"Where" is an app targeting prepositions?!? Here! Virtual Speech Center's "Preposistions Journey" is an app which aims to aid practice with early/common prepositions. Children have fun practicing prepositions with three animals who appear in three different colorful scenes: lake camping, island, and city.
I have several children that are targeting prepositions at one of my settings. Overall, this app has been a good addition to our iTherapy. Here's a bit more about it and some tips:
When you open the app you are greeted by this screen. You have the option to see "reports" from previous sessions, learn more on the "info" tab, change app "settings", or "start" a game.
The reports screen allows you to look at one user at a time and view them by skill/activity or by session date. This is always a must-have for any app I use in therapy these days!
When you click on a specific skill or date, this screen appears showing the percentage correct for each date. Great for progress monitoring and easy to print or e-mail to yourself, parents, and teachers!
After clicking "start" you can add or choose players. Then you use this screen to choose their activities and category/scene. Activities included are: Above, Behind, Below, Beside, Between, Far, In, In front, In the back, In the middle, Near, Next to, On, On the left, On the right, On the side, Out, Outside, Over, Under. These are offered as receptive (students touch the correct picture) or expressive (students say "where" the animal is). My tip here would be to not choose the same activity for all students in a group. I found that when I did this, students would get the same task after the other student had completed it. However, This app acutally DOES "shuffle" stimuli"/skills from all areas selected instead of being given all of one type before the next type starts.
Once the app begins, you are given a screen like this. The app gives the student the instruction and they follow it by choosing the correct picture that shows that concept. You can also record their responses and play them back. We've used this to repeat the direction that they heard and check to see if it was the same as the prompt. You can also use the "expressive" tasks on this game. The screens look the same but with only one stimulus animal shown.
(This is the view of an Expressive version of the "Island" scene.)
(This is the view of an Expressive version of the "City" scene.)
The settings on the app can be found here:
Enable Audio - questions read aloud
Use Alternate Count - I'm really not sure what this is but will find out and report back!
Use Alternate Count - I'm really not sure what this is but will find out and report back!
Automatic Paging - I typically have this on during use/assessment of a skill. It would be good to turn off for repetitions/instruction!
Random Paging - I would definitely recommend having this on. It helps to randomize the screens shown but as discussed later, doesn't always work when multiple players are used.
Correct/Incorrect Sound: Change the sound heard with correct/incorrect responses. Having this option is great. I have some students who think the "wrong" sound is like that of a bodily function and therefore will hit it to be funny. This helps reduce that temptation :)
Once the app begins, you are given a screen like this. The app gives the student the instruction and they follow it by choosing the correct picture that shows that concept. You can also record their responses and play them back. We've used this to repeat the direction that they heard and check to see if it was the same as the prompt. You can also use the "expressive" tasks on this game. The screens look the same but with only one stimulus animal shown.
(This is the view of an Expressive version of the "Lake Camping" scene.)
Overall, this has been an app that I have used on several occasions with students learning or needing assessment on these skills. Here is my quick pros/improvements list:
Pros:
- Nice, colorful illustrations.
- Clear voice for instruction.
- Data tracking included in the app with the ability to print/e-mail the progress.
- Keeps data stored on the app for each student!
- Great for many students.
- Overall a solid... great for SLPs with young clients!
Improvements:
- The orientation of this app does not rotate if the iPad is turned. It does not function in portrait mode, only landscape.
- I would love a built-in reward for students. I like that other VSC apps have an automatic reward built in after so many correct responses.
- The artwork is a bit cluttered/overwhelming for lower functioning students. It can be hard to discriminate the animal pictured and their props from the remainder of the picture. Simplifying it a little bit may be good..
Overall a good app! It is currently available for $9.99 in the app store:
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