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The 5 winners for First Sight Words Pro by Learning Touch were: H. Schoppe, V. Newman, K. Poll, T. Stout, L. Cuddy. If you do not receive an email by tomorrow with a code for downloading the app, please contact us at info@speechpathologyapps.com.

This week’s app of the week, I Can Articulate  (click and scroll down and follow link), is donated by Express SLP. I Can Articulate is a fully integrated articulation app that supports both children and adults in speech development and generalization.

The real-life photo images are appropriate for all – both young and older as well as those diagnosed with autism. I Can Articulate is excellent for generalization as it provides not only pictures for use at the one-word level and sentence level but also target words used at the story level. I Can Articulate is excellent for the speech-language pathologists who integrate reading objectives into their speech sessions. The target words are highlighted in all positions, initial, medial, and final in the stories.

Self-monitoring is a critical component of helping students generalize their new skills. This app goes beyond flash cards by providing greater participation and motivation for the student through its self-monitoring component. Students/clients are able to record their responses, play them back for self-monitoring and with a simple touch grade their responses as correct/incorrect. The speech-language pathologist can also grade the responses as correct/incorrect. Then, the students are able to view a comparison of their grading of the responses vs. the speech-language pathologist’s version on a visually pleasing graph – much better than a numerical grade.   

One of the greatest strengths of I Can Articulate is its record-keeping system. It is simple and clear. In addition, the reports are more secure from loss due to technical failure as the app is automatically syncing through the Apple iCloud account. Once it is on the iPad it is automatically downloaded on your Apple computer for easy report writing.

Go to http://www.speechpathologyapps.com/apps.php and scroll down to I Can Articulate and follow the link for more information.

If you feel this app would help you in your therapy session, please comment to this blog.

First Sight Words Pro

This drawing is closed. The winners are: H. Schoppe, V. Newman, K. Poll, T. Stout, L. Cuddy.

Check out and register for our featured app this week, First Sight Words Pro by Learning Touch. First Sight Words Pro is geared toward elementary teachers, reading teachers, parents and speech-language pathologists who also incorporate reading into their therapy. It is a reading app plus – teaches letter and word recognition, reading fluency, phonics (sound-to-symbol relationship), and left-to-right visual tracking and spelling.

The user interface is simple with a simple drag and drop. The screen is uncluttered for greater focus on learning. This simple interface also makes this an excellent app for home practice, particularly in the summer when the young students tend to lose some of the learned skills. The large print facilitates easier reading for those who need larger print.

The word management system in First Sight Words Pro is a plus. It gives the user many options: group of words by age, choice of words within groups (great for choosing words that are similar in length or spelling), lower or upper case letters, phonics (sounds of letters spoken) or letter names. These options allow the teacher to choose the words to fit their lesson plans better.

You can view more information on First Sight Words by going to http://www.speechpathologyapps.com/apps.php  and scrolling down to First Sight Words Pro and click on the icon. Please comment to this blog if you would like your name in the drawing for First Sight Words Pro by Learning Touch.

iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad compatibility

Ages: K-late elementary

App of the Week, First Words International by www.hamaguchiapps.com  drawing is closed.

The winners for May 17 drawing for First Words Interantional by www.hamaguchiapps.com are: C. Stace, H. Schoppe, B. Walton, T. Kappe, S. Anderson. If you do not receive an email tomorrow, please contact info@speechpathologyapps.com.

Are you looking for an app for your young language delayed children or children diagnosed with autism? First Words International by Hamaguchi Apps is an excellent starting app. It addresses receptive and expressive language. It is based on research – repeating each stimulus word 5 times, having the child touch the picture in response to “Touch ____”. The child then is presented with 5 objects including the stimulus object and is instructed to “Touch the _____”. The next tier of cueing is recording the name of the object in response to “What is this?” after playing the wheel to present the visual. And, best of all the child can hear his/her response recorded response (develops self-monitoring) and can compare it to the correct verbal label as recorded by an adult. This app is excellent for teaching the first words in conjunction with hands-on activities using the actual objects.

The user interface is easy to navigate (includes an in-app demo). The app is set up for a maximum of 15 players. It has options to re-play missed items, delete data, print date and email results. The words can be chosen according to IEP objectives – categories or beginning sounds. Choose either colored drawings or photos (recommended for autism), and without text or with text (text is great for print awareness and reading). Different pictures of one object (5 different trucks) are used to help facilitate generalization of the objects. The lack of clutter and non-relevant stimuli make this app excellent for autism. The biggest bonus in this app is the number of languages it supports in teaching first words. There are eight languages that make it excellent for teaching beginning languages. It also is excellent for those speech-language pathologists who have children whose first language is not English.

 Please comment to this blog if you would like your name in the drawing for First Words International by HamaguchiApps.  

 iPad compatibility

Ages: Toddler-Elementary

 NEW RULES

Please remember that we have new rules for registering for our app give-aways. (1) You must respond to the blog  that features the app for which you are registering. This prevents us drawing names of persons that already have the app or for other reasons cannot use it. You do NOT have to put your email in your response to the blog. (2)  If you have not already done so, register for our newsletter (can opt out at any time) on the Home page of this website, www.SpeechPathologyApps.com (goes through secure Constant Contact).  We have to have your email to send you the info for downloading the app and we also announce the names in the newsletter, first initial and last name. We do this in case the winner’s email does not go through – then the winner will see his/her name. 

I am posting a proposal I sent to a friend who works in a company I was hoping would consider go into app development. However, they declined due to other projects they were working on. I thought this may give a little more information to those of you looking to develop apps. The article is presented as a rationale for the prospective company to develop apps. It does not go in depth on some of the bookkeeping and management and persons (audio, artists and graphic designers, software writers, etc.). We decided to go ahead with it and hire contract persons to do the work. Needless to say, we are still working on the project. So, here is the proposal – hope it gives you some insight.

Fat Cat App Proposal

 Future of education using technology:

 iPad is now the hot topic due to being first and developing many apps for learning. Right now the industry is evolving. Many apps are great for teaching but do not offer a full curriculum for any skill. Also, they are not necessarily based on Evidence-Based-Practice.

There has been an increase in the interest in using apps for education as evidenced by the trainings; ASHA session in 2010, www.speechpathology.com session in August (choosing apps for EBP), Eric Sailers (very prolific national speaker) and others.

 Therefore, my interest –

 Using artwork from Dr. Suzy Lederer’s latest book, I Can Play That, James Rouse (Exceptional Speech Products) developed 4 simple apps for Children’s Publishing that we could use as marketing for Dr. Lederer’s book. This was the beginning of my “app development” education; i.e. setting up as an app developer for bookkeeping purposes, etc. I am now working on more apps (simply animated storybooks for early developing sounds) with Baby Bunny Bouncing Ball and Where Has My Little Dog Gone both on the Apple Store now.

 Although I am still in the learning stage I have a fairly good grasp of what is involved, both technical aspects and monetary aspects. Developing apps require quite a bit of time and are, therefore, quite expensive to develop. The return on them is not as great as books as the app market at this time does not tolerate high prices as in books. But, the profit margin is higher compared to books. For every dollar you make on an app you receive 70%. However, if a company is on the forefront and develops a needed educational app, the return can be quite good in terms of the numbers sold. Also, if a series can be developed for one curriculum, the total charge for the curriculum can be quite good. In addition, supplemental workbooks can be developed and sold to add to the income from the app.

 Although I now have a fairly good grasp of app development I know I am lacking in what is necessary for a good educational curriculum. One of these is the contact with the school curriculum as I have been retired from practicing for several years now. A successful educational app needs a team to be able to ensure that it is EBP based on today’s standards and to be able to align it with the curriculum. The other is the lack of money for investment purposes as the apps are expensive to develop and it does require time and a lot of marketing to recoup your investment and then make a profit (as the market grows, though, the profit should also grow). This is the purpose of wishing to speak with your organization.

 With that being said my app proposal is this:

 A reading program that can be easily used by home school children and parents, special education teachers, dyslexia teachers, regular classroom teachers, ESLteachers and speech/language pathologists. The app will be fun and interactive with indirect teaching. It (they) will be a supplement to any books you prepare for teachers and sell along with the apps. The curriculum will have 10+ apps (depending on how many spelling rules are included). The reading program will be based upon research in early reading, specifically phonological awareness and the manipulation of sounds.

 It is possible that these apps will appeal to persons outside theU.S., particularlyChinaas they are having a big push now to teach preschoolers English. With its emphasis on sounds, sound manipulation, and repetition it can be a good seller forESLinChinaandSouth America(without training and shipping books outside theU.S.). One of the biggest advantages of apps is that they sell globally so your market would be increased.

I can also provide a flow chart and sample art and pages on how the app will work.

This drawing is now closed. The winners for Roxie’s Doors, donated by Roxie Munro, were A. Handon, C. Stache, T. Pogin, M. Duggan, G. Hansen. If you do not receive an email tomorrow, please contact info@speechpathologyapps.com.

For those of you using storybooks in your therapy Roxie Munro is providing 5 copies of Roxie’s Doors ebook app for our drawing of May 10. Roxie’s Doors, based on the award-winning book of the same name, can be used as a supplement to vocabulary development. The reader/listener searches for the objects that are highlighted in the print – great for print awareness. Of course, they may have to open some doors to locate the items – great for visual discrimination. And, the reader/listener is rewarded with an interactive story (find the queen, king, knight, see jousting, and a flying dragon, etc.) after going through the places looking for items. This is truly my favorite part of the entire app. The child has to follow directions to create the actions in the story – help the knight fight the dragon, etc.  

There are about 80 words for vocabulary development. Extend the learning for vocabulary and categories by having discussions (and introducing other pictures) about the other related objects one may find in a particular place featured in the storybook app.

There are 9 categories: fire station, passenger train car, horse barn, doctor’s office, boat, refrigerator, auto mechanic shop, backstage theatre and spaceship.

One of the most exciting aspects of interactive storybooks is that they will engage the children who show little interest in storybooks otherwise. And, this is a great app for child-adult sharing for search and find. Roxie’s Doors will keep the children intrigued searching for the objects. 

iPad compatibility

Ages: PreK-Elementary

NEW RULES 

Please remember that we have new rules for registering for our app give-aways. (1) You must respond to the blog  that features the app for which you are registering. This prevents us drawing names of persons that already have the app or for other reasons cannot use it. You do NOT have to put your email in your response to the blog. (2)  If you have not already done so, register for our newsletter (can opt out at any time) on the Home page of this website, www.SpeechPathologyApps.com (goes through secure Constant Contact).  We have to have your email to send you the info for downloading the app and we also announce the names in the newsletter, first initial and last name. We do this in case the winner’s email does not go through – then the winner will see his/her name. 

App Development for SLPs

In response to questions from others interested in app development

I am a retired SLP. My greatest interests when I was working were autism and dyslexia. I spent quite a few years using methods advocated by Lindamood and Torgerson – manipulation of sounds based on a hierarchy (as we all do to cue and teach our speech students). After retiring I continued to work through a business that my husband and I developed for publishing and also reselling materials developed by other SLPs. Two occurrences instilled the desire to develop apps – the birth of my granddaughter and the purchase of my iPad. My granddaughter who is now almost four took to technology early (18 months was activating a simple game on her dad’s iPhone) as so many of the children do. This was an eye opener – what great tools for speech. They use more modalities than the cards and other materials did. I never relied on flash cards alone (and hope others do not) but would use them as a tool for introducing other modalities (motor skills and visual) to create memory for the actions. For instance, I would use the preposition flash cards by having the students hide an item in the same position as the picture. So, as I see the iPad it can serve the same purpose but with a greater motivational tool as the children love it. And, it saves the clinician time, money (over time) and ease of use (no more storing and replacing missing cards). And, you can still create generalization activities. The apps also have record keeping built in and that decreases the clinician’s work time.

 Once the decision was made to develop an app I had to put in print my idea and how it would work to present it to a developer. One developer said they would not look at developing an app for under $50,000. The second developer wanted to see it and then came back with a bid of right under $400,000. Luckily, I was then able to find a couple of people who would do it for a LOT less but I would have to do much of the preparatory work (hire artist, take the artist’s work and re-configure the art to fit the needs of the programmer’s needs – in my case I learned PhotoShop so I could do it myself), and to prepare the audio (hire the voice-over recording artist and then have my husband create the individual files as needed for the app). As a re-cap there are three main areas of development (not including marketing and the business aspect): (1) writing the software per the instructions of the idea person, (2) artwork development (illustrator and someone to PhotoShop the drawings to fit the software requirements (3) audio – person to sing and do voice over and a person to convert the files as needed by the developer.

 In addition to the above areas of development one has to set up as a developer with Apple (I am familiar only with Apple apps, not Android). This will cost $99 per year for an individual and allows you (or your developer) to submit your apps to the store. The Apple Store also maintains a record of the sales and your revenue (70% of the cost of the app) and will deposit it directly to your bank. You can register for free with Apple to explore in depth how it works.

 This first article is a very simple overview of how app development works.

This drawing is closed. The winners were: K. Shawver, K. Lazuka and C. Hazzard.

Are you looking for a motivational app for fluency? Speech4Good provides the feedback that is necessary for our speech students, especially in the area of fluency. Students can record their speech and listen to their production. Speech4Good also provides delayed auditory feedback. Record your speech and then email it. This app will be an excellent reinforcement and home practice tool for students in middle and high school. Check out some of the comments at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speech4good/id467558411?mt=8. Thanks to the Balbus Speech Team for donating three  promo codes for Speech4Good app this week.

Speech4Good was developed by the Balbus Speech Team that includes a speech-language pathologist as well as Jack McDermott who developed the company while he was still in speech therapy in high school. Check out his bio at http://balbusspeech.com/team. 

 NEW RULES 

Please remember that we have new rules for registering for our app give-aways. (1) You must respond to the blog  that features the app for which you are registering. This prevents us drawing names of persons that already have the app or for other reasons cannot use it. You do NOT have to put your email in your response to the blog. (2)  If you have not already done so, register for our newsletter (can opt out at any time) on the Home page of this website, www.SpeechPathologyApps.com (goes through secure Constant Contact).  We have to have your email to send you the info for downloading the app and we also announce the names in the newsletter, first initial and last name. We do this in case the winner’s email does not go through – then the winner will see his/her name. 

5 free apps – Percentally 

This drawing is closed.

The winners for Percentally were G. Curti-Ruddle, L. Ball, C. Hazzard, B. Schoolman, H. Grunden. If you recognize your name on the list but did not receive an email, please contact us at info@SpeechPathologyApps.com. We ask that you help us by making comments to your use of the apps on our blog and/or Facebook. This will help other therapists and parents in making purchase decision on apps as SpeechPathologyApps.com cannot guarantee the effectiveness for the apps for any specific diagnosis or population. And, please like us on Facebook as this drives up our traffic and helps to get more promo codes for our app drawings,

The winners for last week’s app, Build a Story by http://www.appsforkids.com.au/Welcome.html, were A. Berger, D. Griesenaur, A. Handon, J. Ferlito, B. Atkinson.

Drawing is closed. The winners were A. Berger, D. Griesenaur, A. Handon, J. Ferlito, B. Atkinson.

This week’s app drawing is for Build-a-Story (click and scroll down to follow link). It is great for parents, grandparents, teachers and speech-language pathologists. This app makes it easy to create a story with many images to be placed in various scenes. There are many themes like fairy garden, country farms, outer space and many more from which to choose.

The multiple characters and images that relate to the themes provide users with infinite possibilities for story creation. Once the stories are created they can be read and/or emailed to family. There are text boxes for creating dialogue related to the story and the characters. The images are a great visualizing tool to create relevancy and generalization for your students. This app can be beneficial in small language groups for language-concepts, categories, vocabulary and storytelling. Have the students collaborate in creating the story. Discuss and elicit desired responses during story creation. 

 In response to requests by speech-language pathologists and other users, the developer, Girl’s World Pty, Ltd., is adding more themes, pages and characters for kids to build their stories. They will release the next update in the next month or so with literally several hundreds of new objects and artwork, so kids can really let their imaginations go wild in their stories — they’ll see everything from Christmas themes to July 4th, Schoolyards to Zoos — tons of new stuff is on the way!  

Apps for Kids is donating 5 apps for our drawing for the week of April 19. To check them out go to http://www.speechpathologyapps.com/apps.php and scroll down to Build a Story and follow the link for more information on the Apple Store.

To register simply comment to this blog. See rules below.

Please remember that we have new rules for registering for our app give-aways. (1) You must respond to the blog  that features the app for which you are registering. This prevents us drawing names of persons that already have the app or for other reasons cannot use it. You do NOT have to put your email in your response to the blog. (2)  If you have not already done so, register for our newsletter (can opt out at any time) on the Home page of this website, www.SpeechPathologyApps.com (goes through secure Constant Contact).  We have to have your email to send you the info for downloading the app and we also announce the names in the newsletter, first initial and last name. We do this in case the winner’s email does not go through – then the winner will see his/her name. 

Drawing is closed for Magical Concepts by www.virtualspeechcenter.com – The winners were: A. Johnson, M. Nicholls, A. Berger, T. Moore, J. Hoiby. If you do not receive your code in the next couple of days, please email us at info@speechpathologyapps.com

Would you like to go beyond flash cards to teach the early learning concepts (60 to be precise) that are crucial for learning to understand the school curriculum. Magical Concepts will help you do that in a much more interesting fashion than just the old cards. Children are rewarded with stars. Of course, they have to earn them in order to be entertained by Mago the Magician. This app can be used to teach vocabulary in conjunction with the concepts as 2000 photos accompany the audio. This app also comes with much more – record keeping – automatic scoring, multiple users, email results and much more.

Beata Klarowska of the Virtual Speech Center is donating 5 apps for our drawing for the week of April 11. To check them out go to http://www.speechpathologyapps.com/apps.php and scroll down to Magical Concepts and follow the link for more information.

Please remember that we have new rules for registering for our app give-aways. (1) You must respond to the blog  that features the app for which you are registering. This prevents us drawing names of persons that already have the app or for other reasons cannot use it. You do NOT have to put your email in your response to the blog. (2)  If you have not already done so, register for our newsletter (can opt out at any time) on the Home page of this website, www.SpeechPathologyApps.com (goes through secure Constant Contact).  We have to have your email to send you the info for downloading the app and we also announce the names in the newsletter, first initial and last name. We do this in case the winner’s email does not go through – then the winner will see his/her name.