"What a great app for fostering early language and thinking skills. We gave this app 5/5 Apples, saying, "Tell Me About It! is an ideal blend of professional quality therapy tool and child-friendly, motivational rewards for children with language delays and Autism spectrum disorders." - Apps for Homeschooling: App of the Week March 4, 2012
Editor's Choice, 4.5/5 Stars - Best Apps for Kids: http://bestappsforkids.com/2012/02/tell-me-about-it-learning-language-by-receptive-funtion-feature-category/#
Tell Me About It! Learning Language by Receptive Feature, Function and Category teaches the label, category, function, and features of more than 235 language targets over 6 levels of incremental difficulty. The presentation of each target conforms to an Applied Behavior Analysis program with reinforcement provided by a token economy system. This is a self-contained DT-program that error corrects & provides direct reinforcement to the student while collecting data for up to 10 users. A Student Report Card displays data for each student with an option to email results.
For students with speech and language delays or for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, learning to label an image doesn’t necessarily translate into comprehensive understanding of that word. By breaking down each language target by its category, the function that it serves and its salient features, we offer students the opportunity to fully comprehend and then engage in language. This app is ideal for both home and classroom use.
Categories: Animals, Body Parts, Clothing, Food, Household Items, Dishes, Utensils, Tools, Toys, School Supplies, Sports, Vehicles, Accessories, Furniture, and Musical Instruments.
Levels: The App advances from the basic building blocks of language – simple labeling – all the way through shared features across categories. The Levels presented in incremental difficulty are: Level 1- Labels; Level 2 – Categories; Level 3 – Function; Level 4 – Feature; Level 5 - Randomized Feature, Function, Category; Level 6: Shared Featured, Function, Category.
Teacher’s Console: Teachers and parents can delve into the Teacher’s Console to control the settings for each student by turning the written labels for each language target ON/OFF, selecting a specific token character, selecting the default Level, and choosing a Reinforcement Schedule. There is even a motion that administrators can use while a game is in progress to access the Teacher’s Menu to adjust the settings or view reports. To access the Teacher’s Bar, simply swipe 2 fingers in an upward motion from the bottom of the screen up.
Reinforcement Schedule: This determines how many targets the student must answer correctly in order receive a token and complete a trial session. There is an option for 3, 5, or 10 tokens. This App strives to mimic an actual one-on-one instructional session with a therapist as much as is possible in an application. We determine which targets are defined as mastered by the program in a variety of ways. When answered correctly on the very first presentation, the student receives both a token and verbal praise and that target is considered mastered and not presented again on that level. If the answer is not correct on that first presentation, the target will be reintroduced in subsequent trials and must then be answered correctly on two consecutive presentations to be considered mastered. Error correction is provided by having the correct image flash along with verbal correction when an incorrect answer is given. The App then shuffles the placement of the images, and re-presents the same question. If the student answers correctly on this second attempt, they receive verbal praise only (no token) and then move to another question. Note that your Data sheets will display, in parentheses, how many times each target has been presented so that you are always aware of your student’s progression and where there might be deficits.
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Tell Me About It! FAQ
Is Tell Me About It! free?
Tell Me About It! is not free (it costs 3.99), however it doesn't contain in-app purchases or subscriptions.
Is Tell Me About It! legit?
🤔 The Tell Me About It! app's quality is mixed. Some users are satisfied, while others report issues. Consider reading individual reviews for more context.
What We Liked:
Tell Me About It! is an excellently designed tool for children with special needs. It includes powerful reporting capabilities, allows for multiple children, and the administrative options are all easy to use, set, and adjust at any point in time.
The six levels that increase in difficulty not only teach vocabulary words for language development but go far beyond that by strengthening the thinking skills needed to select items by name, category, function, and feature.
Our family doesn’t currently have a child on the Autism spectrum or one with language/vocabulary development delays, but we still went through this app as a family and I was surprised by how much my children LOVE this app.
The teaching method is a form of multiple choice – asking children to tap certain objects, but the colorful characters and awesome reward animations and sense of progress kept my children going, and going, and going! They asked for turns, watched each other use the app, and eagerly looked forward to earning those tokens!
This really is not only a sound teaching tool, but is also incredibly enjoyable and engaging for children (my 3, 5, and 8-year-olds all enjoy this app).
What We Didn’t Like:
Some of the target words are a bit obscure for younger children – like blazer, but this is the exception rather than the norm.
Overall:
Tell Me About It! is an ideal blend of professional quality therapy tool and child-friendly, motivational rewards for children with language delays and Autism spectrum disorders. The powerful combination of a research-based teaching approach with a wealth of reporting tools and options paired with the colorful token-based reward system that keeps children engaged, make this app a winner.
Not working
App keeps crashing, and won’t let me restart. won’t let me into teacher console
SLP
I think the reinforcement and real images are great! However, I think some of the items are too difficult for children with special needs. I would really love it if I could go in and edit the items in each level. For example, my kids will never need to know what a "screw" is so I would love to omit that one and maybe add more functional vocabulary relevant to their needs. Just a suggestion :)
Not good.
If a student misses an item multiple times it moves on and doesn't go back to remedy or drill/practice that unlearned item. It does not perform mixed drills either but rather just asks to touch an item it randomized, so in other words, it assesses and doesn't really effectively teach. Do not purchase.
Pretty good...
This app is very similar to the receptive language testing I have seen, in that there are images presented and the user has to select the one described. Pros are that the images are pleasant, the reinforcement is good, and the teacher console is really great. Some of the questions are a bit odd, ie "which doesn't have legs?" with choices of a skirt, cup, and hat. One other reviewer had a similar comment. Generally, the questions are good and get more difficult as you move from labeling to categorizing, etc. I think the price is a bit high vs other apps for parents for home use, but it would certainly get its value for use with teachers or therapists using with multiple kids.
Enhancement idea: One thing that would be great would be to be able to exclude certain images from the tokens for kids who have problems with particular images. My son, for example, didn't like the bear and wanted to quit the game every time it came up in random token mode. We could have selected only one token to use, but it would be better to just be able to exclude one or more tokens.
Excellent
Great value, adapts well and stays fresh every time.
Suggested improvement
My son with autism LOVES this app. However, we were both confused about questions on level 6 that ask to select images with a head or neck which displays a hammer, hoe, and an animal. The animal choice is wrong, but misleading. Keep up the good work!
Great Educational App!!
I love using this App for my students! I haven't had any issuE with it on the iPad 2 - it works just fine. The visuals are excellent and my students love the motivational rewards! Great Educational App!
Could be 5 stars, if bugs are fixed!
I am an SLP and loved this app initially, however, now after only a few uses, it crashes in the middle of a session. This happens every time I use it. Don't waste your money unless this is resolved.
Mr
I think this app shows a lot of promise, but needs a bit more work, it would be much better if the teacher could select which targets to to presented to the student at each level as some targets will be more familiar to the student than others, ie dog leash, if you don't have a dog, hot dogs, subway trains, iPod players, at the moment the objects are just presented randomly. I like the report card feature, hope this helps and I hope the developer can add some more features to this app.
