iSequences by Fundación Planeta Imaginario (iPad and Google Play, $2.99 at time of review)Tweet
There are two levels of sequence cards to choose from. The settings are very flexible- you can select or deselect an entire level to work with, or only select certain sets of cards that you want to focus on. There is a in-app manual but the interface is very easy to navigate anyway. There are both 3-picture and 4-picture sequencing sets in each level for activities with titles including: Washing your hands, Getting dressed, The banana peel, Traveling by plane etc. there are 100 sets to use covering a variety of activities- there is even one called "Turning on the iPad".
These are not step by step visuals for teaching a child what to do, these are pictures you can use to assess how well a child can recognize the correct order of events in a sequence. The child is presented with 3 or 4 cards mixed up randomly- the child must drag them into the empty spaces under the cards into the correct order. If the child is correct he/she will be rewarded with a quick animation. If the child is incorrect, the images will be rescrambled and the child can try to put them in the right order again. During play if the screen has not been touched after a number of seconds, an alert will sound to remind the user of the task at hand (A recent update has made the length of time for this alert adjustable- This is really helpful for students who need more processing time). The app will also prevent a child from automatically tapping another response after a mistake- the picture dims a bit and doesn't accept touches for a moment in order to allow the child time to choose more carefully.
After each sequence is completed the child is asked to predict what will happen next/ how a character will feel in the sequence by choosing one of three additional cards. In the feelings activity if you tap the wrong choice it will simply disappear as an option; another can be chosen until the correct one is picked . For the what happens next feature, the correct answer flash after a mistake; once the child drags the correct image into place an animation will play again. The kids really enjoy the prediction activity and it gets them talking- I have them explain both why an answer was correct and why the incorrect choices were wrong. The latest update has made this a lot easier- you can now control the length of pause time between the animation and the next sequence. Some of the incorrect choices are really silly, which they get a kick out of- like the mailman tearing up the little boy's letter after his friend receives it. (The prediction activity can be turned off via settings).This does have links to social media but because I have only used this app in a therapy setting where the iPad is in my full control, it has not been an issue for me. If you plan to have a child practice on their own and this concerns you, put the app in airplane mode first.
I have a couple of wish list items that would be icing on the cake- I'd like if the empty slots the child puts cards into could be labeled 1,2,3, (4). as a simple visual guide for where the child should drag the cards. I also wish there 5-picture sets of cards, as some of my kids are ready for this. iSequences is a very useful, affordable therapy tool to have in my app collection and I look forward to seeing what comes next from Fundación Planeta Imaginario.
Enter the rafflecopter below until Dec. 13:
The screenshots below are of the updated iOS app allowing the addition of your own photo sequences:
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