Word Families by Teach Speech

The biggest update to Word Families yet, rebuilt from the ground up. A FIX FOR SPEAK WORDS The printed word under a picture used to appear only when Speak Words was turned off — the setting worked backwards. It now does what it says. A BETTER FIT ON EVERY IPAD The layout now adjusts to your screen instead of assuming one size, so nothing is cramped or cut off, whether you use an iPad mini or a 13-inch Pro. Bigger level cards, larger text and a roomier top bar throughout. SETTINGS THAT DO WHAT THEY SAY Speak Words, Auto Advance and Sound On Incorrect all work properly now. Auto Advance also waits for a word to finish reading before turning the page, so answers are never cut off mid-word. CHOOSE EASY OR ADVANCED The app now asks which level of challenge suits your student the first time you open it. Easy keeps to one picture and two families in Level 3, and to the gentler word list in Level 4. Advanced adds three pictures at a time and the harder reading below. Change it any time in Settings. DRAG AND DROP THAT RESPONDS RIGHT AWAY Pictures now move the moment a finger touches them. Previously a child had to press and hold before anything would budge, which is a hard gesture for little hands. When a picture lands on the family it belongs to, the two join into one so the finished word reads as a whole. A WRONG ANSWER IS NOW A WRONG ANSWER If a picture goes to the wrong family, that box turns red and stays red, the box it should have gone to turns green, and the question moves on. Before, a child could keep trying until the picture stuck, which meant the drag exercise could not really be got wrong and every score came out perfect. QUESTIONS THAT SAY WHAT THEY MEAN Level 1 and Level 4 both used to ask you to "select the items". Level 1 now asks for the images and Level 4 asks for the words. A LEVEL 4 THAT REALLY TESTS READING A word family is a spelling pattern, but the wrong answers in Level 4 used to be unrelated words — dog and bell against the _ap family — so a child could pass the whole level by listening for the sound and never read anything. In Advanced the wrong answers now rhyme with the family but are spelled differently. Bun, fun and sun belong to the _un family; one, done and won do not. Answer by ear and you take all six. Answer by reading the pattern and you take three. Easy keeps the older, gentler version for children who are not reading yet. PLEASE NOTE: THIS UPDATE NEEDS IPADOS 15 OR LATER Older iPads that cannot go past iPadOS 14 will keep the version they have, and it will carry on working.