Love It & List It Linky: {Articulation Apps to Motivate Older Students}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This month’s linky party topic over at Speech Room News is Artic Apps.  

By the time many students reach middle school, coming to the speech therapy room to  practice articulation goals is usually not that high on their “fun things to do” list! Let’s face it, these kiddos have been practicing their speech sounds forever it seems!  Yet,  often times they still require our assistance and that final push to get them closers to attaining their goals before we feel comfortable releasing them from our services.    This is when I often find it necessary to pull out all the stops–find something interesting, motivating and exciting enough to reach the challenging “tween”  psyche.    Right off the bat, I am usually able to grab their interest simply by stating that we are going to use the iPad and check out some cool apps.  But to really keep them coming back for more, it helps if the apps are somewhat entertaining, allow for creative verbal expression, not too babyish and offer a bit of  humor.    So here are a few that I have had success utilizing in articulation therapy.  They are not all necessarily your traditional artic apps, but they still get the job done, especially when addressing the conversational level as well as for self-monitoring.

 

 

1-  Multiple Choice Articulation by Erik X. Raj ($4.99)-–need I say more???  If it’s created by Erik you know you are in for a fun experience!  This app addresses multiple sounds in all positions by asking fun and creative questions with a “What would you rather…” prompt.   A couple of crazy options are presented using the target sound  (i.e.”Would you rather wash your hair with pancake syrup or soggy breakfast cereal?” ) Yes, they are somewhat goofy and far-fetched, but that’s what keeps it interesting.  And for as silly as the questions are, it does get your students thinking creatively for an answer they can justify. Perfect for the middle-school mind!

 

2–Open-Ended Articulation ($4.99) is another gem from Mr. Raj, similar in fashion to Multiple Choice Articulation.  Each screen asks an open ended, out of the ordinary question which requires a creative response.  i.e. “If I had to eat lunch underwater, I would….. Why?”   Many of the open-ended cues span many age/grade levels so you will definitely get plenty of use out of this app.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3–Make Dice-$2.99—Not exactly a traditional artic app, but the possibilities are endless when you have blank dice to play with!   I enter words with my students target sound onto each side of the dice and require them to create a good sentence  using  the word they land on.  Add a second die with additional words containing their sound and challenge them to use both words to create a good sentence.  Throw in a third die with the numbered dots to earn points for good responses or require them to name as many words with their sound depending on the number they roll.  The possibilities are really endless.    The dice make realistic dice rolling sound effects when you tap on the arrow button on the screen.   It’s a fun way of playing a dice game that isn’t babyish or boring.  And the best part—save the dice you have created and use them with other students or later therapy sessions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4—AFV (Americas’ Funniest Home Videos) (FREE! )Laughter and humor are always great motivators!  This app has tons of short video clips to chose from.  Play a clip for your kiddos and watch how engaged they become!  Ask them to recap the events that occurred in the clip while using good self-monitoring skills.  The kids get so wrapped up in WHAT  they are recalling in the funny video clip,  that they often forget to self-monitor.  Why is this a good thing? Because it’s a great way to catch them a little “off guard”  and make them realize that they need to really think about using good speech productions even when they are having fun!

So there you have it, a few of my favorite articulation apps for use with older students.  Do you use any of these with your big kids?  Do you have any other suggestions?  I’d love to hear your feedback.  Check out Jenna’s linky party over at Speech Room News for some other great apps to use in your speech room!