Seasonal Directions: App Review

Seasonal Directions from Virtual Speech Center is the newest app that targets auditory comprehension of increasingly longer one step and multi step unrelated directions. A skill that is need by so many students!

 

As the name suggests, the activities are focused around the four seasons. Therefore, you are not only addressing following directions, but you are able to address vocabulary surrounding the seasons.

 

Students are rewarded with an engaging snowball game where they have to throw snowballs at the passing snowmen.  The game can be deactivated or set to appear after a certain number of trials.

 

 

Each season has 10 levels of one step directions and 3 levels of multi step directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I would like:

• I would really like the option to have text so that this app can be used for reading comprehension tasks for older children.
• A record option would allow students to repeat instructions and work on expressive language skills.
• The ability to adjust settings during play would also be useful. Often I find that the noise level is too loud or the task is to easy/difficult for the child. In order to make any adjustments, you have to exit the task and start from the beginning.
• Additional levels of multi-step directions would also add depth and scope to this app for a larger age range.

 

What I like:

• The one step directions target a variety of different concepts. This allows you to see where the child is breaking down.
• The ability to add background noise creates a more realistic experience for following instructions. There are three different types of noise to choose from (traffic noise, birds tweeting and white noise) and the volume can be adjusted so that the student can learn to cope in increasingly challenging environments.
• The reward game can be enabled/disabled, but students of all ages enjoyed throwing snowballs at the snowmen.
• As with all the Virtual Speech Center apps, data is saved and can be accessed  by the activity or the date. Results can be printed or emailed which allows easy monitoring of progress.

 

Seasonal Directions is available on the App Store  for $24.99

 

Thank you to Virtual Speech Center for providing me with a copy of the app for review. All opinions are my own.