Describe It To Me App Review

We are happy to say that Smarty Ears has put out another awesome app!  This one is called Describe It To Me, and it is a fun game show themed app for working on receptive and expressive language skills with our students. Describe It To Me presents a variety of questions designed to help students build a deeper understanding of everyday items.  For example, each picture shown has six questions surrounding it to help the student think about 1) what category the item should be in, 2) what function the object has, 3) what parts the object has, 4) where the object can be found, 5) what it looks like, and 5) it also gives the student a chance to tell you what else he or she knows about the object shown. 

On the opening page the user has the opportunity to quickly go back to iTunes, read about the app, contact Smarty Ears for app support, and to see a video tutorial of how to use the app. Very helpful!

By clicking on PLAY the user can go to the SELECT PLAYER page.  All players are added here.  The user can enter a picture from their picture library or use an avatar photo to go with the students name.

After selecting one player or even up to 5 players from the player screen or the Therapy Report Center, get ready, uh, uh, (I'm clearing my throat right now to get ready to say this in my loud game show voice...)          

IT IS TIME TO PLAY!

A colorful object will appear on the screen after an user is selected from the fun game show style spinner. Choose to work on receptive skills (shown on the left) by swiping your finger up the TV volume button to R and/or choose to work on expressive skills by moving the button down to the E. Choose to work on category naming, object function, object parts, location, visuals, and "extras" by swiping the button on the top of the page. Extra chances are given to find the correct answers.  A cool ribbon comes out to show correct choices!

    

Click on DONE to get to the REPORT CENTER.  This is where one can see the report cards and even the awards that can be collected during the playing of the app after the child has gotten ten questions in a row correct.  This is a fun and creative way to award the players for their hard work!

Click on the HOMEWORK SHEETS button to find a large variety of worksheets that can be printed out on a printer or sent to your email to be printed out for students to do in the same therapy session or to take home for follow-up practice.  LOVE THIS!!!



Comments:

• Great app, but may be best for older kids that can read (as I had to do for this second grader).  Not a big deal, but if you were looking for an app that required independence with the younger crowd, this app would not meet that need.
• Colorful pictures. In fact, it provides over 160 clear pictures.
• Great for group therapy sessions as it can accommodate 1 to 5 users at a time.
• Provides terrific homework sheets that help to increase the student's understanding of the objects presented during the app.
• A large amount of goals can be targeted in both the receptive and expressive language areas.
• Data can be collected for each student and stored in the Therapy Report Center.  Very nice for the busy SLP who can later access the data for progress note or IEP writing!
• Easy app to navigate.  It is not complicated at all. 
• A wonderful app for helping a child increase receptive and expressive language skills!
• Super fun theme.  Creative!!!

Have fun trying out this app everyone.  I would suggest that you go buy it for your own iPad today.  While you are at the iTunes store, you should just grab a few other Smarty Ears apps.  Why not?!  You will use them!They are even having their summer sale right now and many of their apps are only 4.99!

Describe IT To Me is currently $4.99 in the iTunes store.

Best wishes,

Manda & Shanda, SLP's

Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy

Find out more at the SMARTY EARS WEBSITE!