Comprehension Aphasia: App Review

Last week, I introduced a freebie that focused on yes/no questions.  This week, I want to introduce you to a great app, Comprehension Aphasia from Virtual Speech Center, that also focuses on increasingly complex yes/no questions and directions. 

When I was first approached about this app, I thought that I would not review it because, "I don't work with people who have aphasia."  Then, I looked at the preview information, and realized that this app will not only work for people with aphasia from a stroke or other brain injury, but it will also work for my students with receptive language difficulties and autism.  So, I downloaded the app, and WOW!  This app is jam packed with was to target both yes/ no questions and following directions.

When you first open the app, you select START, and then select a student you will work with.  You then choose the goal area you would like to target.  You have many, many areas to choose from.

This app includes more than 1,700 pre-recorded audio instructions in these goal areas:

• Yes/No Questions (6 levels of difficulty)
• Basic Directions with 1 Element (12 levels of difficulty) *elements are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and function of objects
• Basic Directions with 2 Elements (12 levels of difficulty) *elements are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and function of objects
• Temporal Directions (18 levels of difficulty) *uses terms before and after
• Conditional Directions (9 levels of difficulty)

After you select your student and goals, you are ready to go!

Here are some screen shots of the different areas:

Yes/No Questions:

 

 

Basic Directions:

 

 

Temporal and Conditional Directions:

 

 

This app keeps data for you and gives a report card for each student.  You may select your report based on the date or activity for each student.

 

 

There is a settings button that allows you to further customize the way you are targeting goals.  There is an option for turning on background noise (choice of three noises) and to control the volume of the background noise. 

 

What do I like?

There was a lot to like about this app.  With 1,700 different pre-recorded instructions, this app will not keep repeating the same trials over and over!  My students were engaged by the real photographs.  I am always looking for new ways to target yes/no questions and following directions with my students with autism, and this was a great app that will focus on these goals.  I also like that the app keeps great data for you.

 

What could improve the app?

If you select more than one goal to work on, the app takes your student through 30 trials of one goal before switching to the next goal.  For some of my students, this is just too many trials for one targeted goal.  I wish there was a way to select how many targets you would like to see in each goal area.

 

Where can you get this app?

This app is available at the iTunes store here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/comprehension-aphasia/id634965865

You can purchase this app right now for a sale price of $15.99.  This sale price will last through 5/14/2013 when it will return to its regular price of $19.99.

 

I was provided a copy of the app by Virtual Speech Center, Inc. for this review.  I was not compensated in any other way for this review.

 

 

Jen