As Autism Awareness Month comes to an end I have the opportunity to share a new app with you! Social Norms is a new app by Virtual Speech Center to help students practice and discuss social situations using stories.
This app is super easy to setup since you don’t have to add student names and information. Something you should know is that this app does not keep data. But, as I tell you more, you will understand why. You can tap the INFO button for an overview of the app have helpful information.
Like a said before, you don’t need to setup student names and information, but there are some features you can adjust. When you tap the SETTINGS tab you will see that you can choose to have text displayed with the stories or not and to have the audio on or not. You will also notice another choice to create your own story if a topic you want isn’t there already! Just tap ADD STORIES. This was a great feature to have. It really allows you to customize the app to your student’s specific needs. You can upload your own pictures too allow you to tailor the story even more to a specific student or area.
Once you’re ready to go just tap START and you will be taken to a page with all the story choices. There are 53 stories in 7 different catfish: Manners, Hygiene and Health, Safety, Home, School, Community, and Behavior.
Just select the story you want and hit NEXT. The story will come up and begin to read it to you if you have the audio feature on. If you want to hear the page again tap the arrow at the bottom of the screen. To go to the next page tap NEXT. When you’re done with the story or want to bring up a new one tap FINISH.
Overall
I really liked this app. With lots of stories already pre-made it saves me a lot of time and means that I can access stories for my kids right away. With 53 stories there is a lot of variety that covers topics in many highly needed areas like hygiene, manners, community, and more. The option to create your own story and customize it with your own pictures means that you can create something specific to your student’s areas of need. Using stories to work on social skills with students with Autism is still being researched but studies are coming back with positive results. So let’s see…lots of stories in key areas, the ability to customize and create your own, stories that have visual aides that coordinate with each story page, and it is researched based…what more can you ask for!
You can add this app to your speech toolbox ( aka your iPad ) for $9.99 on iTunes 🙂
* I was supplied with the app for review purposes only. No other form of compensation was provided. The thoughts and opinions are my own.
