ConversationBuilder™

As an elementary school English as a second language teacher, I find that many of Mobile Education Stores' apps are great! Conversation Builder is great because it focuses on social skills as well as social language. I have used it only in the mode that has students choose the best (out of three) possible questions or statements to interact with a child in a photo on the screen. For example, if you're at a lake and you see a kid who caught a fish, would you say, "Fish have gills not lungs," "I have a fish named Dorthy" or, "Cool! You got one!" If the student chooses an awkward sentence for the social interaction, an encouraging voice says something like, "That's not the best way to start a conversation. Try again." When the student chooses correctly, she records herself using those words. The iPad then responds with the next sentence or question. What comes out of the work is a recording of socially appropriate language with a corresponding pictures that can be archived as a sort of language sample. Very cool! One thing that would improve this app is if the language choices were read aloud by the iPad so that non-readers could access the app independent of a peer or adult who can do the reading.

I have two kids with varying special needs - and both enjoyed this app and need it. I was actually shocked that the one child I would not have thought would have struggles/issues with this seemed more perplexed by it and ended up being more engaged and needing it the most. It has already helped. I think that in some situations children develop learned behaviors and (at least in my situation) did not realize this child lacked that social awareness for conversation (in various settings) or at least what seemed like starting a conversation. I love this app! The kids are actually arguing over who gets to do it next. They enjoy recording their voices and seeing what will be said next in and how to initate that conversation to keep flowing. I see this as another homerun app for Mobile Education Store for BOTH special needs/speech and even with NT kids. It's great also to interact and watch and see what kids at different ages will say/react to certain scenes and how "they at that age" will converse. This has risen to one of our TOP 5 apps in a short time frame!

This app is the best one yet!! I have used it with a few students with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) along with students with language impairments. I used it mostly with grades 1-2, but also tried it with some high school students. The high school students liked it just as much as the little ones did! This app is helpful for many of my students AND THEY LOVE USING THE APP!!! They love to listen to their own voices. Even more, they love that someone is having a conversation with them! One student said "is that real?" I love all of the different photo themes. I find this app helpful for general vocabulary development as well as conversation skills. I even find it useful for my students with articulation impairments who are working on sentence production. The different levels are helpful. Some students need the multiple choices of level one. Other students are ready for open-ended conversation turns. It is so interesting to compare the responses of my students with ASD to students who do not have difficulty with conversation. I will definitely be using this app often! Kudos to this app developer for all of his "Builder" apps!!