App Thursday: Dexteria - Fine Motor Skill Development & Smart Oral Motor

Buy here

Dexteria

Dexteria is a set of therapeutic hand exercises (not games) that improve fine motor skills and handwriting readiness in children and adults. Dexteria’s unique hand and finger activities take full advantage of the multi-touch interface to help build strength, control, and dexterity.

For best therapeutic results the exercises should be done on a regular basis in short sessions. The exercises are designed to be repeatable and engaging, and when used on a regular basis will help fine motor skills improve over time.

The automatic tracking and reporting feature makes it easy for parents, teachers and occupational therapists to identify time on task and progress. You can email the progress reports right from the app itself.

• Increases coordination and motor control in the hands and fingers

• Easy to use, even for toddlers

• Works for kids and adults

• Great way to get kids ready for kindergarten

• Automatically creates performance and usage reports that can be emailed

• Speeds recovery from injuries

• Designed in consultation with Occupational Therapists

• Turns the iPad into a therapeutic tool

• Less expensive and more reusable than workbooks

Here are some screen shots:

                                                                         Buy here

Smart Oral Motor

Smart Oral Motor has joined the #B2SAppSpecials by offering a reduced price from $9.99 to $4.99 to help teachers and SLPs get ready for a new school year.

Oral motor skills refer to the skills needed for basic functions such as eating and speaking. The muscles in the mouth, jaw, lips and tongue are responsible for smiling, facial expressions, and even swallowing. We know that in order to practice these skills effectively, children need to follow basic directions involving movements of the muscles in their mouths.

Children with Apraxia of Speech, Down syndrome or craniofacial anomalies many times experience difficulties with their oral motor skills.

Smart Oral Motor is a fun and engaging application for children who need a little more entertaining when practicing their oral motor skills. Clever, the duck, provides auditory and visual cues for practicing several oral motor exercises such as:

-Puckering lips
-Making an “o” with the mouth
-Sending a kiss
-Moving tongue to sides
-Puffing cheeks
-Touching cheeks using the tongue
-Moving the tongue up and down

This application includes a total of 15 oral motor exercises, auditory information and fun animations. Parents and therapists have the ability to adjust the number of repetitions per movement as they please.

This application does not replace the need for a full evaluation by a licensed professional such as an occupational therapist or a speech therapist. Therapists will evaluate and provide full guidance on how to best use this application. If parents are working with their therapists in trying to develop a home program for their child, this can be one very user friendly and engaging resource.

Screenshots: