Minimal Pairs Academy
I would give this app 5 stars, if not for one issue. Initially, I was unable to get it to work. It appears to be a glitch with prevocalic voicing. As long as I don’t select prevocalic voicing, the app works as expected. Smarty Ears customer service has been responsive and states they are working to correct this problem.
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Takes a little time to set up
This app takes some time to set up initially so is not a good one to pull out last minute. It is nice to have an app that addresses phonological processes.
Useful tool
I have found this app to be a good addition to my phonological therapy. The kids like when the cards spin when they get it correct and they enjoy the feedback of the recording. I do find some of the pictures difficult for kids to recognize and the repetition is random but that may be a setting I have yet to discover. This one is a keeper.
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Graphic issues
I have used this app, and every time I go into the section where it shows flash cards the part of the screen that you need to use goes black. The buttons still work but you can't see what you are pushing. Even when you press the next button, it only partially fixes the problem. The app will be great if this error is fixed
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Good access to pictures but can be cumbersome to use.
I am very pleased to have access to minimal pairs on my iPad and not have to carry around many different packs of cards (I work itinerantly as an SLP). I like most of the word pairings and pictures, though some pictures are hard to grasp for my 3-5 year olds.
I do find it difficult to adjust to my needs and would like to see an option for a different interface where you can simply pick the deck you want to practice, the game to be played, and the child(ren) who will be participating.
Pros:
- finally minimal pairs on my iPad!
- different games/levels of practice
- ability to track data for more than one student and target
Cons:
- if you set up the app the way they suggest, you don't have control over which target is used each time you play (for students with more than one target)
- if you want to target the same target twice in one week you have to tweak the student's goals each time you play in order to select only the one you want to practice - which is a good work-around but more cumbersome than I think necessary
- only requests the target sound during auditory discrimination tasks, not both to see how well a student can identify either.
- some of the pictures are unclear, especially for younger students
I do find it difficult to adjust to my needs and would like to see an option for a different interface where you can simply pick the deck you want to practice, the game to be played, and the child(ren) who will be participating.
Pros:
- finally minimal pairs on my iPad!
- different games/levels of practice
- ability to track data for more than one student and target
Cons:
- if you set up the app the way they suggest, you don't have control over which target is used each time you play (for students with more than one target)
- if you want to target the same target twice in one week you have to tweak the student's goals each time you play in order to select only the one you want to practice - which is a good work-around but more cumbersome than I think necessary
- only requests the target sound during auditory discrimination tasks, not both to see how well a student can identify either.
- some of the pictures are unclear, especially for younger students
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Needs improvement
I bought this app with high hopes but am disappointed with the poor quality of photos used. Many of them are abstract stick person type drawings that are simply too difficult for low language and ESL students to understand. Also, not enough selection for potential targets being worked on in any given category. Needs more work on the selection of auditory discrimination targets to represent what SLP's and AVE's are really working toward with their clients/students.
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Must Have!
This app is a must have for your bag of tricks. It is fun and engaging, I love it more than my kids! Worth the money!
SLP that loves this app
My students and I love and enjoy this app! I appreciate that I can work with a group and the different choice for data collection plus the ability to email it are time saving and efficient.
Great Listening App
Minimal Pairs Academy is not just an app for speech. It is a great app to use with students with hearing loss. They often struggle to differentiate sounds in conversation and this app provides some nice practice for them both with individual words and also with words in context.
great app
This is a great app for artic practice and also for auditory discrim practice.
Wonderful !
I love this app for working with my students on minimal pairs. Graphics are wonderful, ease of use..and best of all my students have been engaged and making progress! I give this a five star rating!!!
Absolutely love this app!
Great app for phonological processes, huge time saver, good pictures and features.. A must have!
Looking forward to using this
I am looking forward to using this in the fall. I think it is going to make progress tracking easy and it looks like fun!
Great and useful app.
I have been using this app with my son and it has been a great help with his velar stopping. I look forward to using with my kids during my SLP-A work as well. Good graphics and easy to use. Really like all the Smarty Ears apps!
Great for older kiddos!
I have really enjoyed/utilized this app since downloading it. I like that up to 4 students can play at a time. I really like the number and variety of phonological process you can choose from (there are approx. 22 to choose from) and the fact that you (or the student) can track their progress and graph it into a very user-friendly chart. The only thing I do not like about it is that a lot of the words and phrase completions are difficult for my younger ones, so I would suggest a review of the vocabulary or several sessions with the auditory bombardment piece! Otherwise, very helpful :-)
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Happy SLP
Another great tool or SLP's! A must have! Well done Smarty Ears!
Love it!
Great application and very user friendly. Bought it and put my first group in and they did great. It tracked all the data and worked on everything from auditory bombardment to sentence completion at each of the kid's individual levels..... Great group therapy tool!
MPA
This has been a great app to use. Thank you Smarty Ears! It is helpful to track student progress as well as pick multiple targets.
My favorite app
This is one of my favorite apps to use with all my articulation kids! It works well with kids at all levels from the auditory discrimination level to sentence level! Kids love the graphics and enjoy seeing their progress! Kids can see clearly when a goal is mastered as it is stamped as mastered! I love the progress graphs that display and can be printed to show parents progress! Check it out...you will love it!
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A must have for SLPs
This is a great comprehensive minimal pairs app to work on phonological processes. Great way to keep track of students' goals and progress. The design is cute and kid friendly (at the beginning of app you tap on the door that says "Enter Minimal Pairs Academy" and the students walk in! You can run group sessions with different goals. I like this app because after you master a goal for a student you can go back to their profile and it will show mastered (you tap the goal until it puts a mastered stamp on it). You can choose a photo or an avatar to represent the students (my students love picking their avatars!). This minimal pairs app is unique from others because it has 4 levels of play (auditory bombard., auditory discrim, production, phrase completion) Also the correct target is on a larger card for more reinforcement. Many options in the settings. You won't be dissappointed with this app!
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