Speech with Milo: Sequencing Review
Speech with Milo: Sequencing is a nice, universal interactive educational app with both special needs and typically developed children in mind as it teaches the basic sequences of events, helping kids develop the sense of "Beginning" Middle" and "End" - important language skills that help develop complex sentences and storytelling abilities. The illustrations and animations used are very cute, and it is also nice that many options are included to personalize this app to the needs of the player, such as whether or not to use background music or sound effects, as these can be either encouraging or distracting, depending on the child.
I have used sequencing cards with my son and we both enjoy this activity, but it should be noted that I need to clear our kitchen table, cluttered with arts and crafts, completely as these sequencing cards take up a lot of room when spread out. I do like how obviously compact it is to use as an application.
There are a lot of themes to choose from here, and it is nice that an adult can select all or any of these themes to be focused on. The player simply arranges three boxes which contain cute mouse Milo and sometimes friend raccoon Melvin doing such activities as baking a cake, driving a car, or planting a flower in three distinct parts, moving these parts in their correct order into corresponding empty boxes below. When the sequence is complete, one can tap a “play” button to see animation of this sequence in action.
Most of these sequences are good choices as there are very clear answers as to which of these choices comes first, second, or third, but some were not so cut and dry, such as when “getting dressed,” one obviously needs to put on shoes after the pants, but here the shirt goes first, yet there is no wrong answer to shirt vs. pants first being correct. Also, when “making tea,” the correct answer is to get the cups, boil the water, and then pour the tea. One needs cups to pour into, but surely one can boil the water before gathering the mugs to drink from. It is easy to de-select these themes if one chooses to, making this issue a minor one,
A narrator introduces the title of each sequence, and a button can be tapped to hear the name again, but it would be nice if the text under each picture box explaining what is happening in each box could be tapped to hear narration as well. Especially on the iPhone, the boxes are a bit small to be able to see the important details sometimes needed to sequence correctly, so the text becomes very important. I am sure that this app is intended to be shared between adult and child, especially in a special need setting, but if the text could be tapped and heard, this could also be enjoyed when a child is by himself.
I like the use of the animations showing these sequences in action, but it may be more effective to have the narration break down the action back into the three parts, describing exactly what is going on in each animation. I would also like an option to see the letters “A,” “B," and “C.” which are labeled on each of these picture boxes removed as a player can simply arrange these letters in order to correctly put these picture boxes back into correct sequence.
All in all, this is a very nice app that would suit the needs of special needs as well as typical children quite nicely, as this app is fun, engaging as well as educational.