Appy Thurdsay!! This edition of In My APPinion features the app Word Vault by Home Speech Home. If you have not yet visited Home Speech Home's website, make sure you do! The site is run by a husband and wife team of SLPs who have also added "app creators" to their resume.
Word Vault contains 223 word lists. How many of you own one of those "Big Books of Words" or are like me and do a Google search anytime you are looking for target words for an activity? Well my friends, this app gives you all of those resources (and more) in one app. When you open the app, you are prompted to choose a vault from the following options:
Articulation Vault
Language Vault
Phonology Vault
Social Vault
Above is a screen shot of the list of SH words. If you look on the side of the screen, you can choose which position you want the target in as well as the number of syllables. This is perfect for finding a very specific list of words for individual students.
The screen shot above is a list of conversation starters from the Social Vault.
Above is a shot from the Sports Category List from the Language Vault.
To get a more in depth explanation of this app from the creator, check out the YouTube video below!
This app is an incredible resource. One of the photos for this app on the iTunes page, shows the creator with a stack of books and decks of cards. This app truly contains everything you need from those decks of speech and language flashcards and word list books you have on your shelf. Have you ever drawn a blank in therapy while trying to give examples of homonyms? Ever had a hard time coming up with words that have "TH" in the medial position? I'm pretty sure we have all been there. Hey, we have a lot on our minds and not a lot of time! Since I work mainly with Prek/non-reading students this year, I have used this app as more of a resource for me. I often refer back to the lists when writing goals or informally assessing a student. For example, the other day I referred to the Prepositions List when working with a new student. However, if you are working with older students, there are so many more ways you could use this app. This app contains narratives your students could read or even use the lists as their own resources when completing assignments.
Another bonus to this app is that you can easily email the lists to parents or teachers. This was perfect last week when I was working on /l/ words in the initial position with one of my students. During the session, I emailed her mom a copy of the words we were working on so she could practice at home!
The only suggestion I would make to the app is the ability to customize lists. Even though you can really narrow these lists down to what you need, it would be nice to create a list for individual students. Other than that, I really don't have any cons regarding this app.
I think this app is amazing and definitely worth the price. You can download this app in the iTunes store here.
You can also enter below to win one of THREE copies of this app!! Big thanks to Home Speech Home for the giveaway!
