Review: Flow Free and Follow Me Free

Today's review is of two apps that I have really enjoyed for following directions, memory and attention.  Flow Free and Follow Me Free are two very similar apps that are fun and great for working on several different areas.

Flow Free is a maze-like app that I love for working on problem solving and following directions.  There are pairs of dots in various colors that you have to connect while taking up a whole grid and they cannot cross each other.  Most of my kids can't do this on their own, but we work on counting the number of spaces and following locational directions.  Usually good for a good 5 to 10 minutes of direction-following-fun!

Follow Me Free is very similar but works on memory as well as following directions.  Very similar to Flow Free, dots appear on the screen and move to their end point, then the player has to retrace the dot's path.  You have to really pay attention and remember the path that the dots take.  Usually I have my kids follow one dot, and I will do the other to take some of the pressure off.  You can rewatch the moves as many times as necessary, and this is a good way to track improvements in memory and attention by looking at how many times they need to watch before they are able to replicate it.  I will often also use this for following directions by remembering the path and verbally guiding them.

Both are very simple games that provide a lot of complex skills.  I have also given these to parents as home practice and they have gone over well, especially as they are free.  Just another great couple of apps to add to your repertoire!

App Review: Line up

A the moment I have a lot of kids working on following directions and understanding basic concepts and Line Up is great for working on these issues.  This free app addresses patterns, following directions, colors, and size.  It's super cute as each pattern shuffles out and a white one walks in through the upper door.  Next you select what color (2 or 3 depending on the level) and size (at more advanced levels) and your person slides down the pole to join his buddies.  My kids will usually stay engaged for about 10 minutes, which is about as long as I would want to target this, so it's perfect.  I love the concept, the ability to choose difficulty level, and pattern work is something that can be boring for a lot of kids so this app can be very useful.  With some younger kids I also this for following directions and as a fun introduction to patterns and how to figure out "what comes next?"  

Give Line Up a try and I would also recommend any other apps that busy things comes up with, they are always well made, fun, and educational.

App Review: Toddlers Cubed

Toddlers Cubed is a great app for very young children, or clients with Autism.  Is fantastic for cause and effect and requesting.  There are six rows of cubes that change colors when touched and play a music note.  When it is not touched for a while it will randomly initiate random cubes.

The clients I see love this app and will request for music when they see my Tablet.  It is very simple and may be a great reward for a children under the age of 3.  I generally let them play with it for 30 seconds and then request a turn and them have them request a turn for themselves, so pragmatics/turn-taking can also be targeted with this app.

Also, with St. Patrick's day around the corner I've been keeping an eye out for related games, so far this rainbow color music app is about as close as I've come.

Review: Zebra Paint a free Android app with SLP therapy applications

Here is a review of Zebra Paint, a great app that I use frequently in my sessions.  This is a great coloring app that has lots of great uses.  I use it as a reward, as a subject for language enrichment for working on colors, requests, and following directions.

The app, shown below, has a color strip on the left side where you can add almost any desired color using the palette symbol at the bottom. There are 40 different pictures available ranging from space and nature to cars and dinosaurs.  To color you just touch the color and then touch the area to color and it will fill the area.  This makes for a quick coloring activity, especially for the kids that tend to be very slow or meticulous and have difficulty finishing paper coloring within the reward time left in the session.

If I am using this app for language I generally have children request the drawing they want and have them describe the picture as well as the colors that they are planning to use.  For directions, I will tell the kids that I am not very good at coloring and ask them to color the picture for me following directions of 1, 2 or 3 steps to color it.  This can also address part/whole relationships by asking them to color the wheel of the car/truck, the wing of the airplane, etc...  This is another app that can be easily paired with Skitch by saving your picture.  You could easily tackle "What's wrong" by coloring sky and water odd colors, such as making blue trees and red grass, experiment with it and see what you can come up with!

There are lots of ways to use this creative app that is fully functional on many Android platforms.  Even if you don't have a tablet, this one worked quite well on my Android smart phone as well, which was my main platform before I purchased my Galaxy Tab.  

I hope that this gives you some good ideas for how this app could be incorporated into a language therapy session.  It is simple, quick, and easy to use, and best of all... it's  FREE!  If you come up with any other creative uses or if you try it and like it please comment with you're experiences.