Hear2Read {App Review & Giveaway!}

I haven’t done an app review in what seems like FOREVER.  But I’ve got a few up my sleeve for the next couple of weeks, so get ready.  The first one is from Nikki Heyman of the blog Talking Talk called Hear2Read.
 Hear2Read is designed to target phonemic awareness skills through seven different activities:

• Level 1:  Compound Words, the student must omit one part of the compound word.
• Level 2:  Two Syllable Words, the student has to omit one syllable.
• Level 3:  The student has to omit the initial phoneme from the word
• Level 4:  The student has to omit the final phoneme from the word.
• Level 5:  The student has to substitute either the initial or final phoneme of the word with a different phoneme
• Level 6:  Words containing consonant blends, the student must omit one sound from the blend
• Level 7:  Words containing consonant blends, the student must substitute one of the sounds in the blend

 There are lots of adjustable settings in this app, which you can access at any time during game play.
 Once you choose your level, you are ready to go!  The student will tap the picture and will be given a verbal prompt.  For this picture, the prompt was:  “Say little but don’t say lit“.  After the verbal prompt, the app RECORDS the students response.  What do you need to do to record it?  NOTHING.  Whaaaat?  Yes, it auto records the students response!
 Then the app gives the correct response and auto play backs the student’s response that was recorded to see if they match!  You tap the thumbs up or thumbs down to score the response.  If thumbs down, the student can try it again.  For every correct response, they are given verbal praise and the student earns a star.
 Once they earn the determined amount of stars required (which you control in the app settings), they get to play one of two games!  Squash the Spider or Pop the Balloon.
 For Squash the Spider, there is this screen and a little black and red spider runs around (really fast!) all over the screen and the student tries to squash it 5 times by tapping on it.  My kids LOVED this one.
 The other game is Pop the Balloon, where 50 balloons are released on the screen and they try to pop as many as they can!

When you are done playing, you can email your data from the app.  You must do this, otherwise your data is lost after the next game play because the app is not able to store it.  

What I like:

• These are important skills for reading that are often affected by students with speech/language disorders…I love having an app to target them with!
• Auto record feature…um, awesome!   I don’t have to press anything, it just does it!
• Auto playback to match the student’s response to the correct response…this is great for self evaluation.
• Reinforcement with the included games
• Adjustable rewards…I really like that I can control how many the student must get right before earning a game.
• I use on my iPad, iPhone, AND iPod….I love having apps available across all of my iDevices.  
• Android version for all my friends on the other side of the technology fence 🙂

What I’d like to see:

• The ability to add different student profiles…since I usually work in groups on a variety of skills, I’d love to be able to switch in and out of student profiles and save their data.  
• A video tutorial…this is always such a big help when learning how to use a new app.
• More explanation about what each level is from the menu…I kept finding myself having to go back to the “How To Play” section of the menu to see what each level targets.
• A different picture that demonstrates the phonemic change made in the word when the student responds.

You can find Hear2Read in the iTunes store for $7.99 and in the Android Market for $4.99

BUT, Nikki is so kind and wants to giveaway THREE copies of the app to one of you for FREE!  Enter via the Rafflecopter and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway