Pages

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

App Review: Multiple Choice Articulation

Hey Everyone! I have another guest post/app review for you today. My co-worker Stephanie is back again with a review of Multiple Choice Articulation by Erik X. Raj. Multiple Choice Articulation is $9.99 in the App Store. Take it away Stephanie! PS, I SWEAR I don't pay her to say nice things about me!


     About this time each year, I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out some new and exciting way to work my student’s artic goals.  I mean….  I love my articulation decks as much as the next SLP, but there are only so many ways to use them without guaranteed boredom ensuing.  This is especially true for my older artic kids!  Specifically, those kiddos who are working on generalizing their speech sound productions into their connected speech. 


     ….enter Multiple Choice Articulation, by Erik X. Raj.  This is a fun, easy to use app that had my kids and I laughing while still targeting those sometimes elusive /s, z, r, l, sh, ch, and th/ phonemes.  For each of these phonemes, you get to choose their word position:  initial, final, medial and blends.  Over 500 multiple choice questions in all!    


     Once you choose your sound and word position, you are lead immediately into the question and “answer” format of the app.  There are a multitude of questions ranging anywhere from guitar players to scuba divers to crying bear cubs to ear wax.  Yup!  He covered all the bases.  My students loved the silly questions, of course!  I really never thought I’d be discussing eating ear wax during a therapy session, but my kids were waaaay into it!


     The general layout for each question page remains the same.  There are 2 buttons, back and next, at the top of the screen to navigate through the questions easily (perhaps you don’t want to talk about having green pimples today).  At the bottom of the screen, there are 2 options:  “Hear the Question” and “Hear an Answer.”  “Hear the question,” simply reads the question out loud for your students.  While the “Hear the answer” button has Erik explaining why he chose a particular answer to the question.  Bonus!  His pronunciation is very clear and precise, emphasizing the target sound carefully - just the way a good SLP would.  Beyond that, his answers are expressive and funny.  My kids got a kick out of that!

Here's the bottom line...

Pro’s

  • Engaging and fun for everyone!  My kids loved hearing the silly questions, and coming up with even more crazy explanations for their choices. 
  • Speaking of crazy explanations – hello, expressive language!  Yup, my kiddos were all too eager to give reasons and details in their answers.  Some kids were even trying to persuade other kids into choosing their answer.  I had some very talkative sessions….  J
  • Simple layout and app design makes it a cinch to use!  Just download and go.  Who doesn’t love that!
  • I loved the option of listening to the questions read out loud.  Sometimes my student’s like to hear someone other than me, I think.  Great for non readers as well, as we preferred to pass around the iPad to each group member for their turn. 

Idea’s for future app updates:

·         I would love for students to have the option of recording their own responses and being able to play them back to rate their success with their sounds. 
·         Some pictures to accompany the questions might be fun and add visual interest to the app.
·         Data tracking is always useful.


Thank you very much to Erik X. Raj, SLP for letting me review this fun app.  I sincerely apologize to him for the extended amount of time it took to actually get a review posted, but alas, IEP season is in full swing here in my district.  L

Additional thanks to Carrie, who is, as usual, a generous and creative co-worker!

While the app was provided to me in exchange for my review, the thoughts and ideas expressed are my own.    

~Stephanie