The people over at Speech with Milo was generous to provide me codes for two of their apps to review for all of you! It should be noted though that my opinions and application ideas are all mine!
Speech with Milo was created by a Speech-Language Pathologist for other SLPs and parents. They created a character named Milo to keep younger students engaged and motivated.
Speech with Milo: Interactive Storybook is exactly as it sounds! It's an original story broken up to present each sentence at a time. Prior to using, you can fix the settings to your liking. You can decide whether to use your voice or the apps, to have the words presented, background music, and interactive buttons to press for each page (an easy reward for correct responses).
This story has SO many opportunities to reach speech and language goals. I would recommend reading this story several times in consecutive sessions in order to try and address each possible one.
1. Basic wh- questions: after presenting each page, you can present question that would require recalling details from the pictures and story. “What did Milo loose?”
2. Creating a story map: can you students identify while reading the characters, setting, main idea, etc.
3. Predicting: since each page has a new sentence, you can have your students predict what will happen next and justify their responses.
4. Understanding problem/solution: there are TONS of problems that Milo and his friends face in this story. You can generate a list as you read. You can have your students illustrate one problem and solution. You could have your students express to you what they would do if they were in the same situation. This could be great with students working on social skills.
5. Recalling sequences: what happened in the beginning? middle? end? How many activities did Milo do that day?
6. Listening for specific vocabulary: working on categories? Have your students listen for animals, playground games, sports, etc. Working on verb tenses? How many can they listen for? “Raise your hand each time you hear an action word!”
The list could go on forever! For such a reasonable price, you can read this story over and over for each different goal in mind and get the most out of your purchase!
Speech with Milo: Adjectives is a motivating way to introduce and review common adjectives. You can review the list of adjectives prior to using and decide which ones you want to present to your students. You can also decide if you want to go in order of list or random. Some adjectives you can select include: happy, sad, wet, dry, long, short, dirty, clean, loud, quiet, rough, smooth, big, little, fat, skinny, young, old, hot, cold, and SOOOOO much more (55 to be exact)! Although this app is ideal for toddlers and preschoolers, it could also be used with early elementary students with language delays.
Each page presents an adjective. Milo and friends act it out, and then it presents the name of the adjective. You can then choose to select “phrase” to hear to word in a phrase or move onto the next concept. You can have students repeat the phrase to work on listening comprehension and verbal expression using adjectives.
You can use this to teach the concepts, “how can you describe Milo?” or to review. You can also work on other skills too! There are tons of opposites you can present! You can choose to select only one pair, and ask your students to recall the other, “what's the opposite of short?” or “if Maggie's stick is not short it is _____!” You could also work on wh- questions such as “Why is Milo wet?” “Who has the short stick?” “What made Milo sad?”
Overall, I think the Speech with Milo products are great for SLPs to consider using in their speech sessions. The motivating animations and variety of skills you can work on with each app are just some reasons you should check it out for yourself!
Have you used these apps? What do you think? Are there other uses I did not think of?!
