Photo Dice

More great ideas from my colleague Gina Gladstone, CCC-SLP

I am always looking for ways to use “standard” apps in creative ways for therapy.  One of my favorite non-speech/language-specific apps is Photo Dice.  This app allows me to create customized die using student-created artwork or photographs for practice during treatment sessions.

I use Photo Dice to create die depicting target artic words.  Each child quickly decides which words he/she would like to draw for his/her dice.  I use an art program like Paint Sparkles for this purpose.  I ask the student to draw a simple picture depicting one of his/her words.  After the child draws a picture I take a screenshot of the artwork (click here for a link to the page on this site about screenshots).   After I take screenshots of the student’s six drawings, I import them onto a dice.  Each student creates a dice.  We roll all of the newly created die and the students take turns making sentences, etc., with the die.  It sounds complicated but we can create a couple of die with time to spare for practice all in the course of one session.  Dice can be emailed and saved for future sessions.  In addition, we create die with photographs that we take of target words on word-hunts around the classroom/school building.

There are many applications for this app in language therapy.  I have used this app in social skills groups.  I take photos of students as they make different “emotion faces”.  We put them on a dice.  We then roll the dice and discuss what emotions we see.  These die are also fun when practicing regular/irregular past tense verbs.  I take photos of students doing various actions.  I import them onto a dice or two.  The students take turns rolling the dice and talking about what they did.  Here is an example of past tense die using photos I found on the internet to protect student confidentiality.

Photo Dice is a free app but I splurged to turn off the ads for 99 cents.  The developer of Photo Dice is MachWerx.  See a short tutorial about this great app below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UWtFsaqP9ug

Summary by Katie Kelley

PROS:

• Highly versatile app for targeting any communication skill
• Affordable (free or $.99 for ad free version)
• Easy to personalize
• Easy to use

CONS:

• Hmm…given the cost and functionality,I can’t really think of any!

RECOMMENDED: YES (5 out of 5 Stars)

This cute board game is very fun.  Students can spin and move their pieces around the board.  When they land on their space a word/picture pops up based on student profiles.  There is the capacity to keep data.  Data can be saved or emailed.  For individual sessions I choose one of the students targets and they say my words as well.  This is a relatively new app so all sounds are not available.  Available phonemes are: /f, v, s, z, sh, ch/.  I still use the game and data feature with students practicing other sounds but I substitute the stimulus photos.  The game costs $6.99.

by Katie Kelley

PROS:

• Students really enjoy this app
• Affordable for an articulation app ($6.99)
• Gives me a go to articulation game other than Go Fish or Memory!
• Cute graphics

CONS:

• Not all sounds are available and other sounds require in-app purchases.
• Only targets sounds at the word level.

RECOMMENDED: YES (4 out of 5 stars)

- Customized picture sequences
- Multi-step picture schedules
- Multi-step directions
- Articulation drill and carryover
- Expressive language exercises
- Individualized social stories
- Sample conversations
- Personal diary
- Creating family vacation picture albums

The possibilities are really endless with this one!  Check out the video tutorial.

The basic description of the app is that it is a voice recorder that allows you to pair voice recordings with images in order to create social stories, talking photo albums, etc.  The app allows users to create individual student profiles in order to create and archive works specific to the student. What’s really lovely about the app are the easy to use features including record, erase and record, continue recording.  Users are able to save and email the finished products allowing them to share with parents and teachers.

PROS:

• So versatile.  I can use this app with all ages across all areas of need.
• Very easy and straightforward to use
• Easy tool to collect speech and language samples both for assessments and monitoring student progress.
• Easy tool for making my own “Conversation Builder“
• Affordable (It is FREE right now!! Normally only $1.99)
• Save feature allows SLPs to save speech and language samples and share with parents.

CONS:

• Having video capability would be great!

RECOMMENDED: YES (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Note: I was provided with a free promotional code by the developer for this app for review purposes.  I received no compensation to write this post.

Lesson Plan using Pixar’s “For the Birds”

You’ve got to love YouTube on the iPad!  There are so many ways to utilize this tool and I’ve got one of my favorite lesson plans to share with you today.  The write-up is a bit formal, but I’m trying out the same format we use in my district to share lesson plans.

Content Objectives

1. Students on the Autism Spectrum will understand that people convey thoughts and feelings using not just their words but also nonverbal communication.

Language Objectives

1. Students will identify and label nonverbal communication.
2. Students will describe the intention behind nonverbal behavior.
3. Student will label how characters are feeling.

Prior Knowledge

1. Students should be able to describe and label a variety of emotions.

2. Students should understand that people communicate things non-verbally (gestures, eye gaze, facial expressions, body orientation and posture).

Key Vocabulary

Happy
Sad
Angry
Embarrassed
Annoyed
Gestures
Facial Expressions
Eye Contact
Posture

I begin the lesson with a discussion on ways we communicate without using our words.  I model these actions and have students practice communicating a thought or feeling without words.

Gestures
Facial expressions
Eye contact
Body orientation/movement
Vocal noises (ahem)

I then introduce the film “For the Birds” by saying something like, “We are going to watch a film with no words.  If there are no words, how will we know what is happening?  I want you to look for ways the characters communicate what they are thinking or feeling without using any words.“

Go through the video slowly, stopping at examples of non-verbal communication to discuss what you saw and what it meant.  I typically show the film at least twice and end with discussion on the kinds of non-verbal communication seen in the film.  Then ask students to retell what happened and how characters were feeling in the film.

To assess whether students understood the lesson, I have students go through the film once more at the end of the session and attempt to independently label the non-verbal behaviors they see.

You can also use this and many more Pixar Shorts for language students working on retell skills.  This has definitely kept me entertained during therapy this month!

I used this app last week with my students to target the skill of understanding the author’s purpose, the main idea and relevant details.  I began the session with a discussion about the different reasons authors write.  Students made a list of possible purposes for writing stories and we wrote these ideas on the board for reference throughout the lesson.  I supplemented the passages and quizzes with my objective for the day (“What was the author’s purpose in writing this?”/”What was the lesson?”) and led a discussion about this objective following the reading of each passage.  Students were then able to take the quizzes and demonstrate their recall and comprehension of specific details/themes.

The stories that were picked for Reading Comprehension Camp are what make this app really useful.  The passages are diverse and entertaining for students.  I really liked that many stories had a lesson to teach.  Understanding the lesson of a story is a VERY difficult skill for my language impaired students so these passages provided great opportunities to practice this skill, while the quizzes with multiple choice responses afforded students with some success.

This app also includes a story creation feature, allowing students to create their own story.  I haven’t yet tried out this feature as I have been most excited about trying out the reading comprehension feature.  I wanted to get this review out ASAP and will follow up with some thoughts on this feature shortly.

PROS:

• Wide variety of passages selected (2nd-7th grade)
• Students were highly engaged for a reading comprehension activity
• Quizzes assess a wide variety of comprehension skills
• Data collection is straightforward and sorts performance by skill
• Story telling features provides opportunities to work on retell and recall of story details

CONS:

•  I would like to be able to shut off the multiple choice feature of the comprehension questions as an added level of scaffolding. 

RECOMMENDED:  YES  (5 out of 5 Stars)

Note: I was provided with a free promotional code by the developer for this app for review purposes.  I received no compensation to write this post.

My PlayHome made my top 10 list for Best Speech and Language Apps of 2012 for a number of reasons.  It was recommended by a fellow SLP and it is one of the most interactive apps I’ve seen.  My PlayHome is an interactive dollhouse where basically everything you touch responds.  You can open and shut curtains, feed the fish, turn on the TV, tuck the kids into bed and it goes on and on.  My students are still finding new things that can move, interact and respond.  This is a highly engaging app for my students and I have frequently used it as a reward at the end of a therapy session.  Even as a reward, my students are expected to answer questions about what’s happening and who’s doing what.  As I’m writing this post I’m brainstorming ways to maximize on the app’s potential.  Because the app is highly engaging, some preparation and pre-teaching are needed to ensure targets are met throughout the session.  Without some structure, it is hard to get students to redirect their attention to my questions and prompts.

I have one student who LOVES this app.  He chooses it each time he is given a choice of apps.  One of his goals is to use verbs to label actions in pictures.  I typically select 2-3 target verbs (swinging, brushing) or prepositions (on, off) before starting the app.  As he navigates through the house, I model and have him imitate the actions as they happen.

This app can also be used to work on storytelling, using complete sentences, using appropriate verb tense, sequencing, turn taking and the list goes on.  Making sure the language objectives are clearly defined and understood before starting an activity with this app is essential for maximizing on the learning opportunities and follow through

PROS

• Very creative app
• Highly engaging for students
• Most interactive app I’ve seen
• Affordable ($4.49 on the iTunes store)
• Versatile
• Easy to target vocabulary for everyday life
• Haven’t encountered any glitches

CONS

• Needs some leg work if you’re using this as a therapy tool.  Not a fault of the app, just a limitation to the therapeutic use of the app.

RECOMMENDED: YES (5 out of 5 Stars)

Vote for Rainbow Sentences

Vote For Conversation Builder

• How well does the app engage students?
• How well does the app target what it intends to target?
• How well does it make my life easier (data collection, glitches, versatile, useable across a wide range of abilities, can I open it up on a whim and use it effectively, etc.)

App criteria are rated on a scale from 1 to 5.

Top 10 Speech and Language Apps 2012.

                                          Easy to Use?    Student Engagement?     Targets Skills?                                       

Tense Builder                      5                                     4                                         5

Rainbow Sentences            5                                     4                                         5

Conversation Builder        5                                     4                                         5

Educreations                        5                                     4                                         5

Pictello                                    4                                      3                                         5

Toontastic                               5                                     5                                         4

My Play Home                       5                                     5                                         4

All the Doodle apps            5                                     5                                         5

Articulate It!                          5                                     4                                         5

Speech Box (great for apraxia)5                             4                                         5

Rainbow Sentences is an app that targets the understanding and formation of simple and complex sentences.  As I began to write this review, I came across a wonderful review of the app by Teachers with Apps.  I thought that they did such a lovely job explaining the unique functions of this app and the why behind what you’re teaching when using it.  This app definitely made the list for must haves in the SLP tool belt.

PROS:

• Color coding system helps to reinforce student learning of word classes (noun vs. verb)
• Cute pictures
• Allows for a variety of targets (WH- questions, understanding and use of prepositions, use of complete sentences, use of -ing)
• Variety of levels make this app appropriate across a wide range of ability levels.
• Voice recording feature
• The lessons are a great way to reinforce understanding and use of WH- questions.
• Data collection feature
• Affordable ($7.99 on the iTunes store)

CONS:

• I typically use this app for 10-15 minutes with my students.  Much longer and their attention begins to wane.  With my older students, I have noticed that the audio feedback gets bothersome for them after a while so I usually turn that feature off.

RECOMMENDED: YES (4 out of 5 Stars)

I was excited to hear about this app as I had, that very same day, been researching and rethinking my therapy approach for a highly impacted apraxia student I work with.  I have found that many of the target words included in some of the leading articulation apps are simply too complex for a student as impacted as my little fellow.  His intelligibility was below 50% and he was not able to make sounds in clusters or multiple syllable words, making it necessary to use very simple single syllable words in therapy.  Additionally, since students with apraxia require such repetitive practice in order to learn the motor movements, I think it is very important to select words they will practically use frequently throughout their day.  For example my articulation app using the word /thistle/ to target /TH/.  In most cases, my students don’t even know what a thistle is.

SpeechBox has solved this problem.  It offers a wide variety of single syllable words categorized by sound.  It also contains commonly used words in familiar categories such as numbers, letters, family, colors, etc.  This assures me that what I am teaching will be highly functional for this student throughout his day and will hopefully directly relate to increasing his level of intelligibility.  The app also contains a note taking feature so that I can make specific notes during therapy (student has trouble with /ai/ dipthong in the word /kite/ for example), voice recording and emailing feature.

PROS:

I work in an elementary school that houses 2 classrooms devoted to teaching students with high functioning autism.  What this means for me is that at any given time a third to a half of my caseload is on the autism spectrum.  And as many of you know, as students get older, deficits in the area of social cognition and communication become much more complex and hard to tickle out.

There is so much going on in typical interactions with 4^th or 5^th graders.  I’m always walking through scenarios with my own 5^th grader about who’s feeling what and why so and so said that, what did she do to cause that response, etc. etc. etc. (enter deep sigh and eye roll).  And she’s what we’d call an advanced, mature social cognitive thinker.  So for my students with social communication deficits, it is a real art to develop a comprehensive social cognitive curriculum unique to each of their needs.  An art I have not perfected.  And so I find that I more often than not return to my old standby….the videotape.

I love videotaping.  I videotape all sorts of things.  Last month I videotaped my 5^th grade students with ASD modeling the skill of “joining in a game” for my 1^st and 2^nd graders. I had 3 of my 5^th  grade students demonstrate how to join in a game of Kerplunk!  Later that week, in my lower autism classroom, I showed the video and then began setting up and playing a game of Kerplunk! by myself.  It was amazing how a brief discussion and video was all it took to have my students moving closer, watching with their eyes and asking to join in.

What I videotape most are social conversations during my lunch bunch.  I usually spend the first part of the session pre-teaching targeted skills and selecting an appropriate conversational topic to record.  After the conversation topic has been selected I let it roll and start recording.  Once the conversation has stopped, either because it came to its natural conclusion or because it simply just stopped, we stop recording and the students watch the conversation.  They use a self-monitoring sheet to rate their behavior.  Many times students are completely amazed at the non-verbal cues they missed during the conversation (peer pretending to hit is head in boredom against the table) or how long they went on about their love for blackberries.  Videos don’t lie and the kids know it.  Walking students through this process of self reflection is extremely helpful as we move from taking learned skills in the therapy room to learned skills in the real world.