With the new school year upon us, teachers, parents and speech-language pathologists will love both the content and price point of the Teach Speech Apps Bundle 4! The apps are super user-friendly and easily align with Common Core Standards, so for those of you working in the schools, Teach Speech has just made life a little easier for you. Because this bundle targets many common receptive and expressive language goals seen in our pediatric clinic, I was eager to trial it with my school-age clients. Teach Speech was gracious enough to allow me to review each app in the bundle, so that I can share my experience with you. Check out my thoughts below!
What's in the Bundle
Prepositions: All of my school-age kids who are working toward preposition goals enjoy this app, but I find that my older children like it the most because it feels a little less juvenile than hands-on activities we often engage in. They enjoy the game-style feel of the touch screen tasks and it bumps up engagement in many of my ADHD and less motivated clients. There are four different practice options to choose from:
- Identify the picture that demonstrates the sentence
- Identify the preposition for the sentence
- Drag and drop the item to the correct location
- Identify if the preposition indicates Location, Time or Movement
I recommend using this app together with your client rather than letting them complete the activities alone. This way, you can gain a better idea of their misunderstandings and it offers more opportunity to discuss and reteach where necessary. Data is collected in the upper right-hand corner based on their responses, which makes note writing easier!
Pronouns: As an SLP, pronoun skills are a very common goal of my younger pediatric clients. I feel like I never have enough material to keep my sessions fresh, so I was really excited to incorporate this app into my repertoire. It offers four different activities for practice that allow me to informally assess my client's skill level:
- Identify the pronoun that matches the picture
- Identify the picture that demonstrates the pronoun sentence
- Drag and drop the item to the correct person/people based on the sentence
- Fill-in-the-blank by choosing the correct pronoun to complete the sentence that describes the picture.
I really like the images that Teach Speech has chosen for this app. Many are detailed enough that they offer easy opportunities to discuss images further and practice pronouns in conversational speech as we move through the activity. Just as with the Prepositions app, I highly recommend that you are actively engaging with your client while using this, in order to make the most of teachable moments. Although the score is kept in the upper right corner of the screen, if the child answers a question incorrectly, you will need to be there to offer an explanation and review the item with them. I actually prefer this to a recorded explanation because I have control over the wording/discussion.
- Identify the picture that demonstrates the sentence
- Identify the adjective for the sentence
- Identify the picture - comparative adjectives
- Drag and drop the picture to the matching adjective
For my kids who cannot read yet, I read the sentences out loud and allow them to select the answer on the screen. Many of the pictures offer additional opportunities to ask your own descriptive questions before moving on to the next item.
Wh Questions: I am especially excited about this app because 'Wh' question goals are included in at least 75% of my caseload. I like to work with some hands-on materials first to practice 'Wh' questions with my clients. Then we go to the app to apply what we've learned. It's especially helpful in motivating my kids with low attention spans continue to engage throughout the session. There are four different activities in this app:
- Identify the picture that answers the 'Wh' question (field of 3 choices)
- Answer the questions for the scene (2 questions per image)
- Drag and drop the pictures to answer 3 questions
- Answer the 'Wh' questions (field of 3 choices)
I like using this app with a wide age range of kids. If they can't read, I can easily read the items to them and pictures are so clear and familiar, that activities are accessible even to my pre-K level clients. The scene activity offers audio to have the question read to the child. When they touch the question, the answer appears and the audio can be played to read it as well. The fourth activity (Answer 'Wh' questions) provides audio to read the sentences aloud and highlights the correct answer after the child has selected a response. As with the other apps, the score is tallied in the upper right corner, making it easy to collect your data.
Overall, this bundle is well worth the money! In my opinion, these are not 'do-it-yourself' apps that kids should be set free to use on their own. Instead, they are a great teaching tool to engage in together, so that proper education can be given. They help my clients increase attention, expand their lexicons, and develop receptive and expressive language skills. They also provide a creative way to integrate technology into my sessions. I would love to see Teach Speech add to the bank of items in each app!
Where to Purchase
Head over to the App Store to purchase and download Teach Speech Bundle to your iOS device. While you're there, check out the full collection of Teach Speech apps! FB