VERBS News 2.0

I am pleased to see the introduction of a verb tense application that effectively combines visual learning with practical therapy tools. This development fills a notable gap in language intervention resources designed for children. (Consonantly Speaking)

Verbs News is a thoughtfully designed language therapy app for the iPad, developed by a certified speech and language pathologist. It offers children an engaging platform to learn and practice verbs in four different tenses: simple present, present continuous, simple past, and simple future. The app features over 190 regular and irregular verbs illustrated with high-quality real-life photographs, providing a concrete visual context.

The user experience begins with a welcoming animated character named Andrew, a newsroom anchor who hosts a show titled “Intro to Tenses.” Children can watch four animated videos that visually demonstrate each of the four tenses, serving as an instructional foundation before engaging in practice activities. After viewing the videos, children can participate in various practice exercises. Successful responses are rewarded with virtual microphone icons, reinforcing motivation. Additionally, users have the opportunity to take on the role of news anchors by recording their own news segments and viewing their performances within the app. To ensure compliance with HIPAA standards, these recordings are not stored within the application.

Verbs News is a versatile tool suitable for children with diverse needs, including those with language delays, speech disorders, learning disabilities, or autism spectrum disorder.

The app offers three distinct activity modes for verb practice:

• Auditory bombardment
• Fill-in-the-blank exercises
• Create-your-own sentences, which includes an audio recording feature

Designed for ease of use, Verbs News provides a comprehensive suite of management tools allowing educators or therapists to:

• Add and manage multiple students
• Adjust settings according to individual needs
• Select multiple words or activities simultaneously
• Enable auto-scoring functions
• Configure task repetition counts for different students
• Toggle written picture descriptions on or off
• Activate or deactivate the award system
• Record and playback video or audio responses
• Monitor correct versus incorrect responses
• Generate detailed reports
• Email results directly from within the app

*In order to uphold HIPAA standards, this app does not save video recordings; recordings can be viewed immediately after creation but are not stored afterward for privacy reasons.