Describe It To Me: App Review and Giveaway

Smarty Ears has done it again! They have just come out with a new app called Describe It To Me.

I am constantly looking for ways to work on describing with my students. I am hoping to purchase the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) system this fall, and this app seems to fall right in line with that way of thinking.

Developed by a speech-language pathologist, Describe It To Me is a game that is designed to help improve both receptive and expressive language skills, specifically in the area of describing items.

To begin this app, you first add and select the players. You can add your own players or you can import players from Therapy Report Center if you use it.

While you are selecting players, you can also change the settings of the app. You can choose to change what happens when students get an incorrect answer, what to do when a student gets a correct answer, choose whether or not to display points, use the spinner, and also customize words used.
Next, you will be able to start the game!

Players are shown on the spinner on the left. You will have to select which player is answering the questions. There are two ways to play this game, receptively and expressively.

Receptive
There are six question types that allow students to answer the questions with multiple choice answers. You choose the types of questions asked. You could do 10 in a row of the same question with different pictures, or you can do the whole set of questions with the same picture. It is your choice. The questions are as follows:

Category
"What category is it in?"

Function
"What does it do, or what do we do with it?"

Parts
"What parts does it have?"

Location
"Where can we find it?"

Visuals
"What can I see?"

Extra
"What else do I know?"

When you get an answer correct, you can get a ribbon on the screen.

Expressive
When you work on the expressive part of this app, the questions are the same, there just aren't any choices. Instead, there is a button that allows the SLP to choose if the student answered the question correctly, almost there, or incorrectly. This is the way the data is collected for this part of the app.

When you are finished playing (you decide how long to go), you can press done and go to the report center to view your data. A report card looks like this:

You can email this data, print it, send to a variety of apps, or also send to the Therapy Report Center.

There is also an area for students to earn different trophies for answering questions correctly.

There is a button on the report center for homework. This is an awesome part of this app! There are 34 different homework pages. The homework includes the following areas:
Category (matching)
Circle (multiple choice)
Eliminate (cross out from multiple choice)
Find Six (list six words in a category)
Function (matching)
Location (matching)
Part (matching)

What do I like about this app?
This app is exactly what I needed to reinforce my word on describing words. I have several students who are working on this exact skill. I love that you are able to customize the questions. Some days, I may want to just focus on the function of objects. This app would allow me to do just that. I also like that you can work with multiple choice or without. This gives great opportunities to discover if the student knows the information receptively, and if they can express the information without any written cues. I also love the homework that is available.

What would make this app even better?
I would like it if there was an option to make the multiple choice answers read out loud. I would not want it on all of the time, but there would be times when students may need the answers read to them to be more independent with the app. I would normally read the answers to students if needed, but if they are using the app independently, it would be difficult for non-readers. I also wish there was an option to have the spinner automatically pick a student after each trial of a question. Right now the only way to change the student is manually.

Overall, I think this is a great app that I am going to be using a lot! I tested it out on my 5 and 6 year old boys, and they thought it was cool. Neither of them have language impairments, and were able to complete the activities, and had to think a little bit, especially with the expressive questions.

You can get Describe It To Me at the iTunes store for $9.99.

UPDATE!!!
***July14-21, 2013: This app is on sale for $4.99- a great bargain!

You can try the lite version of this app for free HERE.

You can also have a chance to win a copy here with a Rafflecopter giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This app was provided to me for purposes of this review. No other compensation was provided.

Jen