Speech with Milo Articulation Game Board!

Speech with Milo Articulation Board Game: Common Sounds Pack-Review and Giveaway!
By Doonan Speech Therapy (iPad ONLY)

$5.99 View in iTunes 

                             

A fun new way to work on articulation skills!  

I APPsolutely love it! 

This app is a first of its kind and it turns regular articulation drills into a fun and engaging board game!

Features: 

• The common sounds offered in this app are /F/, /V/, /K/, /G/, /S/, /Z/, /CH/, /SH/. Initial, medial, and final positions for each sound. (Over 500 target words!)
  

• Add, store and track up to 20 students ($.99 for each additional 3 students after 20)
  

• Run groups with up to 5 players at a time. 
  

• Each student gets to choose a unique character to play with.
  
  
  

Set Up: Add each student in "Student Set up" tab on home screen. You will add their name and select their target sounds and positions. Next you will go back to home screen and push play. The app will ask you to choose which students are playing (you can also select the therapist if you want to play along with them) and each student can pick their own character to play with. 

Game Play: The students' characters will be displayed on the game board to show whose turn it is. The student will tap the spinner in the middle of the board then they will move that number of spaces (1-6).  I really like that you have to place your finger on your character and physically drag it to each square (similar to a real board game and great for fine motor!). There is a lit up cue on the targeted space to show the students where to go. When the student lands on a space it will pop up one of their target words in a picture card. You then can request a certain number of productions to move on to the next turn (I usually do 5). There are data collection buttons right on each picture card (correct/approximations/incorrect).  On the board you will see many different fun squares and obstacles such as STOP, BONUS, GO BACK, and GO FORWARD. The students I have used this with really like these squares. The game ends when the first player makes it to the school at the end of the board. 


Data: As a speech therapist, this is the first thing I look for when buying new apps to use in therapy! As I stated above, you keep track of productions during the game on each picture card. At the end of the session you can view their data and email it. The data is also stored in the app to be viewed at anytime. I really like viewing data after several sessions to track progress! 
 
 


Options: You can customize the sounds in the app (turn on/off: dice sound, background sound, card sound, game piece sounds, and spoken word). You can also turn on/off the written word on the picture card. 

 

Click here for a demo video by Speech with Milo



What I love: I really like the board game! I have used board games for years in therapy and now I have one right on my iPad! As a traveling SLP this is gold!!!! I also love the bargain price!! $5.99 for this app seems like a steal (SLP apps are pricey!). 

What I would like to see different: I would love to see all phonemes (maybe there will be more board game apps from Speech with Milo at a later date!!!). I also would like to see the ability to add more than 20 students (most of us SLPs have huge caseloads these days!!) without having to pay an extra .99 for 3 students. 

Giveaway! 

I am giving away two copies of this amazing app! There are two ways to enter!  Contest will end October 4, 2012 at 11pm.

1.  Enter using the rafflecopter below. 

2. Enter by leaving a blog comment on this post answering the question below. This is for all of you who don't prefer rafflecopters! Entries will put into a hat and drawn at random by my son (a picture will be posted of the winning name!).  

Here is the question I want you to answer in your comment: What is the most important feature you look for in an articulation app? 

*You may enter both ways but you may only win once! If your name is chosen on both, I will re-draw in the rafflecopter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



click here for rafflecopter help! 

Articulation Scenes Review

                           Articulation Scenes by Smarty Ears!

download it now! iTunes $49.99



Smarty Ears has done it again! Articulation Scenes is a new creative and engaging way to work on articulation and language skills! The app premise is based on scenes and has very cute, hollywoodish graphics and animations. 

There are four modes of play: Find the hidden items, tap and say it, the movie theater, and the production room. You choose the phoneme (sound) and placement (initial, medial, and final position of words) to work on and it lets you choose different scenes to play with. There are three scenes per phoneme (one for initial, medial, and final placement) with the exception of /r/, which contains 10 scenes. 

Find the hidden item: This mode is a seek and find activity. There are words listed at the bottom of thescene (if the child taps on the written word it will say it for them). As the child finds the pictures it says the target words again (this is great for auditory bombardment).  I also have the child produce the target after they find it to practice their speech! The child is rewarded with points for every picture they find and if they score enough they will get a trophy for their trophy case.  This task also promotes vocabulary building and listening skills! 

Tap and Say it: This is exactly what is sounds like! The child taps on target words in each scene and the picture pops up bigger. Here the therapist (parent/teacher) has data recording tools (missed it, almost, and got it). This keeps track of accuracy for you! There is also an option to record the child's voice for instant personal feedback. What I really like is that you can practice each word as many times as you want. To get more practice you can have the child say each word 3 times!  When you are finished with the scene it provides a nice report with percentage of accuracy.  Again you can also use this game for vocabulary building for those kids who have language and articulation goals!

The Movie Theater: The scenes is presented in a movie theater like graphic and a story/script is read aloud (containing target words). When it is finished you can have the child read the script of the movie (for articulation practice while reading) or create their own story. When they choose to read, the story is presented in a teleprompter! So cute! You can record the student reading the script. If you choose to create a story, the scene is presented again and the student can make up their own story and record it! (This is great for working on articulation in structured speaking situations).  

The Production Room: This section is similar to the Movie theater except it doesn't include the read aloud script first. This is ideal for student who are ready to just create! See above for the description of the two options (read the script and create your own story).  You can use this app for story elements and narrative skills as well! (Targeting those language goals!)

Things I really like: 

• Create quick user profiles: Name and photo/avatar only! This makes set up much quicker (as opposed to entering birth date and grade level)! This is great when you want to start a game quick and you don't have the student's records handy. 

• Homework Document: Each scene comes with a homework document (Amazing!!) that has picture cardswith images straight from the scene! Send these home with your kiddos for great carry over practice! It will get your kids talking about Articulation Scenes at home! I have even planned on taking screen shots of the individual scenes to print out with the scripts so that the students can practice exactly what we did in therapy with their caregiver! I may type up their recorded story (or have them write it) too! Example of a homework page (screen shot from my iPad, it prints or emails as a full page). 

• The Lounge: The lounge displays each child's progress report and trophy case when you tap on their picture. This stores their data from each session which comes in handy when you are needing some data for school reports or therapy notes! My son loved this and wanted to check his trophy case after each session! :) Great way to keep student's motivated! This is my son's lounge to the left!

• Reports: You can share the progress reports via email or Print (I still haven't bought a printer for my iPad). I like that you have the option to only share the most recent session and you can attach audio files!! 

• The tricky /r/ phoneme! This phoneme is one of the most prevalent targets and Smarty ears broke it down into the different types of /r/ sounds (pre-vocalic, blends, air, ar, ear, ire, or, rl). A speech    therapist's dream! 

Some may think this app is a little pricey but it is worth the money. This app provides endless articulation practice with over 1200 target pictures and 72 different scenes! This company has great customer service and provides video tutorials for all of their apps!  If you want high quality therapy apps you have to pay for them!

www.smartyearsapps.com

Articulate it Review

Articulate it by Smarty Ears!

                        

$34.99

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/articulate-it!/id391296844?mt=8

This is an app that replaces the need for articulation flash card decks! It contains over 1000 picture cards with every phoneme in the English language! Each student or child has a profile that contains their date of birth, grade, and picture (or avatar). You can select all of a student's target phonemes or processes and then choose which ones to practice in each session. You can use this app with groups with tailored goals for each student. This app gives you the ability to work on phonemes/processes in words or in phrases.

When each card or target is presented it will give an audio model of the word or phrase. You also have the option of removing the audio and the text presented on the card. With each card you can record the student's response and write notes. After the child says the word you can select the green check if they got it right and the blue x if wrong. At the end of the session it tracks the percentage of accuracy for you and produces an emailable session report. The app also stores the session data so you can track progress over time.

Things I find neat about this app:
On the actual picture card presented there is a paper clipped picture of the student (or the avatar they selected for themselves) with their name! The kids really like this feature! It is great for turn taking reinforcement during group sessions.
Another great feature: When you select a child that has already used the app, you have the choice to repeat the previous items practiced. This is handy so you don't have re-select the phonemes/processes that you want to target. You can also see the list of words for each phoneme and hand pick which words you want to use.

The pictures are a mix of real life photos, smarty symbols, and digital illustrations.

I really like using this app while playing therapy games. I use an iPad stand and set up Articulate it with my group. On each turn of the game the students have to practice their phonemes/processess with the app before they get to make their move! After their production (while they are taking their turn) I can tap  correct or incorrect and make any notes right there in the app! At the end of the day I have all of my students' progress information available to my fingertips! This app really is a time saver and a motivator!!


Here is a list of features listed on their app in iTunes:
1. Over 1 thousand pictures;
2. Audio recordings for every word present on this app! You child can practice saying their sounds on their own by repeating the voice on the app;

3. Contains ALL phonemes of the English language;

4. Ability to track multiple students at the same time with separate goals;

5. Ability to group sounds by Manner of articulation or phonological processes;

6. Built in voice recording allows the children to compare their productions with the audio recording;

7. Extremely specific results screens- give you percentage based on phonemes/ position in the words/ which words were missed and more...

8. Note taking capability: allows SLPs and parents to take notes during practice.

9. Universal app! Looks great on iPhone and on iPad.

10. Amazing images.

11. Allows you to skip images you don't want to practice.

12. So many features and more. Watch our video for more information!

Smarty Ears continues to make high quality apps that really revolutionize speech therapy! Articulate it is a great looking and great performing app that my students have responded well too!



Images taken from google and smarty ears website for informative purposes only!

Pocket Pairs Review

Pocket Pairs by Pocket SLP

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-pairs/id416573790?mt=8

This app is $23.99 (Check for Sales!)

As a traveling SLP I am always looking for apps for my iPad to minimize the amount of materials I have to lug from site to site. When I discovered Pocket SLP, I thought, what could get better!! Then they came out with the Minimal Pairs app. This app is beyond useful in my daily therapy activities. Not only is it full flashcard app to work on all of the phonological processes in minimal pairs, but you can also integrate a whole group of students with different goals (processes) at once! It has both expressive and receptive tasks (production and discrimination).  It is completely customizable to your caseload!

 A really neat feature is that before the student touches one of the cards, they get to see their name right on the card. (Mandi West, Say the Words). This is very motivating during group sessions!

After each pair  is presented you have a data collection button (one for correct production, approximation, and incorrect).  It keeps track of the percentage of accuracy for you and stores the data to show progress at a glance for each student.

It includes in-app generated reports:

You have choices between three formats: graph, report card, and spreadsheet. I really love the report card format because it outlines the session (percentage correct and actual words used) and has a section to instruct parents on how to work with them at home! What is better than tailored handouts and homework for parents!  The graph format is great for tracking progress (excellent visual representation for parents/teachers).   

You can also run a daily report for all students that will show data from every session completed that day, which is very useful when you are filling out progress notes/forms. When you are finished you can email or print results right from the app.

This app really abolishes the need for card decks or flipbooks to address phonological processes!

 I don’t know what it is about the iPad and using apps in therapy, but the students I work with really respond to the “touch” interactions better than they did before with traditional flashcard activities. For this busy traveling SLP, Minimal Pairs is a life saver!

This app is more sleek and "clean" looking without a lot of visual distractions. (Compared to some of the other apps that have a lot more background graphics). I prefer to use this one with older elementary aged kids or ones who are distracted easily.