smarty ears apps
A family of educational apps for promoting speech & language skills.All developed by certified speech-language pathologists & teachers
Phono Learning Center (PLC) is not “just” another articulation app. PLC is based on the evidence-based Cycles technique used specifically for those children who are unintelligible due to a sound-system disorder. Developed and designed by a certified speech-language pathologist trained in Cycles, PLC is a multi-player app that is colorful, fun, and easily adapted to fit cycles or a traditional therapy approach.
PLC was designed to assist in sound production therapy for students who are highly unintelligible. PLC takes into careful consideration the theory behind Cycles and the co-articulation of target words. A hierarchy of primary and secondary targets developed by Barbara W. Hodson (2010) was utilized to determine which patterns and phonemes would be targeted.
Because PLC is a multi-user application, it is perfect for group sessions. PLC allows data to be collected on multiple utterances for each student allowing for maximum therapy benefit without losing the ease in data collection. PLC has four game-type activities to encourage active participation. Each activity includes words, carrier phrases, and carrier sentences.
In the auditory bombardment activity, the child pops the balloon with the tap of a finger to hear a target word. A score is kept to see how many balloons are popped.
The balloon activity begins with a deflated hot-air balloon in a field. The child says the target word and then drags the picture into the balloon’s basket. With each picture, the balloon begins to fill until it eventually floats off the page. How many pictures will it take until the hot-air balloon expands and floats away
The matching game is a unique take on memory. With this game, the child is presented with one target picture and must find its mate. Because each picture will stay active until a new card is tapped, this activity provides many opportunities for sound production.
In the basket paper activity, the child has the opportunity to shoot baskets with the target words. The basket is centered on the page with the target word on the side. A simple tap on the paper crumples the picture. A swipe of the finger “shoots” the paper toward the hoop.
Finally, the puzzle activity provides a greater depth of language and speech production. In this activity, the child is presented with a puzzle piece with a target word/picture on it. The child moves the piece onto the puzzle mat. With each piece, a picture scene is slowly uncovered. Because the picture scene is revealed one puzzle piece at a time, this activity provides an opportunity to include prediction and “wh” questions during speech production.
PLC offers two types of data collection. In the Standard scoring style, the correct, almost, missed buttons are displayed on the screen. In the Level of Prompts style, the buttons provided are prompted, imitated, and correct. A simple tap of the button keeps data for each student. PLC provides the opportunity to maximize productions by allowing each word to be scored more than once and each child to say more than one word per turn. In addition to percent correct, the report tracks which phonemes have been targeted, the scoring method used, whether auditory bombardment was on/off, the total number of sessions, and the total number of words attempted. Importing to The Therapy Report Center allows the SLP to have progress monitoring at the swipe of a finger.
Phono Learning Center has the following features:
•High-quality images and engaging animation
•Four fun games
•Each activity includes words, carrier phrases, and carrier sentences
•Data collection based on level of prompts or correct/incorrect
•Auditory Bombardment
•Literacy enhancement through visual print
•Data collection for each student
•Compatibility with Therapy Report Center for easy report writing and progress monitoring
•Homework for each target area is available for printing or emailing from within the app
Author: Mary Huston, MS, CCC-SLP
Prep Positions
Prep Positions is a multi-purpose app specifically designed to encourage language and formulating sentences containing prepositions. With 15 levels, multiple sentences for each level, and the ability to adjust levels to fit individual needs, this comprehensive app is perfect for students struggling with understanding and using prepositions. The in-app data collection makes this app perfect for progress monitoring in Response to Intervention (RTI) or Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Teachers, Language Arts Specialists, and Speech-Language Pathologists will love the customization and the comprehensive data. Students will enjoy the earning balls for an engaging game while learning these important skills.
How to Play
Begin play by importing players into Prep Positions from the Therapy Report Center or entering players on the Players page. Once players have been added, up to five players can be selected per session. There are 15 levels of prepositions. Level 1 is designed for early readers (3rd grade) and includes “at, up, down, on, and by” while level 15 is designed for older students and includes “because of, close to, depending on, and up to.”
When the level is selected, the screen opens with a picture and sentence. Within the sentence is a blank space. Three possible words are shown underneath the sentence. The player drags the correct word up to the sentence to “fill in the blank.” An optional setting provides a prompt for the player to record the sentence to provide practice in saying the sentence correctly.
Customization
Prep Positions is highly customizable. The settings tab allows for customization of both the app itself or an individual player’s settings.
To customize the whole app – on the select player screen, tap the settings tab:
• adjust audio settings
• set the number of balls needed before playing the game
• select when to play the game (after earning a certain number of balls or at the end of the session)
• set the background visuals
• determine if the app should suggest recording
• Modify sentences
To customize for an individual player – at the bottom of the player icon tap modify:
• Select a level
• Modify the preposition targeted within each level
Data Collection
Prep Positions is compatible with The Therapy Report Center so data is easily managed. Within the app itself, a student report card is generated after every session. In the report card, data is reported by session, level, or by preposition. These report cards can be exported to the Therapy Report Center, printed, or emailed. Data is kept and compiled chronologically to make progress reporting easy.
Also from the report card center, it is possible to adjust a player’s level or play the game.
Purpose
The purpose of Prep Positions is to encourage both the understanding and use of prepositions in sentences. Prepositions constitute 30% of all writing1. For students to be successful in writing prepositions, they must be successful in knowing and using prepositions. The app encourages practice and carryover of the skills taught while having fun and using technology. Monitoring of these skills encourages students to self-advocate, ask for clarification, and use appropriate strategies for resolving problems.
In addition to progress monitoring for RTI and IEPs, Prep Positions explores many of the Common Core State Standards in Language. By incorporating the ability understand and use prepositions, the Common Core standards for Language are covered2.
Features
Prep Positions has the following features
• Customizable
• Data collection
• High quality images
• 15 levels and at least 30 sentences per level
• Single or Multi-player use
Sources
1Pennington, M. (2010). How to teach prepositional phrases. Pennington Publishing Blog. http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/grammar_mechanics/how-to-teach-prepositional-phrases/
2Common Core State Standards Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/4/
A family of educational apps for promoting speech & language skills.All developed by certified speech-language pathologists & teachers.
App Name: Profile of Phonological Awareness (Pro-PA) Price : $29.99 Published by Smarty Ears Created by Tanya Coyle, Speech/Language Pathologist App Description: Pro-PA was developed to evaluate and describe phonological awareness skills in children.
Editor's choice on Best Apps for Kids 2012*
*** Chosen by Apple as a New & Noteworthy app in 2013!***
Articulation Scenes brings articulation practice to a whole new level! This app, developed and designed by a certified speech language pathologist allows children to practice their sounds with a variety of engaging and fun activities centered around the cinema theme. Based on scenes, Articulation Scenes provides numerous opportunities for children to pronounce their sounds more clearly. All activities were beautifully designed around the theme of cinema and movies for a fun and interesting learning activity.
Articulation Scenes comes with 72 stunning built-in scenes and over 1200 practice words. Each scene contains 4 separate activities:
1.Find the hidden items: Allows children the opportunities to listen to targeted words and find them on each scene.
2.Tap and say it: Children tap on the items on the scene, which are isolated allowing the therapist to track and monitor their productions.
3.The movie theater: Children get the opportunity to listen to a story using the target words.
4.The production room: This is the activity that allows children to either create their own stories, record them and continue to practice.
Articulation Scenes includes all consonants in the English language:
[ p, m , h, w, n, b, d, y, t, k , g, ng, f, ch, j , l , r, v, s, z, sh, th]
We have included one scene per sound per position.
Additionally, for children who need practice with one of the most targeted phonemes in speech therapy sessions / r/ , we have included one scene per each separate type of the sound “r” : [ pre-vocalic, blends, air, ar, ear, ire, or, rl ].
Articulation Scenes offers children the opportunity to learn to pronounce their sounds from pre-recorded audio built-in on each activity as well as the ability to record their own voice pronouncing the words.
Data tracking capabilities and exciting reward activities are also some of the great features on Articulation Scenes. We have completed the application by adding homework sheets containing the words included on each scene that can be sent home for further practice.
Preposition Remix was created specifically to help children improve their mastery of spoken language. Designed by a certified speech-language pathologist, Preposition Remix contains hundreds of carefully selected high-quality images. Perfect for working on the skills needed to understand the relationship between nouns/pronouns and other words, Preposition Remix will help children and English language learners gain the skills needed to follow directions and create grammatically correct sentences.
How to Use
Preposition Remix is designed for single-player use. From the home page the adult has the choice of selecting Support, Report, or Practice. Tap Support to watch the video tutorial, contact the developers, and back-up to iTunes. Tap report to see the data gathered for each client. A simple tap on the Practice button will bring the adult the list of clients and allow the activities to begin. Once the client is selected images are displayed on the screen.
An audio prompt tells the client what to do. If the written prompt is turned on, it will also display at the bottom of the screen. A “play” arrow allows the user to replay the audio prompt. A variety of images are displayed on the screen one of which will be in the target position. The user then selects the item in the correct location. A tap on the “done” button concludes the session and moves the program to the reports area.
Data Collection
When the session is complete, a simple touch to the home button brings the app to the reports area. A touch to the client’s avatar and name brings up the data for that session. The data includes: date of practice, activity, number of attempted targets, and percent accuracy. In addition, a Notes button provides the option to write a note about the session.
Preposition remix data collection reports can be emailed or exported to The Therapy Report Center for easy progress monitoring and report writing.
Customization
Preposition Remix has a “settings” button on the home screen. The settings button allows the user to select specific target prepositions or turn on all prepositions. Within the settings button there are also options to turn on and off written cues, repeat questions, and change the action for incorrect answers. Finally, within the settings area the adult can turn on/off the random question feature. When “random” is off the app moves through all 10 trials for each target preposition, which is ideal for teaching the targeted prepositions. When “random” is turned on, each selected preposition displays randomly which is ideal for formative assessment.
Purpose
Preposition Remix was designed to assist in language therapy by utilizing technology to present prepositions in a fun and interactive way. Created specifically to help individuals improve their mastery of spoken language; Preposition Remix is ideal for those individuals who struggle with following directions and correct sentence structure, as well as for English Language Learners. In addition, professionals working with individuals with intellectual disabilities may find the fun and interactive pictures a great option for those students who require explicit instruction for language skills1.
Features
Preposition Remix has the following features:
•Customizable
•High-quality images
•Over 20 of the most common prepositions ( 200 total screens)
•Data Collection over time for each student
•Compatibility with Therapy Report Center for easy report writing and progress monitoring
GoSequencing is the best app for targeting sequencing skills. It is dynamic, powerful and engaging. The app currently offers 38 sequences organized into categories: playing, mealtime, Grooming, Hygiene, Nature, Chores and miscellaneous.
All sequences can be played from three steps all the way to six steps. The levels were set up so that the child will slowly progress through the levels as they become increasingly successful.
GoSequencing includes both audio and text for each step within the sequence. There are three different activities:
1.What happens first/last? Level 1
2. Drag images to their correct places
3. Drag text to their correct place.
User can adjust the settings to meet the needs to the lesson. It is possible to play the sequence prior to letting the student drag the cards as well as after the child completes the task.
GoSequecing is by far the best app you will find for targeting sequencing skills. It includes a state of the art report center that provides data for both individual session as well as a graph of overall performance. Teachers can print the report card to share with parents or other caregivers.
This app also offers a certificate generator that teachers can print and give to the child.
Finally students will also earn rewards as the progress through their levels. Rewards are a great incentive for students to keep practicing their skills.
Adjectivos Remix está destinado a fomentar la práctica del vocabulario y el conocimiento de las palabras descriptivas (conocidas como adjetivos). Construir vocabulario es muy valioso para niños pequeños con retrasos de desarrollo y trastornos de lenguaje (Kuster, 2011). Esta aplicación fue diseñada para para ser utilizada de padres, maestros, educadores especiales y patólogos del habla-lenguaje.
Es posible jugar con un solo niño o con varios. Adjectivos Remix analizará los datos y registrará el progreso, lo cual puede ser enviado por correo electrónico o imprimido. Con fin de enseñar este concepto de forma más efectiva hemos segmentado los adjetivos en 8 categorías principales:
1.Apariencia: Roto, limpio, cómodo, sucio, elegante, esponjoso, largo, nuevo, suave, brilloso, valioso.
2.Colores: Azul, Rojo, Verde, Amarillo, Purpura, Rosa, Negro.
3.Emociones: Enojado, Feliz, Nervioso, Triste, Espantoso, Excitado, Aburrido.
4.Cantidad: Vacío, Pocos, Lleno, Pesado.
5.Forma: Gordo, Curvado, Redondo, Cuadrado, Grueso, Delgado.
6.Tamaño: Grande, Corto, Pequeño, Alto, Diminuto.
7.Tiempo: Antiguo, Rápido, Moderno, Viejo, Despacio, Joven.
8.Tacto y Gusto: Frio, Fresco, Caliente, Nutritivo, Salado, Dulce, Húmedo, Seco.
Características Principales:
Adjectivos Remix fue desarrollado y diseñado por la licenciada y certificada Patóloga del Habla-Lenguaje Barbara Fernandes M.C CCC-SLP.
A family of educational apps for promoting speech & language skills.All developed by certified speech-language pathologists & teachers
