Both of these apps are beautifully presented and meet IEP Goals and Common Core Standards.
Talk About It: Objects There are two versions of this app- the Pro $10.49 for therapist and a single version for one student. The pro version allows you to track up to 30 students. This app concentrates on Narrative Language.
Talk about it objects-home $5.99. Home HD. The app begins with a spinner that randomly lands on an object. Next you are provided with four sentences that can be read or listened to. Students need to choose a sentence that gives information about the piano. You are given three groups of sentences. The student chooses one sentence for each group. Upon completion you are shown the sentences. Ideally the student tries to remember their choices to increase their working memory and word retrieval skills. The app offers four strategies to help remember the sentences: what goes with it, what you would do with it, what category is it and what colors could it be. Students record the information they remember. Within the settings, you can increase the number of guess boxes. This app is designed for children ages 6-12, but can be adapted to younger and older users. It is perfect for children who need practice with defining, describing, vocabulary development, explaining, and understanding salient features about an object or place. It also offers an excellent way to integrate articulation and fluency practice!
Common Core Standards:
ELA- Speaking and Listening. Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly
Montessori-numbers for kids $1.99- Great for ages 4-7, beautifully presented with four apps built into one: Counting 1-20, Quantity- broken down using number 1-9,10-99, 100-999-using place value, Numerals- finding number independently- 1-9, 10-99, 100-999 and Numerals based on quantity using unifix cubes. The app has a three-dimensional quality -- as you touch a unifix cube, it is highlighted giving the feeling of actually touching the cube. Within the settings you can change the voice and language, say numbers, time limit. This is an excellent numbers app -it's user friendly, differentiates instruction, has an audio component without a “computerized voice,” has the ability to change the unifix cubes to cupcakes, flowers, cars, etc., and the developer has built in the alignment with the Common Core Standards.
Common Core Standards:
Counting and Cardinality. Operations and Algebraic Thinking. Note that even if operations are implicit in this app, the child learns addition and subtraction by adding and removing beads, and learns strategies to add and subtract mentally.
Number & Operations in Base Ten. The app is great to deal with place value.
Vicki Windman is a special education teacher at Clarkstown High School South.
