Multi-tasking iPad - Two apps at the same time!

If you are like me, you love using your ipad for therapy.  However, there are times when one app just doesn't do it for a group with a variety of goals.  One of the great things about the new iOS 7 update is the improved multi-tasking feature that includes the open app preview.  All I have to do is open the apps I would like to work with during the session. Then you just double bump the home button to activate the multi-tasking feature and switch between the apps for each student's turn.  The previews make it easy for the students to see their app and make the switch themselves as the iPad is passed around the table.  I am embedding a little video of me demonstrating this feature so you can see how easy this is to do!  I hope you find it useful! Remember to access your multi-tasking feature press your home button twice quickly.  

The apps I am using in this video are Super Duper's  Name that Category Fun Deck and Little Bee Speech's Articulation Station Pro

Not too familiar with the multi-tasking feature? Learn more about the features here.

Bloglovin!

Have you checked out  Bloglovin' yet?  I came across this last week, (I know I am probably way slow on this due to "summer brain") and it is a great replacement for Google Reader.  I loved my Google Reader as it was an easy way to follow all my favorite blogs and I was at a loss when they announced its discontinuation. I had yet to figure out how I could follow all the best blogs in one central location.  Enter Bloglovin'!  I have added a Bloglovin' gadget at the top of my page and I encourage you all to check it out.  You can find gadgets on your other favorite blogs or just search for the name of the blog.  I also found a lot of blogs just using the search term "speech therapy".  Once you have created an account and followed some blogs you will get a daily update of all the blogs you follow that posted that day.  Bloglovin' makes it so easy to keep up on all the best blogs!  Now that fall is almost here hopefully I will get back into the swing of blogging myself so you can follow me on Bloglovin!  

Speech with Milo Articulation Game Review

I snagged an app deal this morning thanks to my Facebook feed and AppyMall.  I saw in their feed that Speech with Milo Articulation Game Pro was on sale from $24.99 to $3.99 so I took the plunge and grabbed it.  It only had one review and it wasn't favorable, but I watched the video demo on YouTube and thought it looked like it was worth the money to me.  I used it today with 2 groups and I found a lot of positive things to say about it.  I have a few suggestions for improvement as well. 





Pros

• Easy to add student and select sounds to target
• Can target multiple sounds and positions for each student
• Ability to add up to 5 students per game
• Scoring/Data Collection for correct, incorrect and cued
• Ability to mark multiple productions for the same target word.
• The game shows the student where to move their game piece
• Nice pictures
• Ability to turn off sounds, cues and printed words

Suggestions for improvement

• Target sound cards only speak the word when it is first presented. I would like the option to tap the card again to get the target spoken.
• The pop up box that tells you if you lost a turn or get to move ahead is small. It would be great if it had the option to speak the direction aloud.
• Data doesn't store in the app. You can see your data at any time during the game and at the end but if you don't copy it or email it, you lose it.
• Data only gives you a percentage of correct, incorrect or cued and not the number of words attempted and correct.

Overall this was a nice change of pace for the kids. They liked the game and the target words seemed appropriate for all age levels. I should say that I used it with two 5th grade girls with cognitive impairments as well as two 3rd grade regular education students. If you are looking for an easy way to get a game in with articulation practice this is a great option. Unfortunately, it looks like the price has gone back up as I finish this post. :(


iTunes Description: Entertain your kids with this fantastic PRO version of the Board Game by Speech with Milo. About 1,400 sounds in this app! Data is tracked and can be emailed. Sounds in this app are /r/, /r/ blends, /l/, /l/ blends, /th/, /f/, /v/, /k/, /g/, /s/, /z/, /ch/, /sh/,/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /m/, /n/, /h/, /w/, /y/,/ng/. We offer initial, medial and final options for all applicable sounds.

Old is new again!

Ever pull something out that you haven't used in a while and then think "why the heck haven't I used that more?"  That was me yesterday!  It is the end of the school year and I am trying to get in several more data points for my kids's goals. I have so many groups that are a blend of articulation kids with language kids and I feel like we often don't get enough practice.  So yesterday I pulled out my pocket chart game from a closet  and made up my own game.  I needed /th/ target words for one kid and then practice with attributes, categories, functions and associations for another.  Here is what I came up with.

The original pocket chart game is called Language Adventures Game Show and was from Lakeshore Learning from several years back.  It has language cards that go with it but for today I just stuck my trusty old Webber Artic cards behind the numbers.  I used Post-It labels (see my earlier post about them) to make my own category headings.   The game was simple but provided my two kiddos lot of opportunity to use the /th/ sound and practice the much needed language goals as well.  Have you pulled out any old materials lately and revamped them with success?

Sock Puppets do speech therapy!

I had a great time this morning with one of my students with Autism who loves toys and puppets.  She is always requesting to play with something so I got creative with letting her play with another "non-speech therapy" app.  Using the free app Sock Puppets (by Smith Micro Software Inc.) and some of my traditional SuperDuper Inc. "Who" Cards we created a short dialog where one puppet would ask the question and the other puppet would answer.  She thought this was great.  I got to work on the concept I wanted and she got to play with the puppets.  Replaying the video just added to the reinforcement of the correct answers.  We created several videos, this one is our last one and we are re-practicing the cards we already did to make it perfect practice!  I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed playing!

Lots of characters to choose from

fun props and backgrounds too!

Toca Tailor - learning and fun!

Check out this cute girl who visited my speech class today! A couple of my girls have been bugging me to use the Toca Tailor app but I wasn't sure how I could make it work for their therapy goals.  Well today we gave it a shot and it was great!  We were able to bring in a lot of the describing skills we have been targeting.  The girls were able to describe the type of clothing they were putting on the character.  We were able to talk about concepts like longer, shorter, long sleeved, short sleeved, and sleeveless.  Choosing the patterns of the fabric gave us lots of opportunities to talk about solids, prints, stripes, polka dots and so on.  We talked about colors that matched and ones that clashed.  The girls had a BLAST! When they were all finished they had to give me the full description of what the character was wearing as well.  Then we had fun taking her picture around the room. First here in front of the bookshelf, then between my two students and so on. How about that for making language fun?  If you don't have any of the Toca Boca apps, check them out soon!  If you use AppShopper to track your wishlist you can get an email or notification when the apps go on sale.  That is how I got all my Toca Boca apps for free or $.99!

Talking about patterns and describing fabrics

Talking about styles of pants and lengths

Talking about patters and what matches, coordinates or clashes

A concept for concepts

If you are like me you are always trying to find a way to target all those pesky basic concept words that so many of our kiddos struggle to understand.  I have been going really low tech over the last week and it has been such a big hit with the kids that I had to share.

Quantity concepts are really hard to understand for so many kids. I use manipulatives frequently but this week I decided to see if using dry erase markers on my table could add a little bit of variety.  The kids love writing on the table and it is easy to bring in math along with  language concepts.  Don't worry clean up was easy with my microfiber cloths!  Here are my photos from a few groups over the past week.  

Even, equal and more than concepts

equal, more than

ordinals

ordinals, most, fewest

more than, more, equal