Bottom Line: Designed for speech-language pathologists and parents to target early language development and verb tense, Key Verbs with Steffy & James is priced right for use by all kids. The graphics are phenomenal, and with a large number of target verbs, it’s great for grammar and sentence expansion in therapy. A must-have for SLPs in early childhood education!
Download Key Verbs with Steffy & James by tapping our download button. Then we can say you tapped and downloaded this fantastic app for early language development (iPad/iPhone, $1.99):
____________________________________________________________________________
External links to App Store and email are in locked parent area.
____________________________________________________________________________
We reviewed Key Word Kids on both Smart Apps for Kids and Smart Apps For Special Needs, and it’s a great therapy app. Key Verbs with Steffy & James is just as fantastic in design and graphics, and it costs significantly less, making it accessible to all who could benefit from its use.
Key Verbs with Steffy & James teaches action verbs, like walk, eat, kick, fix and hop. Each verb is narrated in present tense, present progressive (as in “he is walking”) and past tense forms. There are multiple characters performing the actions, too, including Steffy and James as well as animals, grown ups and a baby.
Opening Key Verbs with Steffy & James brings up a home screen featuring an original verb-themed song. It’s easy to start game play by pressing the play button. The home page also has buttons for settings, additional apps and general app info. Any external links (to the App Store and to email) are protected by a much more interesting parent lock than typically seen. This lock requires reading and association, but when it’s always the same and only three choices, it is still possible for kids to randomly guess and gain access.
There are some great setting options available, including turning on/off sound effects, voice and background sound. These are great options to have available, but even with all sound on, this app isn’t irritating at all. The music is only on the home screen and is quite pleasant for young children. The sound effects are well designed and not overpowering, and seem to really support the app play.
After pressing play, one of several background screens pops up, featuring one character. Lots of bubbles float around the screen, with three bubbles showing a small preview of an action completed by the current character. The user pops one bubble to choose the desired action. The remaining bubbles then disappear and the action word is narrated in the present tense. The character then begins to perform the action and narrates it in the present progressive with the correct pronoun (he, she or it).
After a few rounds of action, the character stops moving, and the past tense verb is narrated, including the pronoun. The bubbles then return to the screen for the next action choice. After all three action bubbles are popped, a new verb set appears on a new scene.
After several different verb sets, a reward game is offered. These three games are simple in design, yet still quite appealing. They are definitely well designed for the target population. Pop as many balloons as possible in the given time, but don’t pop the red balloons. The other games are a little simpler: just tap the paint drops to splash the paint all over, or tap fireworks to watch them explode and crackle. All three options (as well as “No Game”) are available every time the reward games appear. I like that the user can select a favorite game every time if desired.
There are two game modes available from the action screen, accessed by tapping the pause button at the top. The test mode pauses after the action is completed to ask the user what happened. This is a good mode when the app is used in a therapeutic or learning context: as the app pauses and asks the question, the adult can cue the child to respond. After a response, tap the play button to hear the past tense verb narrated and the game continues.
The second mode doesn’t pause, and is good for kids playing alone or not at the expressive level where they will be able to express the past tense verb. The game simply continues from the present progressive to the past tense without stopping. Also on the pause menu, the user can return to the home screen or skip the current verb set.
Overall, the quality of this app is high, especially given the low cost. There are a few things I’d like to see added or changed, but for the price, one can hardly complain. It would be nice to be able to choose the reward games from either the home menu or the action pause screen. Sometimes I use apps within a group therapy setting, and the reward games would make it difficult to let everyone have a turn playing. In addition, they are motivating for some kids and would be great to use even for kids who aren’t targeting verb tense or early expressive language.
It would also be great to have the option to target “they” as well by having some actions performed by more than one character at a time. In addition, I wanted to have the game settings available on the actual game screen, too. I might want to suddenly turn off the narration, but in order to do so I’d have to return first to the home screen, turn it off in settings, then return to the action screen.
In addition, it would be nice to be able to specify past tense regular or irregular verbs. It would be easier to use with my older students then, who likely have mastered regular past tense but continue to need support for irregular past tense. The option to select a particular set would be a welcome addition.
Overall, I can’t believe this app is only $1.99! It’s an amazing addition to my therapy app toolbox, and I highly recommend it for all speech-language pathologists and early education teachers, along with parents of children ages 1-5 (and older children targeting verbs).
***
Heather H. would like today's actions to include sleep, nap, rest and relax. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a priority review fee to complete this review in an expedited manner.
Comments