App Review: YouTalk AAC

First a short disclaimer:  I was not compensated in any way for this review and it was a free app, so I simply downloaded it and tried it out.  I was recently contacted by the developers of YouTalk AAC and asked to review their free AAC app.  I am very impressed with this simple and easy to use AAC app.

The first thing you have to do is make sure that you have a text to voice generating app such as "IVONA Text-to-Speech HQ" which they recommend on their page.  This is the one that I used and its quite good as the basic female voice.

Next you can choose either the YES/NO board which is instantly available, or create your own 3x3 board.

There are only a few slight issues: there is a little distortion of the pictures if they are not the same size as the tiles, but my kids didn't seem to notice this.  I could have done a little cropping and made them fit better, but they worked well.  Each button is large and when pressed it says whatever text you programmed.  It has the capability to store up to five boards that you program, I did notice that sometimes when switching between back to the first grid it will show the pictures as very tiny, if I hit the home button and then go back in this immediately corrects itself.  This may just be an problem with my tablet, and the other grids appear to load just fine.

This is a very easy to use app that is great when you need something quick, or something that parents can easily use at home.  It is very simple to edit and although the grids are static, there is a lot of versatility as you can choose to put buttons on any or all of the spaces.  The YES/NO board is also simple and quick to use making it very convenient when working in therapy, or if parents are out with their children.  I love that you could quickly take a picture and add it in if new choices or objects were around, very good for when our clients are out in the world, or when the therapist needs to add something quickly.

Overall, very good  app that is easy to use and does its job well with a few small bugs that are easy to get around.  If  issue of switching between grids were fixed (may just be my galaxy tab) and there were a way to crop the pictures first it would be perfect! I highly recommend that you give it a try.

App Review: Burger by Magma Mobile

Recently I have a lot of kids needing to improve memory and following directions and Burger is just the game to get them started.  There is a timed mode, which for all but the highest kids is too much pressure, however the un-timed "burger creator" mode has been wonderful!

There are lots of options and they are fairly familiar, so my kids don't need long to get familiar.  We generally refer to the bun as "bottom" and "top" and the actual burger patty as "meat" and the kids seem to pick this up quickly.  I have been using this game to build some memory for 2 and 3 words as some of my kids have an especially difficult time with remembering and repeating as well as executing the directions.  

This game has been a motivating and fun way to work on some of these memory/directions skills that my kids tend to avoid.  A way that they love to play it is we take turns taking orders for the other person, this way not only are they following directions but giving them as well.  I sometimes throw in a wrong item, just to make sure that they are paying attention to how I follow their directions.

Overall, great game that is a fun way to work in some extra memory practice and is generally good for at least 5 minutes of sustained interest before changing to something else, some of my kids even enjoy this as a reward and don't even realize that we're still working!

SuperDuper App Sale

Just a heads up to everyone, Super Duper is having a sale until tomorrow on their apps.  They have a lot of good card decks that can be used to target several different areas.  I often use the past tense deck for identifying actions and describing pictures as well.

Check out their offerings for a lot of different apps!