Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP. Over 36 years experience in AAC. OMazing Kids AAC and app consulting. Creator of several AAC Feature Matching resources (https://omazingkidsllc.com/omazing-kids-aac-resource-links/). Includes info about unique features to support Gestalt Language Processors
I’m loving the progression from very simple to very challenging problem solving, the realistic graphics and sound effects, the ability to easily go directly to any level & especially the option to build your own levels. This app will be a fun way to target goals for problem solving and the social skills of working together.
{App Review} English Idioms Trainer Professional by Education Terra
As I was writing my post about apps for SLPs I noticed that there were only a few for idioms. So I was excited to receive a copy of the full version of this app to try out. I like that it has lots of idioms (284 in the version reviewed for this post), that they are sorted alphabetically, that there is a quiz and that you can choose which letter category of idioms to include in the quiz. I also like that the background music can be toggled off. This app will be helpful for those patients who have mastered the simple / more common idioms included in most card decks but who still struggle with this type of figurative language. The app doesn’t include any pictures so it would likely be a bit too challenging when first introducing idioms.
The only suggestion I have for the app developer is the price. Based on the pricing history on AppShopper, the app was initially priced at $2.99 and has been on sale as low as $1.99. The $1.99-$2.99 price range seems more in line with the features of this app than the current price of $9.99.
I liked the wide variety of social situations included, the situations are sorted by common location a child may encounter, both the situation and potential answers can be read aloud with high quality voiceovers (but each can be toggled off if you want the child to read them on their own), the settings options for errorless teaching and sensory-friendly set up (with options for a simple interface & to toggle off the audio guide and buzzing sound), the app is built around the concept of “flexible thinking” (that there is not just one right answer in a situation), that you have tap and hold to exit the scenario (great in preventing “tap happy” kids from exiting), in-app video tutorial and the cool adventure quest theme of the app. Since most of the patients on my caseload have Autism, this app is going to be a very helpful tool in my therapy toolbox!
Wishes for a future app update:
– It would be nice to be able to e-mail a report for a specific session rather than a cumulative list of all of the data.
– It would be nice to have more specific information included in the data regarding the questions the child missed.
– It would be nice to be able to delete data for a specific student without having to delete the whole user.
– More than 800 questions across receptive and expressive activities
– A wide selection of specific locations and corresponding social contexts to work on
– Multiplayer capabilities: each game can support from 1 to 4 players
– Each player can select multiple social contexts.
– Receptive Activity in which students identify correct answers to a social question
(presented with text, audio, and accompanying image).
– Ability to customize the receptive activity to require student to provide one or two
correct answers to modify level of difficulty. Having to find both correct answers is a great beginning step for promoting flexible thinking. Only finding one correct answer is a good scaffolding tool for a student who is not yet at that higher level.
– Expressive Activity in which students respond to open-ended questions corresponding to those asked in Receptive Activity. Expressive questions are worded more broadly to promote generalization of skills. The adult working with the student marks “correct”, “almost”, or “incorrect” each time the student responds. The app allows the student to respond multiple times to the same question before proceeding with the “next” button. This is a great tool for working on flexible thinking and encouraging a student to think of multiple possibilities on how to deal with a particular social situation.
– Data and report card kept on each student, report can be printed or emailed to parent or self for record-keeping
– Ability to add student photo or avatar to represent each player in the game
This app is very well designed. I love the illustrations and interesting short story content, the settings options for errorless teaching and special need-friendly set up (with options to toggle off the buzzing sound, to toggle off the score awards on the stories, options to adjust the size of the image & the size of the text), the option to select the types of questions to include in the quiz, the option to hide the picture and/or story text in quiz (but I love that the default is that both are visible), the option to tap on a speaker button to have the quiz question read aloud and the option to have a “hint” by highlighting the part of the story that contains the answer when taking the quiz (and if a hint is used that is noted in the data collection). The ability to create your own stories makes this a great app to target lots of language goals.
Wishes for a future app update:
– It would be nice to be able to select the quiz questions before reading the story and allow the student to preview the questions selected since this is a common strategy used to help kids who struggled with reading or listening comprehension. If this option is added and they have “previewed” the quiz ahead of the story, it would be good for this to be indicated in the data.
– It would be nice to have the option to have the quiz answer options highlighted and read aloud.
– It would be nice to be able to e-mail a report for a specific session rather than a cumulative list of all of the data.
– It would be nice to be able to delete data for a specific student without having to delete the whole user.
– The app contains 50 engaging and entertaining stories divided into 5 levels with 10 stories per level. Level 1 is designed for early readers (2nd-3rd grade); while level 5, with a readability level of 6th-7th grade, is designed for older students.
– Each story has an associated quiz to check for comprehension. Within the quiz, there are 11 types of questions available. The adult can determine if all questions will be asked, or select a certain type of question. The question types available include: who, what, where, when, why, how, inferences, cause & effect, compare & contrast, sequencing, and vocabulary & context.
{App Review} Drillaby Pro Speech Therapy Game – SLP Edition & Drillaby Remote
Drillaby Pro is a speech therapy game designed for speech-language pathologists to use for articulation drills. The app is designed to give kids lots of practice opportunities while playing a motivating game. The object of the game is to get Drillaby through four different areas on an island and then home.
Key features:
Explore an island with 4 areas (ocean, desert, jungle & arctic) to help Drillaby find 5 hidden words in each area. Pronounce those words correctly to earn stickers to fill her passport sticker book and get safely home.
Designed by certified speech-language pathologists.
Articulation game includes a choice of six sound groups: /k/-/g/, /t/-/p/, /v/-/f/, /sh/-/ch/, /l/, /s/ and /s/blends.
Three levels of difficulty including words in carrier phrases.
All sound groups can be presented in US, UK or AUS accents.
Session data records can be viewed for each student within the app or emailed as a .CSV attachment.
I love the game format of Drillaby Pro! I have several patients who can be difficult to motivate and they all loved this app. It has large colorful illustrations, high quality voiceovers, ability to set up multiple users, data collection with the option to e-mail results & an intuitive interface once you enter the game play area. The passport sticker book was helpful to keep a patient engaged to earn all the stickers to get Drillaby home. The app currently includes 10 sounds + s-blends. I like that each s-blend can be selected separately and that there multiple repetitions for each target. The “easy” level has 3 repetitions for each target word, the “medium” level has 5 repetitions for each target word & the “hard” level has 3 repetitions for each target word in a carrier phrases that also contains that another word with that sound (except the s-blends which use the carrier phrase “I see ______”.). This is a great app to add to any speechie toolbox!
I just have a few wishes for a future app update to make it even better:
It would be helpful to be able to select multiple sounds for each user in the set up menu and then tap on the one(s) you want to work on when entering the play area. It’s currently a bit cumbersome to have to edit the user every time you want to work on a sound in a different sound set.
add the final position for /l/
add the medial & final positions for /t/ & /p/
add more sounds to the app. I would LOVE to be able to use this app with more of my patients but it currently does not contain the following sounds: b, m, h, w, y, d, n, j, z, th (voiceless), th (voiced), l-blends, r, vocalic r, r-blends. Any sounds added should include all positions.
add the option to toggle back and forth between users for use in speech therapy groups. I am currently only seeing patients 1-on-1 but SLPs who work in school settings would find this feature very helpful.
some of the carrier phrases don’t make sense (ex: I pat ______ – pool). It would be nice to have the option to select the option to use a standard carrier phrase such as “I see ____” or “I found _______” that would make sense regardless of the target word.
Work with “tap happy” kids in speech therapy who try to score every production as correct? Drillaby Remote is a cool companion app that allows the SLP to control scoring remotely from a second iOS device via Bluetooth.
I love using “face up” matching apps to work on vocabulary & matching without having the extra component of memory required for hidden matching. This app has over 120 pictures presented in a field of 8 in 14 categories (animals, clothes, at home, toys, body parts, bedroom, colors, family, outdoors, food, at school, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, tools), fun cartoon-like graphics, an intuitive interface, the option to easily toggle off background music but still have voiceovers on, each picture is named as it is tapped and again when it is matched correctly, there are no aversive sound effects or verbal feedback if the picture is placed in the wrong place, the placement of pictures on each screen is randomized each time to prevent a child from memorizing where they go. App includes options for English, Spanish & Portuguese. This app will definitely get LOTS of use in my SLP toolbox!
* Happy Daycare Stories – by PlayToddlers by Guillermo Fernandez Gonzalez https://appsto.re/us/kP_Edb.i, iOS Universal, $2.99
I love using open-ended play apps to teach vocabulary, actions, spatial concepts, turn taking & more. It reminds me a little of Dr. Panda Daycare but I love that this app has 5 adorable kids instead of animals. This app has really cool 3D cartoon-like graphics, several fun areas to explore (playground area (with a pool, swing, rocking ride on giraffe, balloons and potted flowers to water), playroom (with a 2-seat train that the kids can ride, blocks, books, dolls, music player, balls, etc.), a kitchen (with realistic food items, sound effects for eating/drinking, stove, silverware, refillable water pitcher, refrigerator, drawers/cabinets that can be opened and closed, etc), a music room (with instruments, costumes & a stage), a bedroom (with beds, blankets that send the child to sleep when pulled up, stuffed animals, relaxing color scheme and mobile, etc.), a bathroom (with tub, toilet, sinks, dirty clothes hamper, bath toys, bubbles, etc.), and a second outdoor patio area (with fruit stand, fruit smoothie blender, frog pond, flowers, pinwheel, apple tree, etc.), the option to toggle off separately from most sound effects, and an intuitive interface (arrows make it clear his to get to the next area). The only wishes I have for a future app update would be to make the headphones and scuba mask removeable so other kids could use them, allow the music player to work when the app background music is toggled off and to add a blender sound and the ability to add more than 1 fruit at a time to the fruit smoothie blender. App includes options for English, Spanish & Portuguese. This app is chock full of great language opportunities and will definitely get LOTS of use in my therapy toolbox!
* Find It : Hidden Objects for Children & Toddlers by Guillermo Fernandez Gonzalez, https://appsto.re/us/2fY1G.i, iOS Universal, $1.99
(will add app trailer video here if they make one)
Check out this fun new SLP-designed app! I always have patients who are working on categorization skills so it’s cool to have another tool to help work on that. The app has fun colorful graphics, an intuitive interface, includes 4 activities (Odd One Out, Matching Pairs, Label the Category & Add Another One), ability to select level of difficulty separately in each activity, two simple mini reinforcer games & the option to easily toggle off background music. Right now the voice & vocabulary are in Northern Ireland English but the developer is working on adding USA English soon.
The only wishes I have for a future app update are an option to adjust the frequency of the reinforcer mini games (currently only 5 work items are required to play the game. I’d like 10 added as an option. It would also be cool to be able to go directly to a game to be able to use it as a reinforcer in other activities), errorless learning strategies (for example, if the child gets an incorrect answer rather than giving the thumbs down and wrong answer sound effect it would be nice for the app to provide a subtle visual cue for the correct response and info about why that is the correct response. This would help “teach” the skills rather than just test them. The app gets challenging and there were a few items where even I was not sure why a particular answer was “correct”) and of course the USA English option. The current price seems slightly high since the app doesn’t have the option to set up individual users or have data collection (features most SLPs start to expect in apps priced at $5.99 or higher). Overall this is a nice app to add to your SLP toolbox 😊
Purchase on the App Store: Let’s Expand Vocabulary by Ruth Crampton, https://appsto.re/us/Pvlmgb.i, iPad only, $6.99 (current price in the USA App Store)
I am LOVING this new app to teach 14 position words and spatial concepts! It has lovely handcrafted illustrations, high quality kids voiceovers, an intuitive interface, an option to toggle off background music and the app actually teaches the concepts rather than just “testing” them. If the child misses an item, there is no aversive feedback. Instead the app shows the child what their answer would look like and provides another opportunity to answer. It is a bargain for $1.99! Their website indicates that this the first of 4 apps they are developing. I can’t to see what other gems they have planned 😃
About the app: Fido, the dog and Pumpkin, the cat teach young children the meaning of position words. Colorful, handcrafted, animated illustrations are used to demonstrate the words: in, in front, next to, behind, outside, beside, under, on, up, down, around, over, on top and between. This program identifies the words children are unsure of by allowing them to choose the answer to a question or the missing part of a sentence. If an incorrect choice is made an animation demonstrates the difference between their choice and the correct answer. For those who are not yet confident in reading, all answer options are fully audible.
Features include:
an eye button to start and repeat animations
an ear button to listen to text on the page
paw prints that direct the children to the next item or to try again if they missed an item
a home button to return to the menu screen
a play all button that leads to a celebration screen
This lovely new superhero-themed kids yoga & mindfulness iPad app helps children wind down and let go of all the “stuff’ from their day. Activities are short (each less than 10 minutes) so it’s easy to squeeze into a bedtime routine or to use as a calming break during the day and is nice for kids with shorter attention spans.
Features:
– 3 yoga sequences with detailed guidance to help encourage safe alignment
– 5 guided relaxation journeys
– 2 calming breathing techniques
– A Superhero Scoreboard to track minutes and days of practice
– Superpower badges to reward regular practice and inspire discussion around qualities like empathy and resilience, developing emotional literacy
This app is a bargain at $2.99 (current price in the USA App Store, prices may vary in other countries based on the exchange rate).
My only suggestions for a future app update would be to find a way to compress or reduce the app size. It’s currently a large app (1.16 GB). It would also be nice for it to eventually be a universal iOS app so parents could use it on an iPhone as well as an iPad.
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with over 27 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review the newest app from Dr. Panda for Technology in Education /Appymall! I have several of this developer’s apps and use them almost everyday in OMazing Kids speech therapy.
Here’s what I love about this new app:
There is a knock at the door but it doesn’t open to reveal which character is coming in until you tap it. This is fun to build anticipation. The character waves “hi” as they enter.
The app has an intuitive interface (easy to figure out where to tap and what to do). The arrows on the right and left sides of the screen lend themselves well to working on that basic concept as you chose which direction to go.
Extra large characters & items. This is great for kids with fine motor delays or visual impairment. It also made it easier to point out details such as body parts, bath toys, hygiene tools, etc. as I used this app to target speech and language goals.
I love the realistic feel of the characters in this app (in comparison to the flat sticker-like feel of characters in the Dr. Panda School and Dr. Panda Farm apps). The app includes 2 boy characters (Dr. Panda & Puppy) and 2 girl characters (Monkey & Kitty).
A symbol or two appear in the top right hand corner of the screen to tell you what that character needs. There are often other clues such as the character being dirty, wiping off their clothes, saying “Eww”, etc. This is great to work on perspective taking and inferencing. When 2 symbols appear, it’s a great opportunity to talk about what the character should do “first” and then “next”.
There are 7 areas in the app (door/entry area, closet, toilet, sink, laundry, bathtub, shower)
After using the toilet, the app automatically takes the character to wash their hands at a close up view of the sink.
The sink area is also for brushing teeth and in that mode has a manual toothbrush, electric toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, spray cologne & a comb.
The shower has hot & cold water and the character reacts if it’s too hot or too cold. I also liked being able to remove the shower sprayer to spray all over the character.
The bathtub has a scuba mask and snorkel. So cute to get to make the character go under the water! I also love the toy (sometimes a boat & sometimes a rubber duck)
The closet has 5 outfit choices for the boys and 5 outfit choices for the girls.
A checkmark appears over the symbol in the top right corner when that task has been successfully completed. I immediately thought of my patients who use a visual schedule and how it would be fun to create a visual schedule to go along with this app.
When all the tasks have been completed and the character has been dressed, they go back to the doorway area. The door opens and they pause in the doorway. This provides the opportunity to tell the character “bye bye” before you tap them and they say “bye” as the leave. This is followed by a new character knocking on the door and a new series of opportunities appearing. The app appears to be randomized which makes for lots of fun options each time you use it.
The app has lots of opportunities for core vocabulary with AAC users (of course this app would have to be on a separate iPad from their “talker”). There are also tons of opportunities for other vocabulary, spatial concepts, adjectives, verbs, etc…. That’s why I love using apps like this in therapy!
The parent area is secured and contains options to easily toggle off/on the background music and sound effects separately from each other and to toggle off the promotion screen (when “on” it shows a pic of one of their other apps on the home screen. I personally toggle this off to prevent patients from becoming distracted). These features all make it sensory-friendly & special-needs friendly.
One of the most AWESOME features throughout the app is that the character’s eye gaze follows items as you move them on the screen. They even look up towards the checkmark as it’s added to a completed task. If you try to tap on an area that doesn’t make sense (such as the closet to get dressed while the character is still dirty), the character makes a surprised facial expression and looks up towards the symbol area to remind us what we still need to do. Most of my patients have Autism and often don’t tune it and follow like that so it will be super cool to see if this skill being modeled in an app leads to an increase in those skills as I infuse this app into their therapy.
Wishes for a future app update:
make it possible to rotate a character in the shower so you can wash their back.
add the hot/cold reaction to the bathtub like is currently seen in the shower.
add a few more outfit/clothing options. The drawers at the bottom open so that would be a good place to have extra outfits. Additional outfits could also be added by having separate choices for each character and by having additional choices rotate through as the app randomizes.
depict the characters spitting out the mouthwash by adding a swishing and spitting sound effect and action. I had one patient who thought the characters were drinking it (eek!)
Dr. Panda Bath Time by Dr. Panda Ltd https://appsto.re/us/iek0bb.i, iOS Universal, $2.99 (a bargain for a well designed app that could be used to target several speech and language goals)
There are also two Android versions. I haven’t tried those since I don’t have any devices on that platform but am sharing the links for those who do:
Update: Here are some symbols I made to use with the app. I’m planning on using them both as communication symbols and as visual schedule symbols depending on the child I’m working with:
{App Review + Giveaway} Join the Fuzzies Chip the beaver, Hopsy the rabbit, Siena the alpaca, and Wooly the lamb in their Fuzzy House. This gorgeous new app has six interactive areas to explore (entryway, living room, kitchen, upstairs hallway, bedroom, and bathroom). Each area has interactive objects and other hidden features. Love using open exploration apps like this in OMazing Kids speech therapy! So many great opportunities for vocabulary, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, spatial concepts, storytelling, sequencing, turn taking and more. My favorite room in this app is the living room where the animals can dance to music, play an instrument, jump on the couch, build a fire in the fireplace and more.
I have 3 iOS codes to giveaway for the iPad version of this amazing new app. See details below for how to enter to win a code.
OMgoodness! I wish I knew how to knit. Check out the patterns to knit your own characters from the app: http://www.fuzzyhouse.com/knit/. Also check out all the cute items to make for the Fuzzies: http://www.fuzzyhouse.com/create/
Want a chance to win this fun app? Head over and follow the entry instructions on this post the OMazing Kids Facebook page:
Entry Deadline: Tomorrow, 8/21/16 at 6:00pm CST. Depending on the number of entries received, it may take a day or so to verify them and to announce the winners/distribute the codes to the winners.
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OMazing Kids AAC Consulting 