I am always on the hunt for new articulation materials. Is it just me, or does articulation therapy seem to be the one area that gets tedious and somewhat boring if you don't switch activities up frequently? That is why I am super excited to be reviewing and giving away a copy of
Articulation Scenes by Smarty Ears!
With this app, you and your students are going to the movies! This is such a fun theme. How can your kids look at this opening screen and now want to participate?
To get started, first select your player. This app allows for one student to be chosen to play at a time. Data can be taken on that student as he/she completes activities.
Then, select your target sound.
Articulation Scenes is designed to target 1200 practice words using 72 scenes.
After the target sound is chosen, you then choose a scene. This is usually where I let the kids take the reigns and let them feel like they are more in control of their session. I have already set the targets, now they get to choose how they practice!
There are 4 activity choices to choose from,
Find the Hidden Items
Tap and Say It
The Movie Theater
The Production Room
If you choose Find the Hidden Items, your student is assigned an "important task" of finding targeted items in the scene. The words are listed at the bottom of the screen. Each item they have to find has their target sound in the word. Once the student finds all the hidden items, they are awarded a trophy! This activity is a major favorite of my kiddos so far!
If you choose, Tap and Say It, your student has to find hidden items in a picture that contains their target sound. After he/she finds one of the targeted words, they are prompted to practice the word. You can score their production on a Missed It, Almost, or Got It basis. I like to have the kids determine their own production success! There is also an option to record here.
If you choose, The Movie Theater, students watch a short "movie" where they listen to a story about a picture. After that, the student has the option to create their own story about the picture or read the script.
Last but not least, The Production Room! Here, your students have 2 options for practicing their speech: creating their own story or reading a script off a teleprompter! This is great for kids working at the sentence level and above. What a fun way to practice carryover!
I have really enjoyed using this app in therapy. Like I said earlier, articulation therapy can easily turn boring if you don't keep it fun. This is a very fun app that has kept my students engaged. As a private therapist, this app is ideal since I work one on one with my kids. Since most school based therapists see groups of kids, this app may not be the best considering that you can only use this with one student at a time. It could easily be used with more than one student (great way to practice turn taking!), but data would not be able to be kept on all students using the app. In addition to targeting articulation with this app, it gives you multiple language opportunities! You can practice good grammar and sentence structure while creating your own stories! Another bonus to this app is that there is an option to print and/or email homework sheets that go with this app!
Thanks to the wonderful Smarty Ears team, I have a copy to give away to one of you! Enter below. Good luck!!
