Have you heard of this app?

Peek-a-boo Barn 

Have you heard of this darling app?  Peek-a-boo Barn is great for very young kids, ages 1-4.  I like using it with late talkers to encourage vocalizations.  It is good for teaching animal vocabulary and animal noises.  Animals rotate hiding in the barn and the child has to tap the screen for the door to open.  I like it for children with hearing loss too because before you open the door, the animal is making a very quiet noise. When the door is opened it becomes louder.  It's fun to guess what animal is hiding by listening to the sound they are making.  Young children with Down Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy also particularly like this app.  It does not require fine motor coordination.  Because of that my 8 month old loves it!  There is a lite version which is free.  The regular version is $1.99.  Take a look!

Defining Words: Part 5 Games and Apps

There are lots of fun games to use to reinforce categories and word definitions.  Here are some of my favorites:

Name 5

Just like it sounds.  Each card gives a prompt for you to name 5 items in random categories, such as 'items that make you sneeze' or 'types of dogs.  There is a timer which adds an element of difficulty if you want it.  Great for any speech therapy session if you play for a few minutes at the very end. 

Headbanz

Too bad I didn't patent this when I had the chance, because I totally invented it.  Oh well.  It's a great way to reinforce the concepts of categories and defining words.  Kids will know when they didn't do a great job describing it because the other child will tell them flat-out, "I have no idea what you're talking about."  And they will be rewarded when they used good clues because the child will guess.  The categories are concrete and the vocabulary is familiar.  I like to introduce this game by modeling "bad clues".  Say we're talking about  ice cream.  I say, "It's yummy".  They might have a guess but most likely they will not get it from that one clue.  I then proceed to explain that lots of things are yummy so that is a 'bad clue'.  It's usually quite the 'aha' moment for the kids.  I'm constantly prompting them by asking, "What makes it special or different?"

20 Questions

A great way to teach kids the importance of 'narrowing it down'.  I usually draw a big circle on the board and call it 'animals'.  We talk about how there are many different kinds of animals and we need to 'narrow it down'.  Then I discuss how we can narrow it down by type (mammals, reptiles, amphibians) or habitat (tundra, jungle, forest).  See how great it plays into the curriculum?  20 Questions is a fun way to teach the applicability of

 'narrowing it down'.

APPS

And here are some apps that I know of that you can use to teach sorting, organizing, and defining words:

- Objects: Pro

- What Does Not Belong?

- Clean Up: Category Sorting

- NLConcepts Autism: Sort and Categorize

- Pre-Number Category Sorting Matching Game

- Name that Category

- Let's Name Things

- Autism and PDD Categories

- Category Carousel

I am sure there are lots more!  Leave us a comment if you have one that you particularly enjoy or know about.

Defining Words: Part 2

When I did my student teaching, the speech therapist I worked with was pretty great.  Her name was Jacqueline.  She made sure to pronounce it "Ja-kwa-lynn" with the rounded 'w' in the middle.

Anyway.  She was a smart lady and I learned so much from her.  She made these charts and gave me permission to share, so today I shall do just that!  I like them because they are simple and straightforward, which is what I think these kids with language disorders really need.

I usually start teaching by introducing the concept of categories.  I give them this sheet and we discuss how each category acts as a file of sorts in our brain.  Then most any noun in English can be filed away into a specific file folder.  Imagine how many fun games you can do while teaching this!  The possibilities are quite endless.  I know you guys reading this have a million awesome tricks up your sleeves!

First we practice identifying categories.  I will read a list of 3 or more words and ask the student to tell me the category.  They often need extra help with 'appliances' and 'occupations' and 'vehicles/transportation'.  The app I use for that is "Name that Category" which is from Super Duper for $1.99

Then we practice listing things in categories.  For this I usually use "Let's name things" which is always free from Super Duper.  We also go the other direction and I read them a list of 3 or more objects and they tell me which category it goes to.

I also found this sorting game.  I don't even know who Erin Jackson is but I'll still give her a shout-out.  "Thanks Erin!"

What are your favorite ways to teach this? Next time I'm going to post a bunch of other available materials and apps to use while teaching sorting and categorizing.

ApP LiSt

Today I wanted to share with you an app list that I've been creating.  Many parents ask me what apps they can try for their child so I hope that you find this helpful!  I know I am missing a lot - the world of apps is growing faster than the weeds in my backyard. ..(maybe I'll attack those tomorrow...)
If you know of a great app that is missing from this list, please comment and share with us all!

Phonological Awareness

-          Super Why

-          Dora’s Rhyming Word Adventure

-          ABC Pocket Phonics

-          Read & Write

-          Word Wagon

Phonics

-          Interactive Alphabet

-          Alphabytes

-          Word Wagon HD

-          C is for cow

-          123 Color HD Talking Coloring Book

-          Rock ‘n’ Learn Phonics Easy Reader

-          ABC Pocket Phonics

Reading/Fluency

-          Tumblebooks to Go

-          Alice for iPad

-          Dr. Seuss’ ABC

-          Reading Remedies 

-          eReading Gulliver’s Travels

-          Sight Words List

-          My word wall

-          K12 Timed Reading Practice

-          The Three Little Pigs StoryChimes

-          Jack and the Beanstalk  interative children’s book

--       WordWorld eBook

-          Toy Story Readalong

Reading Comprehension

-          Ithoughts HD

-          Popplet

-          Simplemind

Writing/Sequencing/Storytelling

-          StoryBuilder

-          Speech with Milo: Sequencing

-          Pictello

-          Story Patch

Spelling

-          Simplex spelling

-          Clifford’s BE BIG with words

-          Spelling Bee

-          Miss Spell’s Class

-          Letter Writer Oceans

Social Skills:

-          Conversation Builder

-          iTake Turns

-          ABA Flash Cards and Games: Emotions

-          Model Me for kids

-          Social Skills

-          Stories2Learn

-          iCommunicate

-           

Speech/Articulation:

-          Phonemes

-          Articulate It

-          Articulaton Station

-          ArticPix

-          Pocket SLP

-          Minimal Pairs Academy

-          Match2Say

-          SpeechTrainer3D

-          Smart OralMotor

-          Smarty Speech

-          /r/ intensive

-          All About Sounds

-          Pocket SLP Minimal Pairs

-          R App for Parents

-          Artik Phono

Prepositions:

-         Speech with Milo: Prepositions

            Preposition Remix

Categorizing/Sorting

-          Clean Up: Category Sorting

-          I Learn with Poko: Seasons

-          Name that Category

-          What does not Belong?

-          Let’s Name Things

Puzzles

-          Amazing Shape Puzzle

-          Puzzle Me

-          Magic Puzzles

-          Toddler Puzzle Shapes

Other Fun:

-          Curious George at the Zoo

-          PBS Kids Video

-          My PlayHome Lite

-          Animal Fun

-          House of Learning

-          Animal Memory Match

-          Flower Garden

-          Doodle Buddy

-          Glow Paint

-          Paint Sparkles

-          Uncolor

-          Handy Manny Workshop

-          Thomas & Friends

-          My Coloring Book

-          Pocket Pond

-          iloveFireworks

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