welcome to their world apps

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Kid Cart

Kid Cart by Spark Your Imagination Ventures Inc. is a great shopping trip app. I know my kids are horrible at stores but with this app it turns shopping into a game. First you make your list from pictures already preloaded of different grocery items and then once your at the store you can have your child find and take away how many you checked you needed. This app helps with daily living skills and counting. It will also help your child learn different foods and the words that go with them. Your list can be in English, Spanish, or French :) This is a highly recommended app!!! I highly love this app :)

http://www.facebook.com/#!/SparkYourImagination
http://www.sparkyourimagination.ca/
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/kid-cart/id423495162?mt=8

FirstWords: Christmas

FirstWords: Christmas by Learning Touch is a cute little spelling game for children. There is 26 words all about Christmas included in this app with wonderful pictures and sounds to match. This is a must have for Christmas themed apps if you are looking for a cute, fun, and educational app for Christmas. There is many different options to set the difficulty level for your child to make this app as easy or hard as you need it to be. All FirstWords apps are wonderful for our children to work on spelling, fine motor skills, and more. Highly recommended app :)

http://www.facebook.com/LearningTouch?ref=ts
http://www.learningtouch.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id342540962?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/learning-touch/id294536450

Thursday, November 24, 2011

EasyConcepts

EasyConcepts by Easy Speak Enterprises is a great app for children to learn basic concepts and develp skills for verbal directions. I'm sure a lot of you that read my reviews deal with in some way speech and this is a great app for learning verbal directions which is part of a speech eval. This game includes three interactive games that target all kinds of skills to learn concepts, attention and listening skills, auditory recall and processing skills. The three parts are animal sizes which helps teach biggest and smallest and size concepts, number two is following directions in two levels of play (level 1 has basic two steps directions and level 2 having three step directions), and number three is before and after two step directions. This app is not only great for these kinds of speech skills but is also fun for our children to use. You travel through a farm, a jungle, a rainforest, and an underwater adventure learning all these great basic skills. The pictures are wonderful and the voice used in the app is clear and understandable. I would recommend this app to any one that has a child that needs to work on basic 2 and 3 step directions :)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/EasySpeak-Apps/283268248372836
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easyconcepts/id476202498?mt=8


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Duck Duck Moose apps

Duck Duck Moose produces many different apps that are especially geared toward toddlers and preschoolers with some that even include Kindergarten and 1st grade. They are fun and enjoyable for all :)

Fish School HD teaches your child about letters, numbers, shapes, abc song, colors, differences, matching, and playtime. This app has wonderful music and pictures. Your child will have so much fun with this app that they won't even know they are learning. My 4yr old loves this app a lot and teaches him a lot with the fun pictures. This app is easy for your child to play with themselves or with you. It's been proven that children seem to love watching fish and this app has a whole lot of fish that teach your child many different things :) Highly recommended app

Park Math teaches your child early math skills such as numbers, addition, greater and less then, subtraction, patterns, sorting, and counting. This app is great for preschoolers and kindergarten in that it teaches your child so much about the early math skills that your child will learn all through life. Park math has two levels, one for preschoolers that will count up to 20 with adding and subtracting up to 5 and one for kindergarteners that will count up to 50 and has adding and subtracting up to 10. This app has fun and playful music throughout that will help keeping your child wanting more. Both my boys love this app and it has helped my daughter who's in first grade learn the basic skills to exell in math now :) Highly recommended app

Word Wagon teaches your child all about words. Your child can choose from animals, food, vehicles, numbers and colors, around the house, mozzarella and Coco's favorites, and all words. This app has 4 levels. Level 1 is letters where your child will learn all the names of the letters in a fun and enjoyable way. Level 2 is phonics where your child learns about the sounds the letters make which is very important once your child goes to kindergarten for early reading skills. This level has helped my 6yr old out a lot with this since he struggles with early reading. Level 3 is spelling 1 which spells words up to 4 letters which is great for the end of kindergarten begging of 1st grade. Level 4 is spelling 2 which spells words up to 6 letters which is important by the middle to end of 1st grade. This app covers many age group all the way from 1yr old to 1st grade level. My kids love that you collect stickers along the way and they are animated. This helps my kids stay interested in this app for a very long time :) Highly recommended app

Puzzle Pop is Duck Duck's newest app and it holds up to the standers that have held true for all the Duck Duck apps. My kids love puzzles but have a hard time doing them because of their fine motor problems but this app has different levels for different abilities. I think they are right when they say this app is great from ages 3-99!!!. The puzzle pieces are animated and fun. There is 27 levels of puzzles for all abilities. I always love when they add fun music in an app and this one has it. This app teaches children problem solving, sequencing, spatial reasoning, shape, patteren, color recognition, and fine motor skills. I enjoyed playing with this app before my kids got a hold of it and found on the highest level a wonderful challenge where as when my kids got a hold of it the easier levels where wonderful for them and kept their attention and they have a lot of fun with this app :) Highly recommended app

Musical Me! HD is a wonderful music app. This app teaches or children about memory, rhythm, dance, instruments, and notes. This app was so much fun to play with. I loved the music and all the different colors in this app. If you have a sensory seeking child like mine at times the planet memory game is great with the bright planet on the blue background and all the different pitches. This app also helps with fine motor skills as your child has to press all the birds in the learn rhythm section. This app teaches all about different instruments and their sounds in a fun and educational way. My children play this app a lot since all three have a love for music even though they are kind of tone deaf lol :) Highly recommended app

Ok last three are going in one. They are all wonderful highly recommended app but are all animated nursery rhymes and songs. They are Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Old MacDonald. My children have a hard time with rhyming especially my 6yr old. These apps have helped him start to sing along and learn the words. My other two are starting to learn more and more rhyming words everyday and I found that these apps have helped tremendously with that. We all know these songs from our childhood which makes them familiar and fun to sing along with. Your child can touch many things along the way which makes it even more fun then other song apps that I have found. Highly recommended apps :)

http://www.facebook.com/DuckDuckMoose?ref=ts
http://duckduckmoosedesign.com/
http://blog.duckduckmoosedesign.com/
Wheels on the Bus:
http://tinyurl.com/wheelsonbus
http://tinyurl.com/busipad

Old MacDonald:
http://tinyurl.com/oldmacdonald

Itsy Bitsy Spider:
http://tinyurl.com/itsyspider
http://tinyurl.com/itsyspiderhd

Fish School:
http://tinyurl.com/fishiphone
http://tinyurl.com/fishipad

Baa Baa Black Sheep:
http://tinyurl.com/baablacksheep

Park Math:
http://tinyurl.com/parkmath

Word Wagon [NEW!]
http://tinyurl.com/wordwagon
Puzzle Pop
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id473487945?mt=8
Musical Me
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id443357943?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id441152315?mt=8


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Feelings Book

Feelings Book by Communication Crossroads, Inc. is app about feelings. If your children are anything like mine they have a hard time with recognizing and understanding feelings. This app is about trying to help your child identify, understand, and regulate feelings. There is three levels to this app. Number 1 is about teaching expression of emotions. Level one will help through photo representations approprite responses. Level 2 is about helping identifing your emotions through words and pictures that are shown. Level 3 is for children that are school age that have started with basic vocab or emotions and reading skills. I have not used level three on my children since it's too high of a level for them. Level 1 only has 4 emotions happy, angry, sad, and scared where as Level 2 has 8 levels angry, frustrated, happy, silly, bored, scared, embarrassed, and sad. Level one shows what to do only when your child presses how they are feeling where as Level two will ask questions such as how sad am I? (it has a sliding bar for your child), I feel sad when...., and When I'm sad, I can... (which will show what to do). This app has been great for my kids to start to get them to recognize their emotions and express them with not only using their words but also to rate how they are feeling. :)

http://www.commxroads.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/feelings-book/id423506069?mt=8
http://www.amy-laurent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBkEMBgVbgM

Bugs and Buttons

Bugs and Buttons by Little Bit Studio, LLC. is an excellent app. You won't believe all the games your child can play within in this one app. There is 18 different games in all!!! This app has 40+ achievement stamps for your child to earn and find within the app. There is fling bees (darts), fly a butterfly (race), tic-tac-toe, sorting, and so much more. This app helps with counting, fine motor, path finding, patterns, sorting, tracking and more. If you have a child that loves bugs or buttons this app is definatly for them but I would recommend to even those that don't. I loved when I found the pinching game in this app. It reminded me of one of my childrens other faviorts that has helped them with fine motor skills a lot. This app has wonderful pictures and sounds which help keep our children interested in the app. I enjoyed playing with the app for quite a while myself and I didn't even get board I got it taken away from me by my kids once they seen it :). Out of my two boys, one loves bugs and wants to keep and save them all and the other one wants to stomp on them all so it's kind of funny watching them play with this app. My daughter even enjoys this app and played it for over an hour once she got it away from the boys. Highly highly recommended app!!!

http://www.facebook.com/LittleBitStudio
 http://www.facebook.com/BugsAndButtons?sk=wall
http://littlebitstudio.com/bugsandbuttons/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bugs-and-buttons/id446031868?ls=1&mt=8


Monday, November 21, 2011

PreK Digital Workbooks- Space Board Astronaut Series and Kindergarten Digital Workbooks- Space Board Rocket Series

PreK Digital Workbooks- Space Board Astronaut Series and Kindergarten Digital Workbooks- Space Board Rocket Series by NeoLithix, LLC are wonderful digital workbooks. There are over 500 different pages in each app. These apps help our children learn and grow throughout all the school years up to 5th grade.

PreK Digital Workbooks- Space Board Astronaut Series is an app built for Preschoolers with many different workbook activities. Your child will practice writing the alphabet, tracing, rhyming, shapes, numbers and more. This app has helped my son a lot with learning how to start writing in general, not counting "the whole learning everything he needs to know before Kindergarten" benefits. A stylus is recommended for this app but I've found you do not have to have one if your child can not hold a stylus. It makes it hard to write without one but if your not looking for the tracing you can go without. I purchased my stylus off of Amazon.com for very inexpensively. Just be sure to find the right fit for your child. This app is great for special needs children for learning skills for school and for home schooled children. I love that your child can write in many different colors and sized lines and erasing is easy too. You'll be amazed with this app as your child learns and grows from it. Highly recommended app :)

Kindergarten Digital Workbooks- Space Board Rocket Series is another wonderful Space Boards app for Kindergarten level. There are 18 skill packets included with this app with so much to do. Watch as your child learns letters, dot-to-dots, numbers, rhyming, time, and so much more. This app has everything for Kindergarten and will help your child learn to start reading, writing, and so much more. This app has helped my Kindergartner learn so much that he is finally doing really well in school and has almost caught up with his classmates. This app has everything you could want for your kindergartner in workbook form. Once again, a stylus is recommended but same as above you can still do the work but a stylus works as a pencil just like your child would be using in school so it is highly recommended for these apps. Highly recommended app :)

Space Board apps are expensive but well worth the price if you figure out how much workbooks cost in the stores and they can't be reused like these apps. The higher the level of Space Boards apps the more in depth skills become with wonderful things for not only writing but science, social studies, and more. If your child is having problems with a certain skill they have apps for them individually too :). If you want to try one of the Space Boards apps before hand they have a trial version with samples of the Preschool version available on iTunes:)
http://www.facebook.com/spaceboards?ref=ts
http://www.space-boards.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/neolithix-llc/id417606798


Sunday, November 20, 2011

AlphaTots and TallyTots

AlphaTots and TallyTots by Spinlight Studio are great apps to learn ABC's and 123's. My 4 and 6yr olds love these apps. They enjoy all the wonderful things to learn from them.

AlphaTots is all about learning your ABC's. There is 26 letters with all different kind of interactive activities to make this app enjoyable and hold your childs attention for a long time. There is a sing-a-long song for the alphabet and kid friendly navigation. This app is only available in english. This app promotes fine motor skills along with learning the alphabet as your child does each activity for each letter. I also liked that it sounded out each letter sound promoting early reading skills for your child :)

TallyTots is all about learning your 123's. Your child will learn their numbers from 1-20 with this app with a whole lot of interactive activities along the way. I love that they cheer your child on while working with this app as they finish an activity. The activities are fun and promote fine motor skills along the way for example the number 1 has you turn a lightbulb on by holding your finger down on it. There is a sing-a-long also included with this app all about numbers. This app is only available in English. :)

I highly recommend these apps and hop you will also check out the other apps offered from Spinlight Studio :)

http://www.facebook.com/spinlightstudio?sk=wall
http://www.spinlight.com/
http://www.spinlight.com/apps/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alphatots/id436142340?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tallytots/id424070269?mt=8

Book Puzzle- Emma in Africa HD

Book Puzzle- Emma in Africa HD by Tropisounds is a wonderful puzzle book. My children love doing puzzles that a lot of books now add but this one takes it to the max by having them all throughout the story. You can choose to do classic or shape puzzles depending on your childs ability or what they want to do that day. All my children enjoyed the story and thought it was a lot of fun. There is so much to discover in this book between the story itself, the puzzles, the sounds, and the music. There's even a song sung in Swahili with english and spanish translations. There's so much to learn and do in this book throughout. There is even some animal facts for children. This book helps teach our children fine motor skills, animal facts, and more. Be sure to check out some of their other apps such as wood puzzles and Magic Marker which are some of my childrens other faviorts. I highly recommend this book for bedtime or anytime :)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tropisounds/189358081104535?ref=ts&sk=wall
http://www.tropisounds.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-puzzle-emma-in-africa-hd/id475496449?ls=1&mt=8

Friday, November 18, 2011

Pictello

Pictello by AssistiveWare is a wonderful app brought to you by the same company that brings you Proloquo2Go. You can use this app many ways. You can use it as a photo album that talks to you, a talking book, a story board for your child, and more. You can add your picture and then have up to 5 lines of text. You can record sound such as your own voice or you can use two different high-quality voices. You can share your stories using iTunes file sharing or via WiFi with other Pictello users, or you can send them as a PDF file through email. There is no reading required once a book is made. Your child clicks on the story they want and then it will read to them. You can download voices for 21 other languages and dialects including child voices if you choose. This app does not require active internet to create or playback any of the stories which makes this app perfect for on the go. You can make social stories for your child and teach them many different things or you can just make them a fun story about their life. This app is even great for teachers since you can use it on a VGA monitor or a interactive white board through a VGA adapter. Can't find the right voice with what's available remember you can use your own that you can add or have your child tell the story if they can. This app is very easy to use and I had no trouble creating mulitple books in a very short time. You use your pictures that you already have on your ipad or you can snap a picture right there to add to your story. I would love to see added to this app in the future the ability to get pictures off the internet to add to your story to widen your picture taking even farther. With the abiltiy to add pictures off the internet you could build stories about places your going to make this app even better but it is an awesome app the way it is too. I have really enjoyed making stories for my children right from this app and find it super easy to use. Highly recommended app :)

http://www.facebook.com/pictello?sk=wall
http://www.pictello.com
http://www.assistiveware.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pictello/id397858008?mt=8

2BME Firefighter

2BME Firefighter by 2BME Studios is a wonderful app all about firefighting. This app is perfect for any child that dreams of being a fireman or is learning about fire safety. You get to take a tour of the station where your child learns about the firetruck, the equipment including the firemans suit, and more. You get to dress the fireman, sound the alarm, and more in this app. You then get to go on fire missions to rescue a burning building and save a cat from a tree. You can race over and over again to get your best time on the burning building mission to gain different ranks of fireman. Your child can go back to the classroom for a Q and A session that helps reinforce fire saftey and facts that were found throughout the game. This app is very educational and I agree on what 2BME says about this app in that it is great for hand eye coordination, fine motor skills, cognitive and language develpment. This game has been enjoyed by my children and they love this app. They just went through firesafety last month at their school and loved to play along and hear all over again all that they had learned and then be able to put out fires. I love the graphics in this app and the voice used within the app is easy to understand all of which gives our child complete indepence while using this app. It will tell your child everything they need to know when using it. Highly recommended apps :)

http://www.facebook.com/2BMEStudios?sk=wall
http://www.2bmestudios.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2bme-firefighter/id475847691?ls=1&mt=8

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Name That Category Fun Deck

Name That Category Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a great app for working on describing, categorizing, and organizational skills. This app helps your child fill-in-the-blank from different statements. There is 56 cards included and up to 5 children at a time. This app could be used with even the very young child to start learning categories. There is statements like "An arm, leg, and face are ___." and "A, C and M are ___.". You can use this app to teach your child how things are alike that may not otherwise be such as "An apple, fire engine, and fire hydrant are ___.". The pictures help your child answer the statements and the app will read out the statement to your child. Like all the other Super Duper apps you can track correct and incorrect answers and then email them to whoever you would like before exiting the app. I would highly recommend this app for any aged child that is able to start answering category statements. I have known some children as young as 2 able to do this. My own children are still working on these skills but have improved greatly in the last few months from working with this app.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/name-that-category/id453817829

WH Questions at Home Fun Deck

WH Questions at Home Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is another app just like the school WH Questions except it's about things that happen at home. There is 56 cards included and up to 5 children at a time can use this app. This app can be used even with a younger child to learn about things that happen at home. The app will talk out the prompt if the picture is pressed and you can track right and wrong answers. There is questions such as "Where do you keep your toys?" and "What should you do if you hear the smoke alarm?". I think that this app is important for children to learn and recognize some of the things that we might not even think of. It things that we might think our children just know but may not. It also helps that some of the things we know our children know but we want them to vocalize it outloud in a sentence for us and work on answering the question outloud rather then just dragging us to the answer :). Some of the things are things my children need to learn and others are the latter that I want them to learn how to answer WH questions in general. I would highly recommend this app for children ages 3+.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wh-questions-at-home/id456964561

WH Questions at School Fun Deck

WH Questions at School Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is great school age app or getting ready for Kindergarten. This app teaches your child WH questions that are important in their school day. This app helps with social skills and the problem WH questions. There is 56 cards included and up to 5 children at a time. There is questions such as "What do you do on the playground?" and "What is the name of your school?". This app helps my children with answering questions about their school day that are usually very hard for them to do. I can't offer prompts for them since I don't know what they did during the day but the pictures in this app help them see and then think of what the correct answer is. My kindergartener has the hardest time with this and his correct percentage since starting to work with this app is up about 25% from 0%. I highly recommend this app for any parent of a child who has problems with WH questions and is either entering school or is already in school.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wh-questions-at-school/id453243161

All About You all About Me Fun Deck

All About You all About Me Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a wonderful app about your child. There is 56 cards included and you can track up to 5 players at a time. This app teaches wonderful social skills and skills every child needs to know about themselves. There is questions such as "What is your phone number?" and "What is your name?". Some questions may be easy for your child to answer some may not. Some of the questions are open ended and will help your child have a conversation with you such as "Tell me about your friends.". This app has been wonderful for my kids and everytime we use it I hope they will start to learn more and more each time. You can chose which questions you want to use with your child/children which is great because like with my own we are still working on learning their phone number and I know the address is harder so we work on the phone number first. Once they have that mastered I will add the card for the address. This is a highly recommended app that even if your child uses an AAC app I would highly recommend this app.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/all-about-you-all-about-me/id449154858

What Would You Do at School If Fun Deck

What Would You Do at School If Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a wonderful app for school aged children. This app helps teach children what to do if something happend at school such as a broken pencil and much more. There is 56 cards included and you can track up to 5 players at a time. This app helps build on social skills and problem solving. I have been using this app on my kindergartener and my first grader a lot to teach them how to ask questions, make friends, and problem solving if something was to happen such as missing the bus. There is questions such as "What would you do if... your classmate teased you about the new shirt you wore?" and "What would you do if... you were waiting in the pick-up line outside, but your ride never came?". These are some of my biggest concerns with school and hopeing that my child will do the right thing. This app helps me know how they may reply and teach them the right way to do things such as telling the teacher and more. Highly recommended app :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/what-would-you-do-at-school-if/id461067076?ls=1

60 Story Starters

60 Story Starters by Super Duper Publications is a great story starter app. This app helps children build a story and combines it with audio. You can create up to 180 ways to tell a story. This app helps children improve on describing, questioning, inferencing, writing, and storytelling/retelling. Your child touches the screen to hear a start of a story then they can talk or write the rest of the story. This app is for 1 child at a time and then can be emailed to anyone that you want. You can use this app any way you want because you track correct and incorrect answers so if your child can't tell a whole story maybe they can say a sentence or how the person might be feeling, ect. My kids aren't quite at the whole story telling yet. I have them try to say a sentence to finish out the prompt and to talk about feelings. I recommend this app for any child that is starting to work on sentences or story telling. This app can be used for individual speech classes or by parents :). Highly recommended app.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/60-story-starters/id442501653

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

OneVoice

OneVoice by Legend is a wonderful AAC device app. There is 4 high quality voices (2 for male and 2 for female). You can chose from over 100 custom made icons and choose and crop your own photos also. You use a drag and drop for your phrases and categories. You can make this app your own completely and make it useful for all ages because of the wonderful realistic images. This app was reviewed by a friend of mine since my children do not need an AAC app. Here is her review----

ONEVOICE BY Legend-
I Love the fact you can customize it to your childs needs..The pictures are so real looking.I also like for an example my son can push the wants and needs button and pictures will show up on the screen he can pick the I want button then go to the categories button and for the example push the food button then pick the picture of an orange the words will show up in the white box then he pushs the blue box that has the word speack on it...its awesome not only does my child get to see real pictures he gets to hear the the sentance that he wants a orange...since the pictures are so real it is very easy to use this for all age groups..my son has severe autism and he is less frustrated because he can communicate with me and in the process he learned a few new words. When I took my son to the speech department at Mayo Clinic they told me that my son needed to see real pictures and not stick figures. This app lives up to the real pictures and is working well for my son. He will be using this app at home and at school. This app is highly recommended by me and is well worth the price of the app.

http://www.facebook.com/OneVoiceAAC?sk=info


 

More from Portegno Apps :)

Who took this photo- Zoo is a cute little app that really makes your child think. You have to pick who took the photo at the zoo. You are presented with a photo with all the animals in it but one!!! The animal that is not in the picture is the one that took the photo. This app helps with thinking skills which is very important for our children to learn :)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/who-took-this-photo-zoo/id473332335?mt=8

School Wordfind is a great wordfind app. I love that Portegno's wordfinds show the pictures with the words so your child can learn to match the word with the picture for early reading skills. There is three levels easy, medium, and hard. When your child finds the word there is animation and it reads the word out for them. This app is all about school.  My daughter really loves all the wordfinds from Portegno :)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/school-wordfind/id409365606?l=es&ls=1&mt=8

Zoo Wordfind is another great wordfind app. There is three levels of play also in this app of easy, medium, and hard. This app is all about zoo items. This app is similar to the one above except that it's about zoo animals :)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zoo-wordfind/id406373650?l=es&ls=1&mt=8
Zoo Coloring Book is a wonderful coloring book app. This app is very cute and friendly and great for any age. The animals in this app a darling and easy to color for little hands. The paints are easily found at the bottom of the page with the paintbrushes on the left hand side. There is 31 designs included in this app.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zoo-coloring-book/id467446813?l=es&ls=1&mt=8

iPuzzle Words- Animals is a great that teaches your child early spelling, recognition, and reading. This app was made for children ages 2+. Your child needs to put the puzzle pieces so the word and the picture all line up to make the picture. This app has three levels of play easy, hard, and all. Once the word is in order the app spells out the word for your child. This app will help my oldest son and my daughter a lot with learning words and spelling. My youngest loves the app already which is great because he has a lot of problems with puzzles but is doing great with this one :)
 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ipuzzle-words-animals/id360686706?l=es&ls=1&mt=8


http://www.facebook.com/PortegnoApps#!/PortegnoApps?sk=info
http://www.portegno-apps.com/


Monday, November 14, 2011

TouchyBooks

TouchyBooks brings you many different books through their story. You can purchase the books through an inapp purchase and some you can get right off Itunes itself. Their books are wonderful and many are interactive. I personaly have The Little Match Girl, Moon Secrets, The Candy Factory, A Christmas Carol, The Witch's Apprentice, Numbers Hide and Seek, and Emma and the Monster. My children have enjoyed all these books over and over again.

Emma and the Monster HD is about a sad girl that no longer wants to go to school because of a mean boy scares her all the time in school. Whe latter meets a monster and they become the best of friends. The monster helps Emma no longer be afraid anymore to go to school. This book is interactive and fun. Recommended ages 6+

The Candy Factory HD is a story about two children that get carried away to a wonderful land of the candy factory. This book is bright and colorful and of course filled with candy :). My children really liked this book. The book is very interactive and there is many things to discover throughout the 17 pages. The recommended ages is 6+ but my youngest child who is 4 even enjoyed this one :)

Moon Secrets HD is wonderful bedtime story. The book has interactive features but stays calm and soothing throughout. The book is about the moon through a childs eye and is a beautiful story. This book is recommended ages 4+

The Witch's Apprentice HD is a cool story about a witch. A little girl finnaly desides to become a witch and you follow her through the story about how she learns to cast spells and make potions. Many interactive features with this one. This book is great for young children as it shows them imagination, sound effects, witty illustrations, and rhyming text. This book is recommended for ages 3+

The Little Match Girl HD is about a poor little girl and trying to find happiness on Christmas Eve. She tries to sell matches to people on the street but finds herself wanting to light the matches to keep her fingers warm. This book is a wonderful Christmas book and teaches your children about love. This book is interactive and has animations and sound on every page. This book is recommeded for ages 6+

A Christams Carol HD is a story all us adults have probably seen and heard in our lifetime over and over again but still love it. This is a great book to show our children all about Ebenezer Scrooge and teach them the same lessons we learned long ago-- friends, family, and sharing. Scrooge is a greedy old man that doesn't care about anyone but himself until he has to face his past, present, and future ghost. Many interactive features such as sound and animations. This book is recommended for ages 7+

Numbers hide and seek is a great story for the little ones. This book teaches your child about numbers up to ten. The numbers are all interactive and your child will have to find all the numbers as they hide in a wonderful game of hide and seek :) This book is recommended for ages 3+

http://www.facebook.com/TouchyBooks?ref=ts
http://www.touchybooks.com/en/


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Jungle Time- learn how to tell time

Jungle Time- learn how to tell time by Andrew Short is a great app about telling time. This app helps children learn about time in a cute and friendly way. The animals are very cute in this app and I love the roar they give. This app makes my kids laugh everytime the animal roars. This app is helping my daughter learn about telling time. They are just starting this in school along with coins and the jungle apps have helped a lot. Your child can learn about three clock styles standard, learning (with hours and minutes, and classic (with roman numerals). Your child can also learn 12 and 24 hour clock notions. My daughter finds this app easy to use and very friendly, we highly recommend this app :)

http://www.facebook.com/JungleEducation?ref=pb#!/JungleEducation?sk=info
http://jungleeducation.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jungle-time-learn-how-to-tell/id366422129?mt=8

Jungle Coins- learn coin math

Jungle Coins- learn coin math by Andrew Short is a great app for children learning about coins. You can learn about coins and how to identify them and  count and calculate correct change with this wonderful app. I like that the app is cute, fun, and educational all at the same time. Your child can change which animal is at the top of the screen. There is many catagories for your child to learn through such as find, count, compare, and correct change. This app helps my daughter a lot. She is just starting to learn about money and this app has been helping her a lot. The app requires no reading since it will tell you what you need to do. I find this app to be great at teaching coins and highly recommend this app :)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jungle-coins-learn-coin-math/id380864501?mt=8
http://www.facebook.com/JungleEducation?ref=pb
http://jungleeducation.com/

Saturday, November 12, 2011

chore pad hd

Chore Pad HD by Nannek is a great chore tracking app. The setup for this app is easy and takes very little time. I love that you can add all the members of your family and have as many chores as you like. After you add your family and the chores you can set up the rewards. You can set it up for daily or weekly chore list, add chore icons, sounds and animations, and much more. When you set up a family member you can add thier picture to their chores which helps children with special needs see which chores are theirs. You add checkmarks toward a trophie for you reward depending on how you have the rewards set up to be giving out. You can also use this chart for behavioral needs if you don't want to use it for chores. Just add something such as no hitting, no bitting, ect. onto the chart. I use this chart for both behavior rewards and chores. My kids loved getting to put a check mark on their chart when they did something good. I like that you can change the themes depending on the season. I definatly recommend this app if you need a chore chart or a behavior chart. It's sure better then paper or whiteboards :)

http://www.facebook.com/ChorePad?ref=ts
http://www.nannek.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chore-pad...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chore-pad...

Additional reviews from others :)

5 Stars!

I got this application to use with my 6 year old grandson that has ADHD. He loves that he can check off his "jobs" as he does them. He also loves the stars! It has made his life better because it gives him a send of control and of accomplishment. He is now trying to teach his 3 1/2 year old sister how to mark off her "jobs." Thanks so much for giving him something to feel good about!!

Chore pad HD
This app itself is very colorful making it simple to use. The lay out is fantastic you can have more then one person you can add photos to the chart. many options you can choose to make it your own. This is two thumbs up everyone should check this out..

New review:
ChorePad is a wonderful app. It allows you to create a list of job/activites that your child needs to accomplish. I love how you can customize the list of chores/jobs and rewards to your child’s specific needs.

My son has been using ChorePad since last fall at school and is very motivated to accomplish the tasks. In the near future we will be getting a mobile device at home I feel fortunate to given this code so we can begin to caring over some of the success they have at school into our home environment.

I think this app is a must have for anyone that has kids.This app seems to motavate him more than paper or check off charts.Wonderful Wonderful app.


Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck

Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck is a wonderful app about politeness, problem solving, feelings, giving info, requesting, telephone skills, and staying on topic. This app I feel was made for my kids. This is some of their biggest and greatest problems when it comes to conversations. They don't know how but this app sure helps with that. This app shows the picture and then when touched it will speak out the prompt. In return your child needs to give a verbal response back to the prompt such as "your dad says, "I need help raking the leaves" What do you say?" and many more. I like that it tells you the topic on the top so you can chose what to work on such as feelings, staying on topic, and more. The spoken words in the app are very clear and easily understood. If your child needs practice with any of the topics listed above this app is for sure for you. This is a wonderful app for especially high functioning autism and aspbergers since all these skills listed above come very hard for children on the spectrum. I highly recommend this app :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts#!/SuperDuperPublications?sk=info
http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/apple.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/practicing-pragmatics/id446375561

Plurals Fun Deck

Plurals Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a wonderful app for children that have a hard time using plurals. This app has 56 cards within the app and canu be used for up to 5 players at a time. This app will score automaticaly or you can choose to manually score if you would like. This app helps children recognize which words should be used as plurals and which should not. This app could also help children learn the correct spelling of the words as they are going through them they will see the words written below and will slowly recognize how they are spelled such as the word child compared to children. This app helps children learn what the plural form of each word is and which one should be put in the sentence such as "The ___ are going to fly a kite." with choices of "child" and "children". There is also sentences such as "Sarah has a new ___." with choices of "toys" and "toy". I love this app for my children because my boys either leave off the s or add the s or with some words such as child instead of saying children they say childs. This app helps them learn the correct form of the words to use within the sentence. This helps my daughter learn which to add s's to and which not to when learning to spell. Wonderfull highly recommended app once again :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plurals-fun-deck/id469519468?ls=1

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Irregular Verbs Fun Deck

Irregular Verbs Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a wonderful app if your child has problems with using irregular past, present, and future tense words. This app helps them learn which verb is correct within a sentence. This app comes with 52 cards and can track up to 5 children at a time. You can set it to manual or automatic for scoring and for the next card/player. You can randomize the order or keep them in the order they come and of course you can choose which cards to use with your child :). Each card has a sentence on it with one irregular verb missing. Your child then must pick out which verb fits the sentence. There is sentences such as "The baby birds will ___ soon." Then below it is says "fly" and "flew". Your child then will pick which one is correct for the sentence. It will automaticaly score for you unless you change the settings. If your child gets the answer wrong it will make a sound the box with the word will turn red and it will then read the sentence outloud correctly to your child. I like this app because you can use it with your child or then can practice alone if they want. There is no reading needed as it will read to your child including the choices which makes this a wonderful app for even young children who have not yet learned to read but can start learning correct wording in their speech. Highly recommended app :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/irregular-verbs-fun-deck/id468156647?ls=1


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Zanny- Born to Run

Zanny- Born to Run by Extra Special Kids, LLC. is a great app explaining ADHD to children. Zanny is a boy that can't stop moving. This fits my youngest the best. He's just like the boy in the story so he really enjoyed it and no he didn't quit moving durning the story lol :). These stories by Extra Special Kids, LLC are wonderful for our children with special needs because they are made especially for them. It shows they are not alone and that their is others out there just like themselves. There is a special game about feelings also included in this book. You have to put the correct mouth and eyes on the face for the saying above. I love that it reads it outloud to your child and when you get it right there is a big celebration. This makes the app even better in that it also teaches our children about expressions which some of our children may have problems with. I highly recommend this book for any child that just can't stop moving and/or has problems with emotions. :)

http://www.facebook.com/ExtraSpecialKids
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zanny-born-to-run/id409817073?mt=8
http://www.ExtraSpecialKids.com
http://www.blog.extraspecialbooks.com
http://twitter.com/#!/ExtraSpecialApp

Little Lilly's Touch Book

Little Lilly's Touch Book by Extra Special Kids, LLC. is a wonderful book about sensory processing disorder in "kid language". I think this book is great for our children to learn they are not alone in the feeling that somethings they touch just feel "icky" to them while others don't. I think this shows our children that it's ok to not like to touch somethings but love to touch other things just because they are them. The book has a lot of animation and sounds that my children love to touch and explore. They felt this book was speaking about them and it related to their lives well. This book opens the doors for parents to explain to their children what is happening to them and that they are not alone. Some kids can't handle certain touchs but love others. This book was read very well and was easy to understand. I would highly recommend this book for any child that has SPD and especially if they need a little help understanding it too :)

http://www.facebook.com/ExtraSpecialKids
http://www.ExtraSpecialKids.com
http://www.blog.extraspecialbooks.com
http://twitter.com/#!/ExtraSpecialApp
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-lillys-touch-book/id473492087?ls=1&mt=8

Fun Deck Following Directions

Fun Deck Following Directions by Super Duper Publications is a great get up and move app. This app helps our children learn motor skills, auditory processing skills, and memory. 52 cards included with up to 5 players at a time. There's things like "Shake my hand", "tell your favorite toy", and many more. I love that some of the things make your child think and others make them move. This app is fun and entertaining. It's always fun to see what response your child will give when asked something. I know mine sometimes give the funniest responses. I always tell them the correct response after scoring if none of them got it correct so they learn from their mistakes right away. I could see this app being used in a large classroom setting without the score tracking if you just wanted to use it for a fun activity with a whole class. I think this is a great app to help your child learn to follow directions and have a lot of fun at the same time. Highly recommended :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/following-directions/id451456253
https://twitter.com/#!/SuperDuperPub

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Mugtuk Monsters

Mugtuk Monsters by Mugtuk Monsters Edition LLC is a cute friendly app that transforms you ipod into a cuddly monster. My 4yr old loves the monsters. I don't have a case but with a case you can unlock the 4th monster. You can play with your Mugtuk by touching it's face, laying it down different ways, shaking it, and more. Each of the four monsters are different in their own unique way. Maggie is cute and loves kisses, Bubba is funny, and Tim is kinda grumpy, and Charlie is the surprise with the case but looks cute :). This app makes your Ipod come alive and gives your child a playful friend and is fun and entertaining especially at doctor appts and more. :)

http://www.facebook.com/mugtuk?ref=ts
http://www.mugtuk.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mugtuk-monsters/id458443891?ls=1&mt=8
http://www.mugtuk.com/shop.php


Super Duper Data Tracker

Super Duper Data Tracker by Super Duper Publications is a great tool to track your students progress. You can set goals, set responses such as correct/ incorrect, store data, and much much more. This app is great for teachers and theripst that need to track data of their students. It's wonderful that you can graph the data and also email the results as needed also. I love that all you have to do is hit a button for yes or no and it adds them up right there and tracks it for each child. There is a lot of features that this version of data tracker includes and makes it wonderful to track the data you need. I would highly recommend this app for teachers and theripst to track the data that they need for their students :)

*parents-- You could use this app also as a behavior tracker. You set the goal and then you hit correct or incorrect or whichever you choose. I would us correct or incorrect for positive and negative behavior. There is a spot to add notes as needed which makes this a great behavior tracker for the price compared to some of the others. :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-duper-data-tracker/id432397161?mt=8

Monday, November 7, 2011

Yes or No?

Yes or No? by Super Duper Publications is a great app. This one is awesome in that it will read the question right to your child and track the answer of yes or no for you. This is great since you can let your child practice with this app all by themselves if you would like or you can sit next to them. The ladies voice is calming and soothing and very easy to understand. If you hit the wrong answer it will turn red and if they hit the right answer it will turn green. The pictures are easy for children to understand and the questions range from easy to hard and you are able to pick which ones you want your child to work on. There are 52 cards in the app and you can track up to 5 players at a time. You can have the app score automatically or manually which ever you prefer and you can randomize the cards or keep them in order. There is questions in the app such as "Do glasses help us see better?" and "Is a rock hard?". All answers are yes or no so it's simple enough to start this app even at 3yrs old on up. Highly recommended app :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yes-or-no-fun-deck/id472391065?ls=1

Princess Activity Cards/ Robots Activity Cards/ Fairies Activity Cards

Princess Activity Cards/ Robots Activity Cards/ Fairies Activity Cards by Poregno Apps. I would concider these three apps brother and sisters apps. They both have different catagories with cool little things for kids to do. The Princess/Fairies are more aimed for the girls and the Robots one is more aimed toward the boys but they all could be used for either. The Princess/Fairies two have coloring pages, puzzles, dress up Princess/Fairies, find it games, sticker book, and cool background music. The Robot one has coloring pages, puzzles, build a robot, find it games, sticker book, and cool background music too. These apps are designed for ages 3 and up and I totally agree with that. With the wide range of activities there is a lot to do with either app. These apps build creativity and help with fine motor with the coloring and puzzles. All my children have enjoyed all three apps and I'm sure they will continue to use them for a long time :)

@portegno_apps
http://www.facebook.com/PortegnoApps?ref=ts
http://www.portegno-apps.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/robots-activity-cards/id467610878?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/princess-activity-cards/id476553285?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fairies-activity-cards/id457587592?mt=8

Sunday, November 6, 2011

A Quest for Good Manners- Interactive Book

A Quest for Good Manners- Interactive Book by TaleSpring is a great book about manners. This book is ment for the older kids on my site. My almost 8yr old daughter enjoyed it and she is in first grade so I included it. This book is about a nontypical princess and her pet dragon who are very rude and need to learn their manners. This story is long but it is also interactive so there is things to hold even the younger schoolaged childs attention. I liked that it also had little facts along the way to read if you choose. There is funny sounds and cute little animations as you read along with the story. I love that it has the read to me option or you can read it yourself if you prefer. I know my little "princess" (lol) has problems with manners so this book was cute for her. I did get my 6yr old son to sit for the book 1time (usually that's all I get with any book) so it may even hold the attention of younger then I think. He liked the dragon in the story and I think the burp had something to do with it :). I only rate this book for 1st grade and above because of the length and since most children younger have a hard time listening for long periods of time otherwise the pictures, animation, and story are very cute and enjoyable :)

http://www.facebook.com/talespring?sk=wall
http://www.talespring.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-quest-for-good-manners-interactive/id447892393?mt=8

Understanding Inferences Fun Deck

Understanding Inferences Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is one of the first super duper apps I owned. I loved how it made my children think. My children don't seem to know how to answer openended questions but with this app between the prompts of the words and then the pictures they are up to 50% right most of the time. There are 52 cards but you can choose which ones you want to use or you can use them all. You can track up to 5 players at a time and email your results at the end. This is great for teachers, therapist, and parents. Some of the prompts are The baby is crying because..., tell me which picture shows, "Brenda hopes to catch a fish", and many more. This app is great especially if your just starting out with Super Duper apps because there is a wide variety of questions from easy to hard and the ability to choose which questions you want out of the 52 cards makes it so even the very young can play. I would recommend that if your child is verbal you could start using this app even at age 3 but even if nonverbal if they use a AAC or PEC system they could start using some of the cards even around this age too. I highly recommend any of the Super Duper apps and think children of all ages can get a lot of use from them :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/understanding-inferences/id444993226?mt=8

Saturday, November 5, 2011

See.Touch.Learn Pro 2012

See.Touch.Learn Pro 2012 by Brain Parade is an awesome app. There is a free version that is wonderful in itself but this full version all complete is the best. I loved the free version but found I wanted all the libraries since I found you can do so much with this app. You can use the free version and buy each indivdual library separate but the price is definnatly worth it. This is all the picture cards you could ever need all in one app with more being added over time. All new libraries will be included for the year. Brain Parade said there should be at least 10 additional libraries that will be included by the end of 2012. You can also add your own pictures and use your own voice too. With each set of cards there is so much that can be done with them. Too easy with the regular questions then add your own to make it fit with your child. Need just flash cards this is perfect for that too. I've found many uses for this app with all three of my kids and believe this app will grow with them for a long time. Perfect for ABA therapy but also perfect for any teacher, parent, therapist, ect. working with special needs children. There is over 1,700 pictures and 1,300 exercises included. If you can't afford the full version or are just not sure about the full version make sure to try out the free version. Highly recommended and very frequently used app :)

http://www.facebook.com/Brainparade?ref=ts
http://www.brainparade.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/see.touch.learn-pro-2012/id467924373?mt=8

ABC Go

ABC Go by Peapod Labs LLC is an amazing app. This app has so much included for learning your abc's. There is many different apps brought to you by Peapod's like this and you can choose based on what your child seems most interested in. This app explores different moving vehicles. This is perfect for my 4yr old who just loves cars, buggies, and machinery. Each letter explores a different vehicle in great detail. There is videos, tracing, and more. The pictures are real not fake like some which helps relate the word to the picture better then a cartoon version for our children. The tracing brings the pictures to life and helps with fine motor skills. There is over 68 vehicle words and interactions with 100's of photos and videos. Lots of fun facts to learn. This app is mainly used for toddler and preschoolers but I see it being used even for older children interested in vehicles. The videos are educational and fun for any child to watch and learn from even past learning the alphabet. A wi-fi connection is recommended since they will be needed to access the videos from utube. Great app that my boys love :)

http://www.facebook.com/peapodlabs?sk=wall#!/peapodlabs?sk=wall
http://www.peapodlabs.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-go/id410111251?mt=8

Bugsy Pre-K

Bugsy Pre-K by Peapod Labs LLC is a great preschool learning app. You can have different profiles for different children. Comming soon you will be able to get progress reports that enable you to support your childs learning. There is many different subjects in the app such as colors, shapes, letters, and more for a total of 6 learning subjects. I love that your child can earn interactive toys which helps hold your childs interest longer. There is controls to customize your childs learning or you can just use them all. My boys use this app a lot. My youngest loves learning with Bugsy and thinks of him as ZuuZuu who he loves. My other son uses this to continue building on what he already knows since he still has problems with some of the catagories those are the ones we work on where as with my youngest he's still learning all the catagories. I would recommend this app for children working on their preschool skills. They have this app recommended for ages 3-6 and that is just about right. You could use this app for younger or older depending on their learning ability. Cute friendly app :)

http://www.facebook.com/peapodlabs?sk=wall#!/peapodlabs?sk=wall
http://www.peapodlabs.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bugsy-the-blue-hamster/id406426499?mt=8

Firehouse Adventure

Firehouse Adventure by Peapod Labs LLC is a cute app that has many different games included. There is a total of 8 mini games that are all different. You can rescue animals with the ladder, help the fireman get through traffic, help dress the firefighter, and much more. My boys just love playing with this app. It helps teach them about firesaftey which is very important. Sometimes it's hard to teach our kids about some of this stuff without showing them how it works. This app helps show our children what firefighters are for and how they put out fires. Sure is a kids app but there is some learning that shows through especially if you sit down and explain to your child what they are doing in each game. I also love that this app helps with fine motor and hand eye cordination by having to use their fingers to do some of the apps and also some tilt screen games. Me and my kids think this qualifies as a recommend app by us :)

http://www.facebook.com/peapodlabs?sk=wall#!/peapodlabs?sk=wall
http://www.peapodlabs.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firehouse-adventure/id439742991?mt=8

Let's Name Things Fun Deck

 Let's Name Things Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a great app to practice vocab., categorizing, and thinking skills. This app helps children learn what things go into what category such as what makes you happy and name things that are yellow. It helps a lot with thinking skills that our children may have problems with. My kids have problems thinking outside the box and this app helps with that. They can practice thinking of things without seeing picture prompts like some apps will give. They have to think all on their own which is a great thing. There is 52 cards included and up to 5 players at a time may be listed. This is a great group activity since you can go around the circle and ask each child to name something different.

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lets-name-things/id454450994

Friday, November 4, 2011

WordConnex

WordConnex by Chilly Brrr is a great sorting game. My daughter uses this regularly. You can learn to sort words about spelling, vocabulary, and other things. There is over 1000 different words to sort with over 70 different word sorts. You can pick which ones you want your child to work on by clicking the check marks on them. This is a nice option because they also have the levels from easy to diffacult so you know which your child may or may not be able to do. They hope in the future to add options to upload your own list in the game. My only complaint with this app is the sound. It's hard to understand the words when spoken and they don't read the catagory words outloud so your child needs to know how to read or you have to help by reading them. I'm hopeing that they will fix this but for now that's my only complaint otherwise it's a great app that has many catagories to sort.

www.wordconnex.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/WordConnex/252233644803226?sk=wall
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wordconnex/id430701220?mt=8

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Hairy Letters

Hairy Letters by Nessy is a very very cute app. I loved the little hairballs that are used for tracing letters. This app is great fine motor skills and perfect for children learning the alphabet and how to write it. There are games to play to reinforce the learning and starts to teach simple words all by the help of the hairballs. The characters are animated to keep your childs attention all through the app. My boys loved this app. They find the hairballs wonderful to play with and it keeps their attention no problem which is normaly hard to do. I love how the app starts out with only a few letters at a time so not to confuse the child. You can choose small letter, big letter, and dotted letter which is great so you can get more long time use out of the app even past learning the alphabet in capital letters like some others I've used. It sounds out the letter as you push it so the child can also start learning the sounds each letter makes. Before your child goes to trace the letter the little hairball with show them how and then they trace it with their finger. If they go too far off it will make a sound and it will have a sign with a hairball saying try again. When you first push a letter you will get a picture that when pressed becomes animated, the letter with letter sound, a word of the pictured above, and then the to be traced letter. This app is great. I would recommend it to any child learning to write and learning letters sounds. Highly recommended :)

http://www.nessy.com/products.aspx
http://www.facebook.com/nessy.uk#!/nessy.uk?sk=info
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/hairy-letters/id410276288?mt=8

Dyslexia Quest

Dyslexia Quest by Nessy is great for many things not just dyslexia. I was a little worried at first that this app would be too hard for my daughter to use but boy did I get a surprise in the fact that it is wonderful. The pictures and sounds are very cute and the games are put in levels of learning ability. I chose the youngest level for her and found that it worked perfect for her. I also found that parts of it work great for my 6yr old son who I thought would never be able to use this app. This app has working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual memory, auditory memory and sequencing skills. Many of these problems my children struggle with daily in school. Logan my 6yr old stuggles with auditory memory a lot and this works very well for him to build that skill up. He even tries the other things with some sucess. My almost 8yr old uses them all and they seem to be helping in the short time I've used the app with her. I can even use it since there is a level for all the way up adult. The levels are under 10, 11-16, and 17+ so even if you are an adult that struggles or you have an older child that struggles with any of these this app is for you :)

http://www.facebook.com/nessy.uk
http://www.nessy.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dyslexia-quest/id448166369?mt=8

If... Then... Fun Deck

If... Then... Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a great thinking and reasoning app. It comes with 52 cards with up to 5 players at a time. I love this app because it makes your child think ahead. If you do this then .... this might happen. This helps children with many different delays and will even help younger "typical" children learn what happends next. The app gives the prompt to the child to continue on the sentence and may even strike up a conversation. You can build on this app by asking your child more questions after they answer the prompted sentence. I do this with my kids to get them to go further with their conversation since they have major issues with this. They have a hard time doing the first step but if they get it I try to continue with it. I love these apps from Super Duper since you get wonderful ideas of conversation starters by starting with the basic sentence and you can end there and keep track of right and wrong answers but then also pick only certain questions you want so you might be able to build around more and longer answers after the starter. The pictures in these apps are great and clear for our children to understand. No stick figures here :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/if-...-then-.../id456643575

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

How? Fun Deck

How? Fun Deck by Super Duper Publications is a great problem solving, reasoning, and sequencing skills app. This app has 52 cards included and allows you to have up to 5 players at a time. I love problem solving apps. These apps help children with special needs learn how to recognize and solve problems that happen in every day life. There is questions such as how do you clean up leaves in your yard? and How do you make a new friend? This app helps develop many skills that our children may lack without being taught. My children love trying to answer these questions as a group even if they can't answer them correctly. When I use this app I have one start each question and see who can either get it right and then talk about it if they get it right. If noone gets it right I tell them the correct response and then talk about it. I really hope you will try this app if you have a child that has problems with problem solving. Highly recommend app :)

http://www.facebook.com/SuperDuperPublications?ref=ts
http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/how-fun-deck/id464912259?ls=1