Developed by a speech and language pathologist, Fun with Directions is an iPad app designed to practice listening and following directions.
In addition to teaching directions, Fun with Directions enhances learning of colors, spatial intelligence, auditory memory, and auditory processing. The app works through a selection of ten concepts: give, touch, open, close, top, middle, bottom, push, color, and erase.
Fun with Directions allows you to create a user, choose a difficulty level (select from easy, intermediate, and advanced). You can select to keep the text on or off; for practicing reading, keep the text on, or turn it off for listening activities. You can also select whether or not you want voice commands on or off.
Select a series of concepts that will be covered in the Fun with Directions games. For example, the “color” concept gives a direction such as “color the little dog red.” When you drag the red crayon to the little dog, it colors the picture and gives a verbal affirmation.
Press “hear again” to hear the direction again, and select “new direction” to receive another question within the same concept. Tap “new concept” to receive direction from another idea. Each screen includes colorful pictures, and some even have animations. Each image also includes sounds, so the user receives immediate auditory feedback from their answers.
In the “Superstar Direction” screen, the user is asked to follow a direction, and on the following screen, he records his voice saying what he had to do. For example, if a user is asked “find the orange door on the top row,” he taps the orange door on the top row of doors. On the next screen, he says, “I had to find an orange door on the top row.” The user can listen to his answer or re-try an answer.
Fun with Directions is an engaging app that is useful for individuals with auditory processing disorder, ADHD, or those who need extra practice following directions. The app allows you to practice very simple directions (“touch the cat”) to more complex sentences (“with the orange crayon, color the large furry pet who likes to chase mice”).
Fun with Directions is an iPad app and costs $9.99.
