shown with a blank (e.g., “Birthday _______”) and there are four words (e.g., “cake, case, pie, pile”). The user selects the best fill in the blank.

The final section is Writing TherAppy. In this area, the user selects a difficulty level (Easy, Medium, Hard) and the type of activity (Fill in the blank, Copy, Spell what you See, and Spell what you Hear). Fill in the blank – is just that. The picture is shown and some of the word is provided – the user fills in the blank. The difficulty level determines how many blanks and how many “extra” tiles are provided from which to select the correct tile. The user drags the tile up to the correct space, clicks “check”, and if it’s correct it reads it and goes to the next word. If it’s incorrect, it just provides the negative sound and stays there.

See what I mean about this app being great for older school-age children as well as adults?

From the website: “2 expressive (Naming TherAppy & Writing TherAppy) and 2 receptive (Comprehension TherAppy & Reading TherAppy) language apps for aphasia, special needs, and language learners. Both expressive apps have the ability to add custom words and pictures for training individualized vocabulary or foreign languages.”

Wait…the paid version ($59.99) has the ability to add custom words and pictures! Okay…now I HAVE to buy it!

So…have you ever used the Tactus Therapy Solutions apps in your therapy? Will this app prompt you to try it? The Lite version is free after all? Let me know… I’d love to hear what you think of all their apps!

Mary Huston

Custom Boards - Premium

2012-09-20T01:46:00.001-04:00

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App Name/Publisher: Custom Boards - Premium by Smarty Ears

Description:

This app allows the S-LP to create activities and communication boards on-the-go. The app includes over 100 templates and 11,000 Smarty Symbols available to create games/activities, communication boards and templates/overlays for other dedicated communication devices and visual supports. You can print (directly from the app using AirPrint), save and/or email everything you create using this app.

Templates are grouped in 6 different categories:

1. Activities and Games

2. Grids and Boards

3. Schedules and Calendars

4. Worksheets

5. Devices and Switches

6. Signs and Labels

There are also options to use photos from the iPad library or Goggle images. This is very useful for creating individualized activities, visual supports and communication boards.

There is a free (with in-app purchases) and premium version of this app.

Therapy Use:

Create visuals supports such as schedules, first then contingency boards, scripts.

Create activities to support academic and individualized goals and programming.

Create activities to support goals across many speech-language domains such as articulation, expressive and receptive language and fluency.

Create communication boards that are individualized for the children/students and/or adults with whom you work.

Create overlays for 33 different communication devices and switches (such as the Go Talk 9+, Big Mac and Tech Talk).

Create homework activities with your children/students and/or adult clients as an end of therapy activity. For the children on your caseload, you can email it to parents/caregivers.

Here are some examples of visuals, communication boards and activities created using Custom Boards - Premium:

Categorization/Vocabulary Sort

Articulation /sh/ Board Game

First Then Visual

Snack Choice Board (using Google images feature)

To get an idea of how this app works, have a look at this Smarty Ears video:

You can access a Custom Boards Sharing Station created by the app developer Barbara Fernandez here. There you will find some already made activities and boards.

App Benefits/Likes:

The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination with this app. It's versatile and flexible. The degree of individualization that can be achieved with this app is a definite bonus.

The app is incredibly easy to use and you can create activities in minutes (a major plus for time strapped S-LPs).

App Summary

Skill(s)Targeted

AAC

Articulation & Phonology

Fluency

Expressive & Receptive Language

Literacy

S-LP Tools/Organization

Age/Grade Levels Targeted

Preschool

Kindergarten

Early Elementary (Grades 1 – 3)

Upper Elementary (Grades 3- 6)

Middle School/Junior High (Grades 7-9)

High School (Grades 10-12)

Adult

Type of Device

iPad only

Cost

$39.99

Would you recommend this app?

Yes

Hyperlink:

Custom Boards - Premium

Review Date: September 20, 2012

Reviewed by:

Renena Joy, M.Sc., S-LP(C)

Minimal Pair Pack and Odd One Out Apps

2012-05-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

The following app reviews were written by Australian Speech/Language Pathologist Jess Langhorne. Thank you Jess for submitting these app reviews.

Minimal Pair Pack and Odd One Out:
A modern twist on two old favourites.
Review by Jess Langhorne April 2012

Minimal Pair Pack and Odd One Out are two handy applications bought to you from the clever folk at tboxapps. Tboxapps provide software and applications for Speech Pathologists, teachers and people with communication difficulties and disorders such as aphasia, autism and developmental language difficulties, and their specialty is AAC. A quick look at any of their products will reveal the deft touch in design and utility that comes from having both a Speech Pathologist and IT specialist in the mix!

Both apps were easy to download, even for an iPad-newbie like me. (You can also use the apps on an iPod Touch or iPhone)

Minimal Pair Pack features two main tasks in flashcard-like presentation: discrimination and phrase completion.

You start each section by choosing from a large selection of contrasting consonants, via two nifty consonant ‘rolls’.

In the discrimination task, you press the arrow symbol to start the task, and the client is required to listen to the voice output of a word and select the corresponding picture from a contrasting pair of words. For example, in the contrast from the ‘m’and ‘n’ section pictured below, the clients discriminates between 'map' and 'nap'.

Graphics are clear and simple and easy to select, making it suitable for use with both pediatric and adult client groups. My three-year-old was keen to give it a road- test, and he recognized quite a few of the graphics and thought it was great fun!

Simple auditory and visual cues provide instant feedback: a green tick and fun noise for correct and red cross and noise for incorrect.

You can adjust or switch off the sound effects in the ‘settings’ section on the home page (‘wheel’ symbol). You can also choose to display symbol and word, symbol only or word only.

If the client chooses incorrectly the first time, you have the option to try again, and some teaching could take place here too.

It is easy to navigate between screens and tasks by tapping the 'back' button in the top left hand corner of the screen.

In the phrase completion section, the client is required to listen to a phrase and choose the correct word to complete it from a pair of contrasting words eg, 'carry it in a ....' ('bag').

A green bar at the top of the screen gives a visual depiction of how many tasks are left, and therapists will love the 'summary' feature, which automatically calculates the client's accuracy rates for each pair of sounds.

And the designers have thought of everything—even giving you the option to email results.

Available at tboxapps: http://www.tboxapps.com/index.html for $US29 (£UK20.99 and $AU31.99), it is a handy resource for a Speech Pathologist or teacher’s toolbox.

Odd One Out pack is a resource that targets semantic reasoning, and is also useful for a range of clients in both pediatric and adult populations. The tasks are graded by level of difficulty, with increasing closeness in semantic relationships. The therapist can choose to display either 3 or 6 cards in each of the three sections: easy, medium and hard.

There's a variety of tasks available, with each level having 5 sets of 25 activities. There is also a ‘shuffle’ button that mixes up the visual placement of pictures, allowing extra practice.

The client is asked to look at the pictures and choose which one doesn’t belong with the others. For example, in the task pictured above, they are presented with five pictures from the ‘clothing’ category and a picture of a tree, which doesn’t belong.

In the settings section (tap ‘settings’ in the top right hand corner of the home page), you have the option of having the sounds effects turned on or off, and using symbols only, words only or symbols and words together.

Again, graphics are clear, simple, colourful and accessible for a wide range of client groups. Auditory and visual effects provide clear and instant feedback (a green tick appears for correct and red cross for incorrect.)

If the client chooses incorrectly, the correct choice is lit up in green, and you are given the option of trying again. There is also a ‘pause’ button which is handy if therapists or teachers would like to discuss the reasoning or problem solving related to the task.

It’s easy to use and navigate between pages (home button in top right hand corner of the screen).

The results page is a great feature—it records the date, the number of cards, level of difficulty and the client's accuracy rate— making it an easy way to record case notes and monitor progress. You are also able to email results.

Odd One Out is available for download from iTunes (or see website: http://www.tboxapps.com/index.html), and at $US29.99 (UK£20.99, $AU31.99), it is also a very handy addition to your language therapy toolbox.

Both programs would be useful for clients to complete self-directed practice or carry over therapy goals at home.

Dexteria

2012-05-23T07:32:00.000-04:00

Reviewed by: Abby Brayton, MS, OTR/L (Click here to see Abby's blog!)

App Name/Publisher: Dexteria by BinaryLabs

Description: Dexteria consists of three sets of hand exercises to enhance fine motor skill development and promote handwriting readiness. Tap It promotes finger isolation, Pinch It promotes the development of a pincer grasp, and Write It promotes the development of more advanced finger movements required for tracing letters.

Therapy Use: I often use the Tap It and Pinch It sets as a warm-up activity prior to handwriting during an OT session. In Pinch It (shown below), the goal is to pinch each crab to make it disappear.

As the levels get more challenging, the crabs increase in numbers and begin to move around. They even turn red and if you pinch a red crab, it will multiply into three crabs!

Tap It works on finger isolation. I find that this set of exercises is quite challenging for most students, but is great for working on motor planning, in addition to finger isolation. Tap It can be used with either hand and is first calibrated to the student’s hand, as shown below.

The student then must keep his hand on the blue anchor and use his fingers to tap the triangles as they appear.

Write It consists of letter tracing of capital letters, lowercase letters, and numbers 1-9. It promotes correct letter formation and reinforces that for most letters you do not need to pick your pencil up while writing the letter. Write It requires a significant amount of accuracy when tracing, encouraging precise finger and hand movements. Used in conjunction with a stylus, it can be a great tool for teaching letter formation!

App Benefits/Likes: Tap It and Pinch It get more challenging with each level passed. Write It promotes appropriate letter and number formation. Letter formation can be completed using a stylus to promote carryover to paper and pencil. Touch screen letter formation is great for students who are resistant to holding a pencil or crayon. Can be used with children or adults. Automatically creates performance and usage reports that can be emailed. Great for data collection!

Cautions: Finger isolation is challenging for many students in Tap It. Since fingernails to do not activate the screen, students can have difficulty pinching the crabs in Pinch It. Write It does not provide as much auditory or visual feedback as some other letter formation apps. Write It requires extreme accuracy in tracing, which can be frustrating for early writers.

Skill(s) Targeted:
Finger isolation
Fine motor planning
Fine Motor control
Visual motor
Letter formation

Age/Grade Levels Targeted: This app primarily targets younger children (ages 4-10) who are developing finger isolation and grasping skills, as well as letter formation. The app is not overly childish, so it could really be used by someone of any age who is working on developing those skills.

How to Activate: Isolated finger point for Tap It, Two finger swipe for Pinch It, Hold and drag for Write It.

Type of Device: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Cost $4.99

Would you recommend this app? Yes, absolutely for the for the Tap It and Pinch It exercises! These exercises are unique to this app. If you are only looking for a letter tracing app, Dexteria might not be the app for you.

Review Date 4/1/12

Auditory Workout

2012-05-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared on the blog of Jenna Rayburn. Thanks to Jenna for letting us re-post it!. Please help us to thank Jenna by visiting her blog, Speech Room News.

Auditory Workout is a new app from Virtual Speech Center, released April 2012. The app is developed for students with receptive language impairments and auditory processing disorders. While the basis for each of these disorders is different - the symptoms are very similar. Understanding and completing multi-step directions is a key skill often targeting in therapy. The app is intended for children age 4-10, but depending on your student's cognitive abilities, could also be used for children in older grades.

The app includes hundreds of audio instructions and a feature that allows users to set background noise (classroom noise). Yes, I said background noise! This feature is so important for children with APD. Children are welcomed by the basketball coach, who encourages them to work hard. Children earn a basketball for each correct response, and when they accumulate enough balls, they are rewarded with a game (a game of catch for younger children or/and basketball for older children).

Auditory Workout allows children to follow increasingly longer and more complex directions and includes more than 13 levels of difficulty. The directions are divided into four categories:
- Basic Directions- Quantitative and Spatial directions- Temporal directions - Conditional Directions

This is an app I have been needing for many of my students. Following directions is a tedious goal to work on session after session, but my students have been loving this app! It allows you to select various levels of difficulty that are appropriate for your clients. The game lets you select multiple clients at one time that cycle through with the name of the child on the top of the screen. Each child can work on different goals throughout the game and you can select multiple learning targets for each child. Data reports are available at the end of sessions.

The app allows the user to repeat the directions as many times as necessary before making a selection. The biggest change I would love to see with this app is to give the therapist the opportunity to repeat questions that students answer wrong. For 2 step directions the student selects their answers before entering 'go.' I found that I could stop them before they selected 'go' but that eliminates the data keeping from the app. I'd love if when they got the answer wrong, the screen allowed for a teaching moment. My screen for the basketball game didn't look at nice as this picture above. I'm not sure what's wrong but the background is all black, instead of this pretty orange! Luckily the hoop and the counters were still there so we could play! Hopefully the developer can fix that bug quickly!

Overall I think therapists are going to find the app incredibly useful in therapy rooms across the country! Check it out in the itunes store today!

LEGO Super Hero Movie Maker

2012-05-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

This review was written by Deb Tomarakos and originally appeared on www.SpeechGadget.com.

If you follow my blog, then you know that I think LEGOs are great for speech/language development and for use in therapy. I previously have discussed the LEGO web site and you can find that post here. Today, I want to talk about LEGOs newest app, the LEGO Super Hero Movie Maker.

I have to start by telling you my 9 year old son loves this app. When I showed it to him and asked him if he wanted to make a movie, he ran up to his room and was back in 2 seconds with some LEGO men and a LEGO scene in hand. He was excited before he even knew what he could do with the app. This app has the potential to be an excellent motivator for children in therapy.

So, here is a little about the app.

The LEGO Super Hero Movie Maker is an app for your iPhone that allows you to make stop action movies. The app also works on the iPod Touch and the iPad. Essentially, kids pose their LEGO figures, take a picture with the iPhone (or iPad), move the LEGOS a bit, take another picture, etc. The app is easy to use and allows you to include a title card, add and remove frames, add in a movie sound track (currently 5 soundtracks to choose from) and add a color filter. When you have finished creating your movie, you can share it with your friends.

One of the best features about this app is that it is FREE. Adults have to love a FREE app that kids will love, that is easy to use, and that taps into creativity. There are so many language applications for this app. The most apparent use is for story telling. If you use this app within a group, you can also target team work. Other targets can be following directions, spatial concepts, and sequencing skills. Problem solving skills can be targeted when setting up the figures and taking the photos. My son found he had to be creative and problem solve when he wanted a figure to fly through the air. He couldn't hold the figure up in the air because his hand would be in the photo. He decided to suspend the figure from a small "rope" that came with one of his LEGO sets.

The one con for speech/language use is the lack of a voice recording feature. In other words, you can not record your voice to tell the story or record "dialogue" between the figures. To work around that, you can get creative and add in dialogue by photographing dialog boxes or pieces of paper with dialogue written on them. The fact that you can't add in voice is a great way to challenge the students to discuss non-verbal communication. The students may need to focus in on a figure's face, or try to pose it's body to demonstrate a particular feeling or emotion. I think it would be fun to tie in a lesson on silent movies. You can download old silent movies from silentmovies.org. Silent movies are a great way to discuss body language and non-verbal communication.

The possibilities for story creating are endless with this app. While the app was developed with the LEGO Super Heroes in mind, you can use any LEGO figures and sets to create your movies. You can also use other action figures or figurines.

Here is a great You Tube video tutorial that demonstrates how easy it is to use the app.

Here is our first attempt at a video. It is definitely not as good as the one posted above. Some of our pictures are blurry and we didn't even include a soundtrack. I wanted to share our first, less than perfect attempt because I wanted you to see that it really is easy to just open the app and use it.

Overall, I was please with this free app. It is easy to use and encourages children to develop story lines. It also encourages creativity, team work and problem solving.

Language Adventures

2012-05-14T19:17:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared on Hanna B, Grad Student SLP. Thanks, Hanna for allowing us to re-post, and for the mention of TherapyApp411!

It’s been a while since I last reviewed an app, so I think it’s high time for such a blog post (you have dysphagia and motor speech disorders exams to blame for that)! Smarty Ears has a new(ish) app out called Language Adventures (currently on sale for $9.99 in the iTunes App Store until May 16). I was fortunate enough to win a copy of it through a Facebook contest that TherapyApp 411 held a few weeks back, and I’m excited to share some of the great features this app has to offer! Language Adventures is a language board game app that targets synonyms, antonyms, and/or multiple meanings in both receptive and expressive modalities!

First and foremost, a HUGE Thank you to Barbara Fernandes and the rest of the Smarty Ears brainteam for adding video tutorials to all their apps! I know, I know…all technology should just be “intuitive” these days right? WRONG! We all find ourselves caught in the trap of thinking we know exactly how an app is supposed to run, only to find out that we’ve been neglecting some of the coolest, most exciting features all along simply because we never took the time to learn how to access them. Usually this happens as soon as we give the iPad to a client and give them the freedom to “figure the app out”…a million times better and faster than we did! Smarty Ears makes it so easy to learn all the perks of their apps through clear, concise, and accessible tutorials! (Woot Woot)

The Language Adventures game will support 1-4 students, so it’s a great option for individual therapy and group therapy alike! Adding a new student/client is easy: just enter their name, DOB, grade level, target items (synonyms, antonyms, and/or multiple meanings), and target language mode (receptive or expressive). You can even add a photo or avatar to represent each student (and who doesn’t love seeing themselves when an app is opened?!?!). Yes…I did name my pretend student “Fro” (can you tell someone was craving fro-yo when she was testing out this app?). The game can be played at 3 different levels, so never fear: this game will grow with your clients and be more than just a one-hit wonder!

The app itself is designed as a board game! Brilliant! For each turn, the client taps the dice to determine how many spaces they can move on the board. In order to cause their piece to advance, they must click on the square that correctly corresponds with the number rolled on the dice (Hey-o…math too!). Best part of rolling dice on an Ipad? They never fall off the table!!!!! As soon as the correct box is chosen and the piece moves forward, a language question will appear for the client. If you chose to target all 3 language skills, they will appear in random order throughout the game; otherwise all the questions will relate to your designated skill determined for the kiddo.

If you are working on receptive language skills, 4 possible answer choices will appear for the child to choose from. When working on expressive skills, the question is open-ended and the child must generate their own response that you can then mark as accurate or incorrect (Yup, this app collects your data for you too).

In the settings tab, you have the ability to turn audio-reading of questions on or off as well as to choose the consequence that occurs when an incorrect choice is made during receptive language questions. Luckily for you, you’ll never need to worry about adjusting trivial things like the background music or minor features…in fact, the snappy music will keep you and your client(s) jammin’ through your whole session All in all, I highly recommend this app for targeting the specific language skills it incorporates. Your clients are sure to love the board game concept, and you’re bound to love all the great learning opportunities this app provides for language!

Disclosure: Sean Sweeney, M.S. CCC-SLP, one of the editors of TherapyApp411, was involved in the development of this app and receives a share of its profits.

Bag Game

2012-05-08T03:01:00.000-04:00

Bag Game is an interactive app for iPad and other iDevices (iPhone, iPod) that brings the game of "20 Questions" to the iPad format. Using Bag Game (the folks at all4mychild emphasize that it is a social game that can't be played alone) children can choose an object from various categories, hide it "in a bag" and engage in a clue-giving/guessing process with another child or you as the therapist. Question prompts are provided (e.g. "Is it in the ___ group?") that also function as a question/clue tally and gear the game toward the use of Yes/No questions. However, this activity can easily be modified to target use of key semantic attributes, with the "hider" providing clues about category, function, location, associations, and appearance to a communication partner. Guessing games of this type address a number of objectives, including semantics, listening, question formation, turn-taking and other social-pragmatic skills.

I really can't think of anything but positive things to say about this app! It's simple, yet addresses a complex and key skill that students need repeated practice with. I have used it with kids at various grade levels and they love it, from the selection of the adorable illustrations to "bag," to the "pinching" effect that "opens the bag." The categories and category items are generous, such that the app could be used to target basic categories (included: animals and food, in various subcategories, sports equipment, appliances, instruments, tools, vehicles). Most of all, I am not a "stuff guy" and I would likely never endeavor to play a real "bag" game, with the exception of the activities that come with the Talkies program, so this app caters to my need for simplicity. Speaking of Talkies, this app, with its hidden object context, could also be used to target visualization as a language strategy.

Bag Game is also featured as part of all4mychild's terrific Social Adventures app, an e-guide to targeting social interactions through fun games, activities, catch phrases and visual cue cards, but as a stand-alone, the price is totally right at $1.99.

Scribble Press

2012-05-02T01:37:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared on the blog of Hanna Bogen, Hanna B, gradstudentSLP. Thanks to Hanna for letting us re-post and please check out her blog.

Now that finals are over and I’m well on my way out of rainy dodge to a week of sunshine in AZ, it’s time for another app review. This time I’m talking story creation with Scribble Press. This app is fantastic for letting kids create their own books (which can even be ordered and mailed to you if you’re feeling sentimental). What I love about Scribble Press is the ability to start with the “skeleton” of a book and fill in the details so kids can make it their own.

When you click on the “New Book” link, it brings you to a shelf full of book categories. Does your client love aliens? CHECK! Is it Christmas/Hanukkah time and you want to do a holiday themed book? CHECK! Check out the various book categories below!

Within each category is a list of actual book “skeletons” to choose from. The image below shows the book options available in the “About Me” category.

Once you’ve decided on a book, a madlibs-esque screen will pop up with a story skeleton and blank spaces for you to fill in with your client. This is a great opportunity for them to practice spelling/typing skills if appropriate. For those kiddos who hate to generate their own sentences or stories, this is great because it gives them a place to start from which to come up with ideas. You can always go back later and edit the skeleton to be more relevant to your client (or just create a book from scratch with no skeleton).

Once everything is filled in, it’s time to illustrate the book! The app has a decent selection of images to choose from, but the real gem is the ability to choose from a PLETHORA of colors and a PLETHORA of “marker types” to draw your own pictures. I love the creativity this encourages in kids. You can always alter your books to target particular artic sounds, semantic categories, or language elements.

You’re enticed, aren’t you? So…the big question: how much is this app? FREE!! That’s right folks, Scribble Press is absolutely free. Depending on the level of support you want to offer, this app is great for kids of all ages (or maybe even some of the adult clients out there) and opens the therapy floodgates for a multitude of great intervention targets and ideas!

Articulation Station

2012-04-26T11:50:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared at Play on Words. Thanks to author Sherry Artemenko for allowing us to repost it!

“Articulation Station” by Little Bee has all the app-tributes for an engaging, fun, successful therapy session. Organized in a thoughtful way, it promotes practice of the 22 sounds of the English language, by initial, medial and final placement in a word as well as blends, and in increasingly difficult contexts through the word, sentence and story levels. What stands out in this app is the rich variety of images — photographs of a close-up rose, blowup rainbow, 3-D robot or a watermelon that you’d like to taste–so identification is clear and appealing to the student.

Since I am an itinerant speech therapist, I deliver therapy in kids’ homes. I knew I had a winner when I used “Articulation Station” with my kids and the parents got hooked too, wanting to immediately buy the app for their child! There went my creative therapy tool, oh well.

Word Level

I used Articulation Station with a variety of kids working on sounds, ages 3-11. Tap the screen to hear the correct production before a child’s attempt or give your own best speech therapist model! Every step can easily be recorded by pushing the little red button on the lower left and then listening to the child’s attempt. This is so helpful in training a child to make his own judgements about his productions. A 5 year-old could move through the steps independently, including recording and listening to her voice, but she needed an adult over her shoulder to remind her to say the words! I guess she thought she was just playing a video game there for a minute.

Rotating Sentence Level

At the word level, kids can choose between practice with 20 flashcards or a matching game where a winning match causes the cards to disappear into a cloud of stars–just what kids love. The sentence level offers options for rotating words within the same sentence or unique sentences. Rotating was a favorite as kids filled in a silly sentence such as “Sally sang a song about the _____” or Michelle put the ____ in the washer.” Kids loved to press the Spin button so the fill-in-the blank options rotated to give a new word to use in the sentence. 5 year-old Hailey completed, “Michelle put the ocean in the washer,” and then said, “Silly Michelle!” The rotating option was easier for younger kids who can’t read yet because they could memorize the carrier phrase, although I found that the unique sentences worked well when we tapped the screen to hear the model and kids could at least repeat the first half of the sentence which usually contained the target word.

The story level is composed of two levels, of cleverly composed stories using multiple target words in a repetitive pattern. “The kid hid on his new slide, under his bed, behind the sled” and so on. Three wh-questions follow for the child to answer. Level 1 uses pictures interspersed in the text for emergent or reluctant readers, while level 2 is all text.
What I liked:

well-organized by sound, position, and level of difficulty
beautiful, engaging graphics
fantastically fun spinner that kids loved
clever stories with questions to answer (we all know this isn’t easy, considering the word bank we have to work with!)
easy data collection method to keep track of percentage of correct responses
easy sound recording and playback feature that kids as young as 5 can do independently
variety of activities to engage the kids, especially those with a short attention span

I highly recommend Articulation Station for speech therapists and parents for home practice. Thanks to speech and language pathologist Heidi Hanks for this great app, which is an extension of the excellent content she has on her website for those who want to learn about speech sound articulation, mommyspeechtherapy.com

The above is solely the opinion of the author. Articulation Station app was provided for review by Little Bee

Profile of Phonological Awareness

2012-04-18T06:00:00.004-04:00

App Name: Profile of Phonological Awareness (Pro-PA)
Price : $29.99
Published by Smarty Ears
Created by Tanya Coyle, Speech/Language Pathologist
Review by: Deb Tomarakos, MA CCC/SLP
This app review originally appeared on www.speechgadget.com.

App Description: Pro-PA was developed to evaluate and describe phonological awareness skills in children.

Pro-PA examines a variety of phonological awareness skills, including the following: identification and production of rhymes; blending syllables and phonemes; isolation of initial, medial and final phonemes; segmenting words; syllables and phonemes; deleting syllables and initial phonemes in words; substitution of initial or final phonemes of words.

Features: ability to administer to single students or groups of students; ability to enter student information and track data over time; tests consonant clusters; examiner does not have to administer all sections of the test; email and or print test results.

Example of Subtest Administration

Prior to purchasing Pro-PA, my go to phonological awareness screening test was the PAST (Phonological Awareness Skills Test). I have found Pro-PA to be similar in administration to the PAST. Both are easy to administer, provide information regarding a variety of phonological awareness skills, and provide information that is useful for goal selection.

App Pros: ease of administration; administration time of 10-20 minutes; ability to administer portions of the test or the whole test; includes a variety to phonological awareness skills and includes 12 total subtests; ability to enter descriptive notes regarding performance on each subtest area; skills are described as not attained (less than 50% success), emerging (50-79%), and achieved (greater than 80%).; test includes consonant clusters; pop up counter provides a visual for child to utilize during segmenting subtests.

Example of in app scoring, including color coding based on results.

I appreciate that the app contains a 25 page manual that includes detailed information regarding test administration. The manual includes a table that lists the expected time frames for skill acquisition based on current research. Also included is a list of supporting references/journal articles.

In app list of time frame for skill acquisition.

In app list of references.

App Cons: I have to say that overall I was very satisfied with Pro-PA. One con, for me, is the price of the app. My app budget is rather limited and so any time an app is over a few dollars, I have to think long an hard about my purchase. A second con is that the app is not yet widely known or used as a screening tool. Many teachers and school systems are familiar with other screening tests, such as the PAST. With that in mind, professionals working in school systems may need to discuss the use of the app (in place of their current screening tool) with their grade level teams and their administration.

If you work with pre-school to early elementary aged children, Pro-PA can be useful as a screening tool for phonological awareness skills and as a means of selecting appropriate phonological awareness goals. I believe the app is appropriate for use by SLPs, educators and reading specialists.

FitQuest Lite

2012-04-11T11:59:00.000-04:00

This review originally appeared at Starfish Therapies. Thank you to author Stacy Menz for allowing us to repost it!

Your Therapy Source told me about the Free app FitQuest Lite by JogHop, so I downloaded it and then tried to figure out when I would use it.

It actually worked great for 2 kiddos that I work with that are completely different in terms of presentation. One of the kiddos has Developmental Coordination Disorder and we work a lot on timing of movement that is self generated, that is cued, that is reactionary to something happening to the environment as well as the coordination of that movement. The other kiddo has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and we spend a lot of time working on bilateral hand use, standing balance, anticipatory balance control and reaction time.

By using this app I was able to work on all of these things. They get the visual cues of the squirrel running down a path (whose movement is generated by the kiddo’s movement) and then have to react to the obstacles that come along the way. This can include jumping over a snake or ducking to get away from an eagle. In addition to the visual cues I have been able to vocally tell them when to jump or duck or whatever the task is requiring. As they practice, they get the repetition and are able to anticipate when to move to get the desired result and time the motion so that they make it over the snake. As they progress, they need fewer and fewer verbal cues.

Their timing and reactions improve as well as their anticipatory reactions where they can plan a movement, and their body knows what it needs to do in order to maintain their balance for that action. For my kiddo that has spastic quadriplegia CP, we didn’t do the leg motions as much but used the bilateral hand use to generate the movement. He was able to make it jump by lifting the phone up, and duck by bringing the phone down. The squirrel was able to move down the path by his shaking his arms slightly. It was a great balance tool and really helped his bilateral hand use.

All in all this is a great free app that can develop on anticipatory reactions as well as timing, balance and bilateral hand use!

Articulate It!

2012-04-05T11:39:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared at Play on Words. Thanks to author Sherry Artemenko for allowing us to re-post!

As speech pathologists we are always looking for new tools to add to our bag, and certainly the iPad has become a favorite for all of us, including the kids! Sifting through the thousands of apps takes time, but is worth it to have a stash of great apps to enrich our therapy sessions.

Articulate It! by Smarty Ears ($38.99, Universal app for iPhone/iPod/iPad is a welcome addition to our world of apps. Designed by one of the leading developers in speech and language apps, Barbara Fernandes, it starts with a complete video tutorial so you can learn all the features available. Besides providing over 1,000 images to practice all the consonants in the English language, you have options to select specific sounds (Phonemes), Phonological Processes or Manner of Articulation which gives broader options than just practicing specific sounds. Words can be practiced at the Word or Phrase (sentence) level with options to hear a recorded production of each task as well as record your client’s attempt. Percentage of accuracy, words attempted, recordings and notes can all be accessed in the child’s Report Card and shared through e-mail or printed to inform parents or teachers.

What I liked:

Great 5 minute tutorial explaining all the features
Ability to use in a group session, easily selecting the target sounds for each child and setting up taking turns with appropriate tasks for each child–even the ability to rotate the image on the screen to face children around a table
Easy collection of data including recordings from the session as well as words attempted
Ability to select your goals from the last session and pick up where you left off last session without going through the selection process again
Variety of images–photographs, drawings and stick figures –to portray nouns, verbs and adjectives for various language options
Flexibility to adjust settings
Text aimed at an older audience than preschool such as "Thebes is a city in Egypt” or “Lori was thereby declared the winner,” which will keep the interest of adults too.

Kids loved to be involved with recording and listening to their attempts as well as rate their response, pressing the check mark! I know this app is constantly being improved and revised so would suggest that some games be added for some variety to keep kids engaged.

I highly recommend this app for speech therapists and parents so kids and adults can become more proficient in their articulation.

The opinions above are solely those of the author. Articulate It! was provided for review by Smarty Ears.

Using Apps for Evaluating Posture

2012-03-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on Your Therapy Source.

Here is an interesting way to evaluate a client's posture - try using your iPhone or iPad. Basically what you will do is create an image with a picture of the client and a grid over the picture. With the grid you can measure angles to determine progress. Here is how you do it:

Step 1: Download a free app to your phone that can alter photographs. I used a free app called SketchBookX for the purpose of this tutorial.

Step 2: Download and save a copy of this transparent grid that I created below (right click on image to save).

Step 3: Email yourself a copy of the grid and save the grid image on your phone.

Step 4: Take a picture of your client with your phone to assess his/her posture. See example below.

Step 5: Open up the SketchBookX app on your phone. Touch the circle at the bottom of page. Touch the icon with the three pieces of paper on it. For Layer 1 touch the icon with the flower and plus symbol to acquire your image from phone. Choose from your photo library the picture you took of the client. Now touch the two plus symbols to create another layer. Touch the flower/plus symbol to acquire the image of the grid that you emailed and saved the copy of on your phone (it will appear black because it is transparent). Now press the down arrow and touch merge. The grid will now be merged on top of the photo. See below.

Step 6: Print out your image or store online for your photo documentation before interventions. Using a protractor and the grid as a guide you can determine different angles of the spine.

Step 7: To assess progress, repeat the process showing improvements in the angles over time.

Now maybe you are thinking that you could just take a picture to indicate postural changes or use a goniometer. This is true but, by actually measuring the angles on the grid over time you can document small progressions that may not be as noticeable in a regular photo. A picture is worth a thousand words too. It can be difficult to get a true goniometric measurement of a child's posture who moves frequently whereas a photo can capture that moment in time. In addition, it can help with goal writing - Jane will improve her upright posture at her desk by 10 degrees. It certainly is not exact but not a bad free tool if you ask me.

Have any questions about how to do it all? Email me at mrice@yourtherapysource.com.

Can you think of any other ways to use the grid over photos to indicate progress?

Margaret Rice
www.yourtherapysource.com

Writing TherAppy

2012-03-22T06:30:00.000-04:00

Thank you to S-LP Kimberly Freed for her submission of this review.

App Name/Publisher: Writing TherAppy by Tactus Therapy Solutions

Description: This app allows the user to work on writing and spelling at the single word level in a variety of interactive contexts. Writing can be practiced by filling in the blanks, copying, labeling a picture, or writing to dictation.

Therapy Use:

When recently using this app with a 70-year old female patient she exclaimed “I really like this!” with a big smile across her face. After working on so many take home spelling worksheets, she found the interactive and colourful program a nice change.

I find myself using each of the components of this app in slightly different ways. The Copy feature is great for low level spellers and users who would benefit from a confidence boost. With the picture and word spelled out for them, they can get familiarized with the task and focus on scanning the letters and checking their work. Similarly, the Fill in the Blank feature provides the extra bit of scaffolding some users need for both their spelling and their confidence. I have noticed with several users that before they pick the check button, they are able to self-monitor and often correct their spelling. The drag option allows the client to shuffle the letters around until they feel it looks right and then they can get confirmation by hitting check.

For any patients who own iPhones or iPads this app can be used for home practice because it provides hints and corrective feedback. I had one patient use this app at home in conjunction with her therapy in the clinic so that all of her goals could be targeted regularly within the restraints of therapy time.

App Benefits/Likes:

· For pt’s with decreased pen/pencil grip tolerance, the option to use a touch screen is a nice alternative

· Visual appeal- bright colourful pictures, but not too busy

· I love that this app has the check button. This allows users to monitor their own progress but still receive corrective feedback.

· The hint button offers a nice step down on all of the actives either by decreasing the blanks to be filled in or the number of letter choices offered.

· When an error is made, only the incorrect letters are removed, so that the client can see the letters they have correctly selected and try to fix those that are incorrect.

· After correctly writing a word, the program reads the word out loud

Cautions: A fair degree of fine motor control is required for users to drag and drop letters from the letter selection into the blanks. I have had several patients who have struggled with this due to both a lack of familiarity with touch screens and reduced fine motor control. That said, the settings do allow for an alternative Tap option that reduces some of the fine motor control demands. (Unless of course you’re teaming up with the OT to work on that!)

In the future I’d like to see an option for larger letter buttons and possibly some sentence level writing.

App Summary

Skill(s) Targeted

Aphasia

Expressive Language

Literacy

Spelling

Writing to Dictation

Written Naming

Age/Grade Levels Targeted

Preschool-Adult

(Has a child-friendly mode for using with kids)

How to Activate

2 settings on how to move letters: drag or tap

Type of Device

iOS Universal for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Cost

$19.99

Would you recommend this app?

Yes, it’s great for use both in the clinic and for users who have access to the technology at home.

Hyperlink

http://www.tactustherapy.com/writing.html

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writing-therappy/id464224299?ls=1&mt=8

Reviewed by:

Kimberly Freed, M.Sc., SLP(C)

Review Date:

March 15, 2012

The Social Express

2012-03-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

The Social Express by The Language Express, Inc
Price: $89.00.

This Post was written by Jenna Rayburn and Originally appeared on her blog, Speech Room News.

Social communication is a critical area of need for many children. Social skills are often difficult to teach, and even harder for students to initiate and follow through. I'm always on the lookout for another tool to add in my 'social skills toolbox.' One app people have been requesting to see a review of is The Social Express. The developers gave me a copy of the app to test it out for you! The Social Express is software designed to teach management of social situations using video models and interactive choices. It's available as an app and also for Macs/PCs, meaning it works for all SLP's!

You open the Social Express and meet the main characters. Max is the driver who leads you through the app. He introduced some sweet characters, including my favorite, Sunny, the pup!

You can add multiple users - which is great! First, students work through each lesson to 'unlock' them. Once you have passed the lessons the first time, you can go back to individual lessons as needed for review and instruction. There are 2 levels of instruction, based on similar skills with increased difficulty at level 2.

At the introduction of a skill the 'Hidden Social Key' is explicitly stated. There are teaching tips that you can turn on or off throughout the lessons. Social concepts targeted include: proximity and body language, eye contact, identifying feelings, coping strategies, conversational skills and figurative language.

My favorite part of the program is the part of the program where students answer questions to unlock the clubhouse! Student are presented with two video sessions and then they choose the one that demonstrates the skill. I love it as a wrap up for the lessons to check comprehension of the skills.

Pros:

Video modeling is engaging to students.

Two skill levels are included, making the appropriate for children k-5.

Provides modeling of both positive and negative outcomes.

It allows for multiple answer choice- providing opportunity to let students choose the correct response as well as the incorrect response to work through.

Allows for pausing to give the therapist time to give instruction.

Cons:

The price tag hurts, meaning it may be out of reach for many therapists. I imagine it cost a lot to develop the app with animation, and you can tell a lot of work went into it!

It includes a limited set of lessons and I hope they will expand with updates!

Doodlecast for Kids/Doodlecast Pro

2012-03-15T13:29:00.000-04:00

This post originally appeared on Speechtechie.

When interactive whiteboards (IWBs) first arrived on the scene with their accompanying software, one of the best aspects was teachers' easy access to recording features so that they could preserve each lesson as a video file and share it later via their webpages or other means. This assisted students who needed information repeated, and also made really good use of the visual teaching capabilities of IWBs. It also is extremely motivating for students to be able to use this technology themselves in order to explain or apply a curriculum concept, and then hear/see their work and evaluate how well they did!

This kind of "screen recording," or, in another one of my made-up terms, "Explanimation" technology is now available through a number of easy-to-use apps. In this post, I am going to highlight two I really like, though there are others that are popular and well-reviewed. I was excited to see this technology applied in a very user-friendly app geared toward use with younger children, Doodlecast for Kids ($1.99, iPad only). In the words of Tickle Tap Apps "Doodlecast combines your drawing and voice to create short videos." Check it out in action here:

Applying a language lens, this app has many potential uses:
-My graduate student intern and I have found that this app has been very motivating to several articulation students working at the sentence and carryover levels. We use it in combination with articulation word lists and have the students make up sentences and stories using their target sounds.
-I have also found this to be a really useful tool when working with targets such as multiple meaning words, figurative language and vocabulary.
-The app has a built-in lens on setting and emotions, as the home screen allows you to pick settings such as "water" or "sky" such that those are pre-drawn on the screen, and you can add to them. These aspects contribute to the app's usefulness as a narrative development tool.

There is now an older brother of Doodlecast For Kids, Doodlecast Pro ($3.99, iPad only) Though Doodlecast for Kids is recommended for ages 3-5, it's applicable for much older kids, and I have used it with middle school students. expands the functionality of Explanimation technology greatly by allowing you to insert images into the animation and adding more customizable tools. As a result, you can take an image on any topic (see our Essential Tech Skill Tip regarding using Google Images on iPad) and draw and speak about it.

Both Doodlecast for Kids and Doodlecast Pro let you save the video to the iPad (it will be in the Photos app/Camera Roll, not the Videos app) for easy review/sharing at a later time. Videos can be uploaded to YouTube directly from the Doodlecast Pro app, or within the Photos app for videos created with Doodlecast for kids.

For a free app that is similar to Doodlecast Pro, try ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard or Educreations Interactive Whiteboard. I do like that Doodlecast lets you save to your iPad where ShowMe, for example, only lets you export to their website.

So, readers, what do you think of Explanimation? What other uses do you see for this technology in Speech-Language Pathology? Let us know in the comments.