Let's Be Social! ~ App Review

Recently, I had a new pragmatic student hop on my caseload.  Weirdly enough, I haven't had many students who work on social skills in my few years of working, and I realized I desperately needed some materials for this area.  When Everyday Speech offered for me to review their app Let's Be Social, I jumped at the chance.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this app, but the opinions are all my own. :)

This app allows you to teach problem solving, forming friendships, recognizing emotions, and predicting outcomes using 25 illustrated lessons.

You can choose lessons in 5 areas of pragmatic skills: personal interactions, navigating the community,  school behavior, handling change, and social relationships.

To get started, tap on the lesson you'd like to teach.  

You'll see a social story with a colorful visual.  Tapping "start" will bring you to questions for the student to answer about the story.  You can even add your own questions to the story.

The questions are multiple choice, and the responses are immediately reinforced as to whether they are correct or incorrect.

You also have the option to add your own lesson or skill set!  To add a skill set tap on "add skill set" on the left hand column and type in the category of skills you'd like to address.

To add a lesson in a given category, tap on the "add lesson" icon and create the lesson you'd want to add.  

After adding the information for the lesson, you are prompted to add the questions of your choosing.

Cool, right?  I happen to love this capability.  Once it's created, your icon is created and you can proceed through just like the rest of the social stories.

You can grab Let's Be Social from iTunes for $14.99 HERE.  

What I dig about this app:

• It's easy to navigate.  Prompts and labels are all throughout, making it easy to find and create what you need.
• You can add your own lessons and questions.  This is a biggie!  Not many apps have this type of capability.  Love it.
• The variety of lessons make it relevant for lots of different pragmatic goals.
• The price is very fair for what you are able to get out of this app.

What could make it better:

• It doesn't allow you to take data in-app.  This isn't that big of a deal for me, but I know it is for some.
• The stories are geared toward younger students, so I'd have to do a lot of story creating for it to work for my older kids.  
• I kind of wish some of the questions were more open-ended instead of multiple choice, allowing for more creative responses and expressive language practice.

What do you think?  Would this app help you with your social skills kiddos?  :)

Love It & List It: Social Language

Time for another Love It & List It with Speech Room News!   This time it's all about Pragmatics and Social Language products.

Here are some of my faves:

1.  Thinking About You Thinking About Me

I'm currently making my way through this book by Michelle Garcia Winner to help me with my current pragmatics cases.  Amazon-affliate link below.

2.  Books by Julia Cook

These books are perfect to talk about social behaviors and appropriate conversations.  Read more about them at this blog post.

3.  All About Social Skills by Speechy Musings

I was privileged enough to proofread this packet for Shannon at Speechy Musings.  It's full of awesome stories, cards, and activities for your social language kiddos.

There are TONS more social activities from all my favorite speechie sellers on TPT.  So be sure and check those out too!

Helpful Books by Julia Cook

I recently purchased several books from Amazon that have been A-Mazing to use in therapy!  (Speaking of Amazon, this post contains Amazon-affiliate links for your convenience).  Julia Cook has authored and co-authored several books for kids that directly target problem behaviors or social difficulties that so many of my students find themselves in.

Here are some of the ones that I have:

• The Worst Day of My Life Ever

This book focuses on listening and following directions.  It tells a cute story about RJ who has accidents and gets into trouble but finally learns that his problems are because he does not listen or follow instructions.

Many of Julia Cook's books have an activity guide for teachers available for purchase.  I have the one for this book and have loved using the coloring sheets and writing prompts with my kids.

• My Mouth Is a Volcano

I love this one!  It targets appropriate conversational skills like not interrupting and respecting what others have to say.  

In this story, Louis has trouble keeping his words in.  He constantly wants to tell his thoughts and interrupts others constantly.  He learns how to turn take and hold his words inside until it is appropriate to speak.  Cute!

I have the teacher's activity guide for this book as well.  There are some really creative activities and ideas for the classroom.

• I Just Want to Do it My Way

This one focuses on staying on task and asking for help.  It's great for kids who have a problem staying focused and organized.

RJ is having trouble in school finishing his assignments and staying focused in class.  He is constantly distracted by others and doesn't like to ask for help.  Luckily, his wise parents teach him a thing or two, and RJ learns some great strategies to focus and finish his work.  

Love it.

• I Just Don't Like the Sound of No

This one targets accepting no for an answer and disagreeing appropriately.  Several of my kiddos struggle with this skill.

RJ hates hearing "no" and constantly turns conversations into an argument.  His teacher then invites him to join her "say yes to no" club and teaches him how to except no and disagree the right way.  It offers some great strategies to parents, teachers, and students on how to deal with this behavior.

• It's Hard to Be a Verb

Another great one.  It helps teach kids who struggle with sitting still how to focus and control themselves more appropriately.

Louis is constantly having trouble focusing and is always on the move.  His mom helps him by telling him some great strategies with how to control himself and deal with his constant jumping around.  This is a great resource for those affected by ADHD.  

What do you think?  Do you own any Julia Cook books?  I think I'm going to try and eventually get ALL of them!  Lol.  Love em.