{Review} Stars in Her Eyes

One of my favorite aspects about the field of speech-language pathology is that it is a career in which an SLP never stops learning.  When I was asked to review Stars in Her Eyes, I never knew just how much I would learn about an area that I felt I knew a good deal about already!  This book doesn't just present facts about autism, it brings personal stories to the forefront and gives the reader a different perspective than they likely have ever had before when working with children with autism.

Dr. Linda Barboa brings together thoughts, experiences, and advice from speech pathologists, teachers, and parents of children with autism in a book that highlights the following areas:

* the basics (diagnostic process, demographics, causes, prognosis)
* red flags (communication, sensory issues, social skills)
* knowing your team members (educational professionals, medical professionals, community, the parents' role)
* interventions (behavioral interventions, programs based on learning theories, biomedical interventions)
* schools (choosing a school, programming)
* resources (knowing your rights, respite care, camps, funding)
* home life (self-care, disruptive behaviors, family life, relationships)

What I love most about this book is its structure and the advice from those who have spent so much of their time working with children with autism.  Topics begin with information from Dr. Barboa.  This ranges from general information to personal experiences.  Then, each of the contributing authors add their own experiences and advice in a perfect collaboration.  It feels more like a conversation than a typical book, yet the insight from the authors is invaluable for other parents, teachers, therapists, and anyone who works with a child with autism.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone working with a child with autism for interesting insight and advice.

To find out more about this book, please visit the Tate Publishing website.


Disclaimer:  This item was given to me for review.  No other compensation was provided.  The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

{Review} Minimal Pairs Academy

I'm excited to share yet another comprehensive, go-to app with you from Smarty Ears, called Minimal Pairs Academy!  This app is designed to help children with phonological sound disorders improve their speech sound production skills.  Both listening and discrimination abilities are addressed in this app that uses targets at the word and phrase levels.

First, you can adjust the settings if needed to customize the app for the student(s) that you are using it with.

Add individual players as you'd like.  This app can be used with up to four players at one time.

Next, select the goals that each student will be working on.  Examples of target areas include:

- cluster reduction (/l/, /r/, /s/)
- deaffrication
- final consonant deletion (broken up into various sounds)
- final devoicing
- fronting
- gliding
- initial consonant deletion
- prevocalic voicing
- stopping (broken up into various sounds)

Here, I've selected velar fronting to be the target.

There are four different ways that a student can work on their goal area.  First, is auditory bombardment where a student listens to a word and finds the picture to match the word.

Next, is auditory discrimination, where a student must choose the picture to match a verbally stated word that highlights the difference between the minimal pair productions.

Then, there is production practice where the child must say the targeted word.  The minimal pair appears on the other card, but if the student produces the targeted word correctly, then there is no need to discuss the other flashcard.

Finally, phrase completion allows a student to pick between two words to complete the phrase.

One of my favorite parts of this app is the detailed data collection.  For each task, the app tracks the following:

- process targeted
- correct answers with and without cues
- session length
- number of participants
- overall accuracy
- task type

Talk about detailed data collection!!

What I love about this app:
- The data collection is my favorite part of this app.  I love that I can focus on giving my undivided attention to the student(s), instead of also trying to collect data at the same time.
- With 25 different phonological sound disorder target areas, this is an extremely comprehensive app that targets a wide range of speech sound errors.
- With four different tasks to target errors, this app can be used with students with varying skill levels.

You can find this fantastic app to target phonological sound disorders for $19.99 HERE!  OR... You can enter the rafflecopter giveaway below for a chance to win a free copy of the app!!!


Disclaimer: This item was given to me for review.  No other compensation was provided.  The opinions expressed here are solely my own.


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{Review} iPractice Verbs

Here's yet another great app from Smarty Ears!  iPractice Verbs allows children to practice present tense verbs, present progressive verbs, regular past tense verbs, and irregular past tense verbs at the word, phrase, and sentence levels.

Before you get started, I highly recommend watching the tutorial.  It only takes a few minutes and teaches you valuable features of the app.

Here you can adjust the settings and add a new player.

By clicking on "modify database", you can choose regular or irregular verbs to work on and/or choose the individual verbs that you would like to target.

Then you're all set to add your players.

You can choose between flashcards and "find it" which includes locating a specific picture to match a verb in a field of four pictures.

Next, it's time to choose the verb tense and determine if you'd like to work on the verb at the word, phrase, or sentence level.

Here is an example of the flashcard option.  This part of the app provides basic drilling practice.

Here is the "find it" option where students must determine which picture best matches the sentence provided.

Data collection is a snap because the app takes care of it for you!

The app also provides 16 different verb tense homework sheets that can be sent home with the child.

What I love about this app:
* It provides homework!  Just print out the homework for the student and wa-la!
* You can select the individual words that you'd like to target, so you can include specific words that you've been working on with the student or new ones that you'd like to introduce.
* It targets present tense verbs, present progressive verbs, regular past tense verbs, and irregular past tense verbs at the word, phrase, and sentence levels, which allows for differentiation and a lot of practice no matter what level the child is at.

You can find this awesome verb app for $9.99 HERE!!  OR... You can enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below for a chance to win a free copy of this app!


Disclaimer:  This app was given to me for review.  No other compensation was provided.  The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

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{Review} Preposition Remix

If I had a dollar for each student on my caseload that is currently working on prepositions, I'd be rich!  (Ok, well not rich necessarily, but it could probably fund my need for a Starbucks beverage on a daily basis!)  While prepositions are used so often in our everyday lives, they can be very difficult for children with language disabilities to understand.  Luckily, Preposition Remix by Smarty Ears makes it much easier for students to learn and practice these concepts.

Preposition Remix targets 20 different concepts with easy to interpret pictures that represent each direction word.  The concepts that are targeted in this app include:

* above

* behind

* below

* beside

* between

* closest to

* furthest

* in

* in front of

* in the middle

* inside

* near

* next to

* on

* on top of

* out

* outside of

* to the left

* to the right

* under

To begin using this app, choose which concept words you'd like to target, select the reinforcement (voice feedback vs. a tone), and customize various details of the app to make sure that it is individualized for each student.

This app starts out like most other Smarty Ears apps - select your avatar/picture and add your player(s).

Now, you're ready to begin because the app is so simple and user friendly!  In the following three pictures, the concepts "on", "below", and "furthest" are targeted.  Students must point to the picture that most accurately reflects the sentence that targets the concept word. 

Here is an example of the reinforcement once the student gets a question correct.

Once the student is done with the app for the day, the adult can collect data on the session.  (No pesky data collection during sessions!)

What I love about this app:

- It can be customized for the concept targets that a student is specifically working on.

- It is simple and straight forward.  I watched the tutorial and was able to easily use the app in less than five minutes.

- It collects data for you, allowing you to focus on teaching/modeling/prompting the student throughout the session.

You can find this awesome app to target 20 different concepts for $9.99 HERE!

OR.... You could also enter for a chance to win a copy!!!  I'll be giving away one free copy of this awesome app.  Enter the rafflecopter giveaway below for a chance to win!

Disclaimer:  This item was given to me for review.  No other compensation was provided.  The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

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