Webber Photo Artic Castle

This post has been reposted with permission from the blog Consonantly Speaking by Jessica Chase.   Check out her blog for more great app reviews.

App Name/Developer: Webber Photo Artic Castle by Super Duper Publications

Do you love using the Webber Photo Artic Decks from Super Duper Publications but don't like always carrying them around with you? Do you want all of the sounds but purchasing all of the decks is too expensive? For the low price of $39.99, Super Duper Publications is giving you sound and blend cards at the word, phrase, and sentence levels plus fun games in app form! Continue reading to learn about what all is included in this great application!

Main Page

The Main Page of this application has five main buttons in a shape of a crown and shields on a castle with a prince and princess. These include: New Session, Continue Session, Quick Play, Players, and Results. There are five additional buttons at the bottom of the Main Page - Settings, Share, Support, Info, and Help.

Info
Pressing the "i" button at the bottom of the Main Page will show information about the app, how it can be used, how to play, credits, and security.

Help
Pressing the "?" button at the bottom of the Main Page will bring the user to a Help list with the headings of - Players and Goals, Start New Session, Games and Activities, Viewing Results, and Quick Play. Press and highlight a topic to view a visual handbook that takes you step by step through the app.

Support
Press the "thumbs up" button to report a bug, offer a suggestion, or rate the app in iTunes.

Share
Press the square button with an arrow to recommend the app via Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail.

Settings
There is only one setting available on the Settings page. This on/off switch allows you to turn on/off Auto Advance between players. If you wish to advance players manually, slide it to "Off". Press "Save" to save the setting.

Players

Before you can begin application play, you must input players to use the application with. To add a player, press the "+" button. Then, type the students' name in the white rectangle. Next, add a goal/multiple goals by pressing the "+" next to the "Add Goal" text. Then, select a sound class or sound from the following:

Class :
Stops
Nasals
Glides
Fricatives
Affricates
Liquids
L-blends
R-blends
S-blends

Sound :
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /w/, /y/, /h/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /sh/, /th/ (voiced), /th/ (voiceless), /ch/, /j/, /l/, /r/, /bl/, /fl/, /gl/, /kl/, /pl/,
/br/, /dr/, /fr/, /gr/, /kr/, /pr/, /tr/, /sk/, /sl/, /sm/, /sn/, /sp/, /st/, or /sw/

Once you tap on a sound or class button, it will bring you to the goal screen. Type in a title for the goal if you wish. Then, choose the response type you wish to target: Imitated (Im) or Spontaneous (Sp). Next, choose the position of the word to practice the sounds in: Initial (I), Medial (M), or Final (F). You can choose more than one. After that, choose the syllableness between 1, 2, and >2 syllables. The next choice is to determine the level(s) in which to practice sounds: Word (W), Phrase (P), or Sentence (S) level. A sliding bar will help you determine the accuracy in which to set the goal at. If you would like, you can then view a word list and photo for each word by pressing on the option and then the word. Finally, you can determine how to score each response (check mark for correct, "x" for incorrect, "~" for approximate, or "C" for cued) by pressing on the icons you wish to show. If you need to know what any button's abbreviation means, press the "Key" button at the bottom of the Goal list. Once all of the settings for the goal have been chosen, press "Done".

You can also use the "Players" list to select a player to view his or her goals and progress from the last 5 sessions. The SLP can also view completed goals, mark a goal as completed, or delete a player from this list.

Start New Session

To begin a new session, choose a player/players from the list. You can select or deselect all using the buttons at the bottom of the page as well. A checkmark will appear next to the user(s) selected to play. Be sure to note that whomever played the application last will be selected. Once you have chosen a player/players, press the "Next" button. Each players' goal to focus on will appear and you can choose a different goal to focus on by pressing "Change Goal" and highlighting the one you wish to focus on. Then, press "Next".

A "Games" list will appear with game names/images on 9 different crests. Choices for games include:

Photo Fun - flashcards with scoring at the bottom of the card

Balloon Pop - press a colored, floating in the air, balloon and an animation of it popping will appear with the number of a card

Duck Derby - press a yellow rubber duck floating on the water and it will squeak. After a word/phrase/sentence is stated and scored, it will move faster on the screen.

Hidden Treasure - press a colored gem and a digging sound will play with the gem appearing larger

Raceway - different colored cars will be shown racing on a track. Press a car to hear it honk and after a word/phrase/sentence is scored, it will drive faster.

Space Explorer - press a spaceship and a sound will play. Then, after the word/phrase/sentence is scored, the spaceship will turn red and zoom away.

Match: Level 1 - match cards on a grid of 4 x 3

Match: Level 2 - match cards on a grid of 5 x 4

On each of the games, when a card or object is pressed, a card with the child's sound on it will appear full-screen to be scored and/or recorded. If you choose to record a word/phrase/sentence, you can play it back and save it as well. Press the "More" button at any time to end the session, view results of the current session, show/hide the recorder, take notes on a student, switch games, or adjust game settings.

Continue Session

Pressing the "Continue Session" button on the Main Page will allow you to continue previously played, non-closed session. Sessions are shown by date/game played. You can close a session by swiping right to left over it. You can continue a session by pressing on it. Finally, to close all sessions, press the "Close All Sessions" button.

Quick Play

If you do not wish to save data but want to begin application play quickly, press the "Quick Play" button. Then, select the phoneme/class to be addressed. Next, select the position of the sound in the word. You cannot choose a level. Finally, choose the game to play. The "Key" button is at the bottom in case you need help. Press the "Start" button once everything is set.

There are still check and "x" buttons to score and you can view the score by pressing the "Score" button; however, data will not save. You also do not have any of the other options of regular gameplay. Press "Home" when done using Quick Play.

Results

You can view a list of students' reports or dates/times saved within the app via the Results page. Press on the person or session date/time you wish to review a report on. If a person is chosen, it will show the goals categorized by month, date, time, amount correct via a percentage and fraction, and a colored bar with the goal marked. View even more information by pressing an individual goal to view the words stated correctly, incorrectly, approximate, and cued. Press the goal to view it as a chart by totals or percentages.

If you choose to view reports by dates, choose a date/time and the student(s) along with their goal(s), and accuracy will appear. You can view an individuals' progress by tapping on his or her name and view further information by pressing the goal.

Press the "More" button at the top of the app to view options for e-mailing, printing, or writing notes on the session. If you choose to e-mail or print a session, it will show as a chart. You can add graphs to the charts by sliding the on/off switch.

What I Like About This Application:

• There are over 3,000 photos/words.
• Games are more motivating than static cards, especially for younger students. There are 9 different games as well.
• You can choose to practice sounds at each students' level.
• Multiple students can use the application at the same time.
• Data collection is recorded within the app and can be e-mailed and/or printed. Multiple students can be saved to the application.
• The application uses animations which are motivating, but for the cards uses mostly real-life photos which are great for carryover.
• The application includes a manual to help users learn how to use the application.

What I Would Like to See in Future Updates:

• The "More" menu is quite a bit long. It might be a better idea to include scoring, recording, and note taking options in the Settings menu to be on/off depending on the game.
• I would like it if an individual student was able to adjust settings to focus on more than one goal at a time without having to change between goals via the "More" button.
• When more than one player is playing one of the Matching games, each person has his or her own Matching game board. It switches between the two games when turns are changed. It would be better if the app could somehow combine the two into one board with all of the childrens' goals so that it is less difficult to recall where cards are. Otherwise, this may be better as a one-player game.
• The arcade games sometimes take a bit to bring up a card after pressing an object. This causes additional time to play and less time practicing sounds. It would be nice if there was less wait time in between pressing an object and bringing up the card.

Therapy Use:

Articulation - The main focus of this application is to work on articulation skills. Choose the sound(s) to focus on, which level to work on the sound, imitated vs. spontaneous, position of the sound in the word, etc. Use the application for quick artic, a fun break from the regular drill, or to work on phrases/sentences. Have students listen to their speech by recording/playing it back.

Fluency/Voice - Have students state the words/phrases/sentences using appropriate fluency/vocal strategies. Have students rate their speech by recording/playing it back.

Expressive Language - Have students create sentences using words from the application.

Receptive Language - Children can describe different images, give definitions for different words, discuss which category a word falls into, talk about what different objects do/actions are in the image, etc.

Price:
Webber Photo Artic Castle is available for the iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone for $39.99. If you would like to trial the application before buying it, you can download the Webber Photo Artic Castle B Sound - Free version which allows you to trial the application using the /b/ sound for free. I understand that compared to many applications, this application is priced high; however, if you think about all that is included in the application and what you are saving compared to the Jumbo Artic Drill Book Volume 3 (which the photos are taken from) and Fun Decks, you are getting a huge deal!

Jumbo Artic Drill Book - $69.95
Artic Photos Fun Decks: Set 1 - $114.99
Artic Photos Fun Decks: Set 2 - $114.98
Say and Do Action Artic Combo Cards - $119.50
Webber Photo Artic Castle: $39.99 (includes data collection, data tracking, word/phrase/sentence levels, all-in-one app instead of carrying around all of the decks, recording, and more!)

Disclaimer:
Consonantly Speaking was given a copy of this application to review. No other form of compensation was given.

Reviewed by:
Jessica Chase
Consonantly Speaking