Sunday 30 September 2012

TOmaTO by iBurger Apps Review and Giveaway




 TOmaTO by iBurger Apps is an educational app aimed at children 1-15 years of age. Designed to teach children the names of a variety of fruits and vegetables in three different languages, (English, Spanish, French) TOmaTO is both visually appealing and easy to use.







Users are presented with a large range of real life pictures of both every day and some more unusual fruits and vegetables. Audio recordings of the names are available in all three languages and you are able to change between each language with a tap of the on screen icon. The pictures are high quality and also show the fruit/vegetables name in text.
I would like to hear the audio presented in a more natural sounding voice and I found the pronunciation of the English version a little 'off ' at times ie- Chives pronounced as kives.



 
 Other then this minor issue that I'm sure is easily fixed this app is a great way to familiarise your child with  fruits and vegetables and also different languages.
Pictures can viewed either as a slide show or by your child swiping the screen. Order of pictures can be changed also with the touch of an icon.






Features include

70+ high resolution pictures
3 voices : English, Spanish, French
No advertising
No in-app purchase
Usable in portrait or landscape.
Does not require internet connection 



There has been a lot of media attention lately on the issue of children not knowing the names of some of our most common fruits and vegetables, a by product of  so many foods being sold in packaged form. This app can help with that and also could be used as a visual prompt for our special needs children. My boys learn French at school and have been enjoying using this app to learn the French word for their favourite foods.
Priced at just 99c TOmaTO is both affordable and versatile.
We have 3 codes of this app to giveaway courtesy of iBurger Apps. Please enter via  Rafflecopter below...

iTunes Link


 


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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Visual Attention TherAPPY by Tactus Therapy Solutions - Review and Giveaway


  • $9.99
  • Category: Medical
  • Updated: Sep 14, 2012
  • Version: 1.01
  • Size: 0.9 MB
  • Language: English
  • Seller: Tactus Therapy Solutions Ltd
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS APP PLEASE DO SO VIA THIS LINK - iTunes

Visual Attention TherAppy  is a highly specialised app designed for use by rehab therapists, brain injury survivors and special needs classrooms. I am not a therapist or a teacher so will base this review on my experience as a special needs Mum.
Visual tracking or scanning from left to right across a page is one of the fundamental skills needed for children learning to read. It is also a huge problem for a lot of children with special needs and/or attention deficits.
This app is designed to help your child practice and therefore acquire this skill.



Tactus Therapy Solutions are well known in the app world for their high quality apps, catering to those with special needs. This app is no exception.
There is nothing gimmicky about Visual Attention TherAppy, it is an app with a specific purpose and is designed to be used as a therapy tool. The settings menu offers not only customisation but also the ability to have progress emailed to your selected recipient.







Although this is a specialised app it has a beautifully simple user interface that I had no problems navigating. Upon opening the app you are presented with a screen offering either a test or practice option.
The test option will let you know if there is a problem with scanning or attention and practice will let you hone in on those areas that need improving by way of customising via the settings icon.






You can customise the app to draw attention to known deficit areas by adding a red/yellow or flashing 'line' on required side of page and can also customise the symbols/letters displayed as well as the size and spacing and amount shown.






I have two boys with ASD who both have tracking problems that make reading challenging. Although glasses help relieve eye tiredness, the actual therapy programs offered by behavioural optometrists are extremely expensive and time consuming. At $9.99 Visual Attention TherAppy is a great value alternative that offers proven results.
This app ticks all the boxes for a special needs app. Customization, progress tracking via email and easy user interface.


To discover more apps from the Tactus Therapy Solution Ltd range please visit the following links
Newsletter


Tactus Therapy Solutions have very kindly given us a code to giveaway for this great app. Please enter via rafflecopter below...







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Tuesday 25 September 2012

Sing It Cats by Philippa Riddell - Review and Giveaway





I downloaded this app onto my iPad a couple of days ago and it was very soon discovered by my four year old daughter. I had not had a chance to have a look at the app so was intrigued as to why I have been hearing Miss Four singing what seems to be vocal scales continuously.
Sing It Cats is not your usual children's app. I love it when a developer comes up with something new and this app is a really interesting and fun concept.


Now although I am a music lover I am completely tone deaf and apart from learning the Clarinet in high school not an expert at all in this field so my review is from the perspective of an amateur and parent. Sing It Cats allows you to customise the app for an individual child with the ability to add new users as needed.







I love that this app has an on-screen help button that brings up a quick written tutorial of the user interface. The customizing settings screen is a little harder to understand and I would suggest that playing around with it is the best way to figure it out. Those who are more knowledgeable when it comes to reading music and music terminology would find this a little easier then I did.








So, what does the app do? Sing It Cats was developed with the belief that learning to sight read music is similar to that of reading words/sentences. See, hear, practice, learn.
The app will play a set of notes sung first by an adult, then a child. Your child is then able to record their version either on their own or singing along with the audio. They can then hear back what they have recorded to see if it is the same.




As a special needs app I could see Sing It Cats being a fun way to help kids with auditory processing and their listening skills. It can also just be something fun and different for our little ones. Kids love music and love to hear themselves sing and my daughter is having a fantastic time playing with this app!
Philippa tells me that Sing It Cats is still a work in process with further updates planned for the future. As it is, it is still an interesting and worthwhile addition to your library and at 0.99 is excellent value.


iTunes Link


We have 5 codes for Sing It Cats to give away. Please enter via rafflecopter below....



















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Flow And His Glowing Pebbles - Giveaway





  • Category: Books
  • Released: Mar 05, 2012
  • Version: 1.0
  • Size: 36.3 MB
  • Language: English
  • Seller: Itay Cohen
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.

Giveaway  for 5 codes is open worldwide. 

Description:
This interactive book app is a colourful, engaging voyage filled with magical animations, sounds, music and narration.

Embark on a journey under the sea with Flow the stingray as he collects glowing pebbles on his way home - An Amazing educational and Interactive book for toddlers! 

Features:
* Learn to count from 1 to 10 with interaction and fun animations. 
* Read the story to your young ones or have it narrated and let them discover the interactive fun elements. 


Currently priced at $0.99 in the US iTunes store. Click here if you would like to purchase it now iTunes.


We have 5 codes to giveaway . Please enter via the Rafflecopter link at the end of this page. 

If you would like to download colouring pages of Flow and read more about the creative process behind the app please visit their website  or Facebook page for more information. 








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Monday 24 September 2012

Giveaway for Words on Wheels - An App for Special Needs Children with Autism and Other Speech Delays





















  • Category: Education
  • Updated: Sep 15, 2012
  • Version: 1.1
  • Size: 22.5 MB
  • Languages: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
  • Seller: Excel Heritage Group, Inc.
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Giveaway  for 5 codes is open worldwide. 


Description :


Words on Wheels is a must have app for special needs children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, apraxia, asperger and other speech delays.

It is an unique, fully customized tool to allow children with autism or any other language deficit to easily and effectively communicate their basics needs and wants. It is a replacement of physical PECS and turns an iPad™ into an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device for your child.The application’s main purpose is to let non-verbal children communicate what they want quickly and easily. However, it can also be used as part of a child’s ABA therapy to teach basic language skills.






Features:


• Simple and fun to use through the easy to use, colorful and intuitive user interface.

• Photo and Voice library containing 50 preloaded images representing most common words and 5 empty spaces for your own images. Additional image space can be purchased in packages of 5 ($0.99), 25 ($2.99) and 50 ($4.99) images. There is no limit to number of packages purchased.

• Full customization to your needs, create albums by taking pictures on the fly with camera and record audio in your own, native language. 

• Order of the images is always retained, so kids don't get confused. Ability to erase rows of images and make it simpler for younger age kids (2-5 years old).

• Password protected editing mode for parents to prevent kids inadvertently delating or changing the content. 

***5% of proceeds from Words on Wheels app sales will go to the Autism Society and will help support autism education, awareness, advocacy, research, and most importantly, families living with autism.***


Currently priced at $19.99 in the US iTunes store. Click here if you would like to purchase it now iTunes

Facebook page 

We have 5 codes to giveaway . Please enter via the Rafflecopter link at the end of this page. 





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Sunday 23 September 2012

PictureCanTalk Review


  • Category: Education
  • Updated: 08 September 2012
  • Version: 3.9
  • Size: 23.5 MB
  • Language: English
  • Seller: Benster Tan

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

In App Purchases
Color Coding System - $2.99
Downloader - 99c
Picture Assistive - $17.99
Student List - $2.99

Description

PictureCanTalk helps individuals face with speech challenges to communicate their needs with the use of pictures. You could use it as a PECS or AAC tool.

**Close to 2000 free picture symbols**

Every picture allows
•Recording of personalized voice
•Text To Speech. Synthesized voice supports English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian, German and Chinese Simplified. No internet connection is required.

Communication boards
•Play back voice by tapping picture or "one tap speak all"
•For starter, "I want" board require just a tap on the picture to show on the comm. strip. He/She can progressively move to "3 Pictures", "Sentence Prompt" and free-form mode
•Email comm. strip pictures
•Locate me

Sentence building and prompting
•Build preset picture sentences
•"Sentence Prompt" strip to prompt and teach sentence construction
•'Fill in the blanks' feature

Multiple page sets/templates/boards
•Customize your own types of board e.g. Categorized, Theme or Topic Based, T.A.L.K., Core Vocabulary, etc.
•Use 'swipe gesture' on scrollable strip or 'button tap' on template index to navigate the templates
•Sort images by drag and drop
•Export template to PDF file for printing and email

Image editing capabilities
•Crop, Resize, Flip and Rotate
•Several built-in symbol sizes
•Define own crop size

Text to image
•Type in text and save as pictures
•Choose font, size and color
•Create "sight" or any words

Games feature that is beneficial cognitively
•Comes with color, shapes, numbers and alphabets
•Customize any number of identification and matching games and exercises
•Personalized voices for praises and encouragements

Features:

I Want:

Set up your 'MyCatalog' .  You have the "sentence starter" i.e. I want, I need will stay fixed to the sentence strip, and the user will just need to tap or swipe at a card to send it to the sentence strip.  i.e. to say "I want + water", the user will only have touch the "water" symbol- the "I want" symbol remains on the strip in this mode.  If you want to change the sentence starter, tap the the dimmed button to the left of the strip, with 3 grey lines to change to another sentence starter you had created in the past.

3 Pictures:
You can add any 3 pictures (or more) from your collection located in the AppCatalog, MyCatalog or Photo Library to make a sentence.

Game Set:
Helps our children cognitively and comes with color, shapes, numbers and alphabets or in fact any images from the AppCatalog or My Catalog.

AppCatalog:
Comes with 80 different folders from Alphabet and Numbers - to -  Work and School Timetable, with many photos in each category.

My Catalog:
My Catalog allows you to build up your own folders and put your own photos from your inbuilt camera or via email or by dropbox.

In App Purchase:













.

Options:
Backup/Restore/Bulk Upload/Print List
Settings
Others