App Review & Giveaway: Describe it to Me

I'm so excited to bring you some info on the latest app by Smarty Ears Apps - Describe It To Me.  This app, like all of those developed by Smarty Ears, was designed by a certified speech-language pathologist. The coolest thing about this app is that it uses a game show format to build receptive and expressive language skills.  The app description states that Describe it To Me is "designed to help clients build a deeper understanding of everyday items."  But you can do so much more with this app than that! (More on that later.)

Getting Started:
Before we start, I wanted to share a few features that are available from the home screen.  Support: This button allows you to watch a video tutorial on using the app, view a description of the app, backup/restore the app, and email Smarty Ears for support.  More Apps:  View more of the apps available from Smarty Ears.  Report Center:  This is where you can go to view the data from your Describe it to Me sessions.

When you're ready to begin, tap Play.  You will need to add a player to begin.  You can manually add a player or import players from Therapy Report Center. When you add a player, you can choose to import a photo (from the camera or photo roll) or use one of the many built-in avatars.  The screenshot below shows you an example of both an avatar and photo icon.

From this screen, you can also adjust the settings for the app.  You can choose what happens when the student is incorrect (buzz or remove the item), choose visual/auditory reinforcement, choose whether or not to display points, and choose whether or not to use a spinner.  From this screen, you can also customize the word list (below) by selecting/deselecting words (below). For example, if you are using with younger kids, you might want to keep the vocabulary more simple.

Using the App:
Once you have your players added/selected and your settings selected, you are ready to begin.  You can use this app with up to five players. The players will be displayed on the spinner.  The target word/object is displayed on the television screen and the question type is displayed above the screen.  You can change the target word by pressing the forward/reverse buttons on the side of the screen and switch from receptive/expressive targets by sliding the button to R/L.  Change students by tapping the avatar of the desired player.

Receptive:
In the receptive mode, the student is given questions about the object with four possible answers.  There are six questions for each item (located along the top of the TV screen).  These can be changed by sliding the indicator icon.  The questions are related to:

Category:

Function:

Parts:

Location:

Visuals:

Extra:

I used the same object for each question type so you could get an idea of the question asked.  The questions are generally the same for each object.


Expressive:
For the expressive component, the same six question types are present and the questions that are asked are the same as in the receptive component.  However, in expressive mode, the student must respond verbally.  You can score a student's responses by tapping Correct/Almost/Incorrect.

Reports:
When you're finished with your session, tap DONE.  As with most Smarty Ears apps, Describe it to Me has built in data collection and will generate reports based on your sessions.  You may view/email these reports, or export to Therapy Report Center.

Reinforcement:
Describe it to Me has a few different types of reinforcement.  First, do you remember the settings?  You could select Visual and/or Auditory Reinforcement.  The visual is shown below.  The auditory is a sound that occurs when the student gets the item correct.

In addition, Describe it to Me provides rewards whenever a child gets 10 correct answers in a row:

These rewards will be stored in the player profile of the app.

Homework:
Describe it to Me has built in homework sheets that you can email to a parent or email to yourself for printing.  We all know that carryover is essential and what better way to promote carryover than home practice!

Eliminate 1:

Circle 3:

And that's Describe it to Me!  Here's what I think:

The Pros:

• I've often used a "Describing Hierarchy" in my therapy sessions that is somewhat similar to the question prompts in this app.  I've found using an approach like this to be helpful for students with word retrieval difficulties.
• Receptive/Expressive components in the same app!  We all have mixed groups, right?  This app makes working with mixed groups easy!
• The app description says that is was designed to be used to build a deeper understanding of everyday items.  It really can be used for so much more:  increasing vocabulary, answering wh- questions, use and comprehension of categories, use and comprehension of attributes, part/whole relationships, object functions, word retrieval, etc.
• I don't have an EET, but have read up on it a bit.  This app looks like it focuses on similar concepts and can be used in conjunction with EET.
• I love the built-in home practice sheets! They can easily be shared with teachers or parents for printing.
• Built in reinforcement and data collection are always big pluses in my book.  Because of the reinforcement and fun game show format, kids may be more motivated to practice skills using the app than without it.

The Cons:

• I've turned the spinner on.  I've turned the spinner off.  I cannot notice a difference either way.  
• I would love to be able to record expressive responses.  With that said, I know that adding a recording feature would likely increase both the price and storage space of the app, so I can live without that feature.

The Bottom Line:
Describe it to Me is a great app that can be used to address so many language targets.  This app is fun and motivating for students, not to mention affordable.  Describe it to Me features similar concepts as the EET and is a great addition/companion to the EET.  I cannot wait to try this app with some of my students with word retrieval difficulties because I know it will make a difference!  As of this posting, Describe it to Me is on sale for $4.99 in the App Store.  The regular price of this app is $9.99.  Smarty Ears was kind enough to provide a copy for me to give away today.  To enter, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love it and List it! Linky

Disclaimer:  Amazon affiliate links are included in this post for your convenience.

Hey everyone!  I'm going to be linking up with Jenna's Love it & List it over at Speech Room News.

This is going to be a regular monthly feature.  This month, Jenna is asking us to share our favorite games with you.  Here are some of my favorites that I haven't already blogged about:


Pesky Pirates:

We used "Pesky Pirates" as an open ended game in my therapy room.  Basically, you try to collect coins as you play and the player with the most coins at the end is the winner!  This game is a fun addition to your pirate theme!

Hullabaloo:

 

We all love Cranium's Cariboo, right?  Well Hullabaloo is pretty fun too!  You do need to have some space to play this game.  It comes with mats that go on the floor.  The mats all have specific attributes (color, shape, picture).  Each player starts on a purple mat (with a Cranium character) and once you press the button, they need to follow directions to move to another mat (e.g., "Spin to something you can eat," "Hop to a circle").  This game is great for following directions, learning attributes/categories, and listening comprehension.  The only downside to this game is that the speaker goes too fast.  I wish there was an option to slow it down or pause it.  Sometimes I just skip the speaker and give my own directions!

 

Zingo:

Zingo is a great game for preschool. As you may have guessed from the name, it's a twist on a bingo game.  There are two sides to each card.  The green has less complex vocabulary and the red, slightly more complex.  All of the cards consist of basic nouns (from what I remember, my game is at school!). The game is sturdy with plastic tiles that get placed in the red machine to start.  To "draw" tiles, kids must swipe the handle of the red machine back and forth (like an old fashioned credit card swiper).  They love it!

Snail's Pace Race:

Snail's Pace Race by Ravensburger has been one of my favorite therapy games since undergrad!  This game is probably a staple in many therapy rooms, but I figured I'd share if you're not familiar with it.  The coolest thing about this game is that the kids don't win/lose, the snails do!  We all have those groups that are competitive and want to win above all else, right?  Well this game eliminates the "sore loser syndrome"!

That's about all I can think of without actually being in my therapy room!  What are your favorite games to use in therapy?

PS, Thank you Jenna for hosting this linky!  

Don't Throw it Away! Newspapers

A few years ago, I was working solely in the preschool of a brand new district after working 5 years in early intervention and three years in another preschool program.  Because I was lowest on the seniority pole, I was  a "floater" (meaning I would help to cover if another SLP had to go on an extended leave).  Then I got a phone call that terrified me.  I was going to "float" over to another school to absorb part of another SLP's caseload while she was out on medical leave!  Her caseload consisted of preschool through grade five.  FIVE?!?  YIKES!  After spending so much time with little kids, I really had no idea what I was going to do with the big kids (grades 3-5).  Yes, she left me some ideas, but now that I had kids who could read and write, I wanted to do something really creative!  So, I grabbed a newspaper:

(I've been planning this post for a while now - check out the date!)

During my first session (after the getting-to-know-you stuff), I took out a newspaper.  We talked about the parts (title, headlines, stories captions) and the sections (local, sports, classifieds, etc.).  Then we talked about why a story might be on the front page versus the middle of the second section...why some stories had pictures and others didn't...why people put ads in the classified...and why there are other advertisements in the paper.

In subsequent sessions, we:

• read articles and answered wh- questions
• read 2 out of 3 panels of a comic strip and worked on predicting
• read articles and brainstormed appropriate headlines
• looked at pictures of people and discussed their emotions
• and had a newspaper scavenger hunt!

Today I'll be sharing the Newspaper Scavenger Hunt with you!  This was probably the favorite activity for the kids.  I split them into teams and had them work together (great way to incorporate executive functioning skills!) to find different categories of words within the newspaper.

I told students what they would be looking for before they were able to pick a section of the newspaper. I also gave them a few minutes to come up with a strategy before they began. They searched for proper nouns, common nouns, contractions, adjectives, verbs, compound words, a month of the year, and numbers (you may choose to do numerals or number words).  You may wish to pre-teach certain ideas early on in your newspaper unit.  For example, while checking out the sports page, you may mention that football, baseball, basketball are compound words, or you may draw attention to the location of the date within the newspaper.

The kids all got one of these sheets plus pencils.  They were instructed to circle the words they found in the newspaper (so I could make sure they were really finding the words) and to copy the words onto their worksheet.  I have to say, this activity drew out their competitive sides!

One more thing I want to mention, I decided early on that we would write a newspaper for the SLP who was out so that she could know everything important that happened while she was out.  The kids worked together to decide a name for the newspaper.  Each week, I asked them to tell me what happened during the week.  Toward the end, we picked a few topics about which we would write articles.  Once we had topics, we brainstormed key points that we would make about the topics, created sentences for the points, and put them in a logical order.  Then they came up with titles for their articles.  I even brought in my camera so they could include photos.

The kids wrote about picture day and interviewed the school secretary to find out the date and the name of the company.  One of the students was planning on moving the following week, so they interviewed him about where he was moving and how he felt about the move.  They wrote about MCAS (our state wide achievement testing) and a field trip.  Here's one of their articles:

Field Trip

The third and fourth grade went on a field trip to the Zeiterion Theater on March 18th. We went there on a bus. There were other schools at the Zeiterion. We saw a friend who moved to another school and her name is Lakeira. We saw an orchestra playing the violin, drums, strings, flute, tuba, clarinet, and harp. Kaidyn raised his hand to go on the stage and got picked. He played a trumpet and it didn’t work for him because he didn’t do it right. It made a funny noise. We came back from the Zeiterion in time for lunch.

Not bad, right?!?  If you like the idea of using the newspaper in therapy, you'll want to check out Speech Room News for Jenna's Newspaper Companion.  I had the chance to preview the companion and it is awesome!  Now I know exactly what to do if I ever get called to "float" again!  :)

You can download this activity HERE.  Do you use the newspaper in your therapy sessions?  What are your favorite activities?

Monster vs. SLP in Training

Help!  I think I've created a monster! Or maybe just a future SLP in training....You decide.  This is a typical conversation in my house:

"Is this purple?"
          Yes! That is purple.
"No.  I think you should look again.  Is it purple or green?"
          Oh, it's green.
"Much better!  It is green! Nice!"
          Thank you!

If it wasn't obvious, the quotes in green were said by my soon-to-be-four year old son and the purple, (you guessed it) me!

Conversations like this are a daily occurrence in my house.  I can't even tell you how often I'm corrected on the names of toys/characters ("No, that's Mr. Waternoose.  Say 'Water' now say 'noose'!").  Don't even get me started on semantics!  I had just gotten off the phone with the groomers at Petco before this little exchange...Mom, who were you talking to? Petco.  Mom, Petco can't talk. It's a STORE!  Ok, I was talking to the lady at Petco.  That's more like it!

After being home for two weeks and getting corrected constantly, I'm starting to feel a little sympathy for our students!  (Also wondering "Is that what I sound like?").  I've been thinking, "Oh Boy! I've created a monster!"  Now I'm wondering if we have a future SLP in training!

I know your kids have had "speechy moments" too!  What's the funniest "speechy" thing your child has done/said?

Speachy Feedback Linky Party

This is such a fun idea, I just had to participate!  Nicole from Speech Peeps started this fun way to reward TPT customers just for leaving feedback!  She will be hosting these linky parties once per month (every third Monday), so you still have a chance to get in on the fun!  

Your part is easy...download something from my store and leave feedback.  Yup, that's it!  I will choose one "winner" from the feedback I receive and announce it here.  That winner will be able to pick one item from my store as a prize!  How fun is that?!?

Here goes...  The winner for this month is TPT user SusieSLP who left this comment on "Constructing Preschool Fun":

"Love this activity it is perfect for my private practice speech therapy program. I enlarged the game board, putting it on a manila folder, and we play with small trucks. Great fun! Now I am going to get the book to complete the set."

SusieSLP, email me at cmanchester57@gmail.com and let me know which item you'd like from my store!

Thanks to Nicole for starting this linky party! Head on over to her page by clicking the button below and see who else is participating!

App Review: Comprehension Aphasia

I had the pleasure of trying out Comprehension Aphasia by the Virtual Speech Center.  Despite its name, this app is not just for adults, but can be used with children who have comprehension issues as well!

You can see the home screen of Comprehension Aphasia above. If you tap the info button, you will see a description of the app as well as how it is used:

According to the description, Comprehension Aphasia "focuses on auditory comprehension of increasingly longer and complex yes-no questions and directions with the ability to turn on background noise."  The app can be used with clients who exhibit aphasia, cognitive deficits, decreased attention, Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), receptive language impairments, and autism.  In my opinion, this app can be used with any client who needs to strengthen their ability to listen to and comprehend spoken language (specifically questions and directions).

You can tap More Apps to see a list of apps by Virtual Speech Center, along with a description of each app.  You can also modify the Settings for the app from the home screen:

Settings include:  Turning on/off audio, automatically moving to the next item when a response is given, randomization of items, turning on/off background noise (and adjusting both the type of noise and the volume), and modifying the sounds heard for correct and incorrect responses.

Using the App:

When you tap Start from the home screen, you will be prompted to add/select students.  You can use this app with individual clients or in groups.

Once you have your student(s) selected, you will be prompted to select activities.  You may select multiple activities for each student playing, then tap Next to begin.

 The activities in this app include:

1.  Yes/No Questions:

• Yes-No Questions with pictures (Nouns, Function of Objects, Verbs, or Adjectives)
• Concrete Yes-No Questions without pictures
• Abstract Yes-No Questions without pictures

While targeting yes/no questions with pictures, the client is given a verbal question (written cues for stimulus items are not utilized in this app) and shown an image.  A question is posed regarding the image.  Examples include:  "Is this an apple?" (Nouns), "Do we use a garden hose to water?" (Function of Objects), "Is she reading a book?" (Verbs), and "Is this rose long?" (Adjectives).

"Is this an apple?"

Examples of Concrete yes/no questions without pictures include, "Do we wear sunglasses on our feet?" and "Do people sleep at night?"  Examples of abstract yes/no questions include "Do we wash our hair after we go to bed?" and "Is a dime more than a quarter?"  For these items, the client will be shown only the words "Yes" and "No" and will select their response by tapping the appropriate word.

"Do people sleep at night?"

2.  Basic Directions with 1 Element:

• Follow 1-step Directions with 1 Item - Nouns (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 1 Item - Verbs (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 1 Item - Adjectives (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 1 Item - Function of Objects (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)

For these activities, clients will be prompted to touch one picture from a field that best fits the description. Examples include:  "Show me the trumpet" (Nouns), "Show me the girl blowing bubbles" (Verbs), "Show me the angry man" (Adjectives), and "Show me the object used to mix" (Function of Objects).

"Show me the stapler"

"Show me the man shaving"

3.  Basic Directions with 2 Elements:

• Follow 1-step Directions with 2 Items - Nouns (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 2 Items - Verbs (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 2 Items - Adjectives (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with 2 Items - Function of Objects (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)

For these activities, the client is asked to point to two objects instead of one (as above).  Because you are selecting more than one object, you must press "Go" when you are finished.  Examples include, "Show me the cap and the chair" (Nouns), "Show me the  girl sleeping and the child taking a bath" (Verbs), "Show me the empty basket and the full basket (Adjectives), and "Show me the animal that lives in the jungle and the object used for blending" (Function of Objects).

"Show me the broccoli and the bicycle."

"Show me the sweet food and the pink food."

4.  Temporal Directions:

• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "Before" - Nouns (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "Before" - Verbs (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "Before" - Adjectives (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "After" - Nouns (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "After" - Verbs (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow 1-step Directions with Concept "After" - Adjectives (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)

The directions in this set are increased in complexity.  Again, you must select two pictures and press "Go" when finished.  Examples of "Before" items include:  "Show me the office before you show me the fox" (Before - Nouns), "Before you show me the man pouring water, show me the boy eating" (Before - Verbs), "Show me the open can before you show me the open mailbox" (Before - Adjectives).  Examples of "After" items include:  "Show me the hand after you show me the chicken" (After - Nouns), "After you show me the child crawling, show me the child taking a bath" (After - Verbs), "Show me the long hair after you show me the short measuring tape" (After - Adjectives).

"Show me the child drawing, before you show me the child crying."

"After you show me the belt, show me the eggs."

5.  Conditional Directions:

• Follow Conditional Directions - Nouns (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow Conditional Directions - Verbs (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)
• Follow Conditional Directions - Adjectives (field of 3, 4, or 6 pictures)

These activities are the most complex and include the most linguistically complex directions.  Examples of conditional directions include:  "If kangaroos live in Australia, tap the chicken.  If not, tap the 'Go' button" (Nouns), "If raisins are made from grapes, tap the woman watering.  If not, tap the 'Go' button" (Verbs), "If not, tap the 'Go' button" (Adjectives).

"If we pay full price with a coupon, tap the man yawning.  If not, tap the 'Go' button."

What I like about this app:

• The variety within the levels.  This app really does allow you to challenge clients/students by increasing complexity.  You can target yes/no questions with and without visual cues in addition to following basic directions and complex directions. 
• The ability to add background noise makes each level more challenging.  An adult with aphasia may have difficulty distinguishing figure/ground and, with this app, you can target that skill easily.  
• The ability to target vocabulary and concepts using real life photographs. 
• If a client/student is working on repeating directions, you can record them as they are repeating in addition to replaying the original direction.  Using these features, a client can compare what they heard/perceived vs. what was initially said.

Changes I would like to see in an update:

• I've been trying to think of something I would like to see changed and I really couldn't come up with much.  My first thought was to add an option to have written cues for directions, but that would undermine the focus of auditory comprehension.  So, I guess there isn't anything I would change about this app!

The Bottom Line:

Comprehension Aphasia is a great app for anyone working on improving their auditory processing/receptive language abilities.  It's a comprehensive app that allows you to work on so much, while increasing cognitive and linguistic complexity.  I have to admit, I wasn't sure about this app upon hearing the name of it as I typically work with younger children.  However, I was VERY pleased with the app and I think I will be able to use it with some of my younger students as well!  I think "Comprehension Aphasia" may be a bit of a misnomer for this app because it really can be used for so much more than just aphasia!  If you do have students on your caseload with auditory processing/listening comprehension difficulties, you will not be disappointed with this app!  Comprehension Aphasia sells for $19.99 in the App Store.

Have you tried this app?  If so, what do you think of it?

Disclaimer:  Virtual Speech Center provided a copy of Comprehension Aphasia for the purpose of this review, but the opinions expressed (as always) are mine alone.