New & Featured App Reviews

i Get... Christmas App Review

Kathryn Jenkins December 3, 2014

App Overview

The holiday season brings joy, and a chance for families to spend a lot of quality time together. It can also accompany a lot of change, anxiety, and confusion. The i Get…Christmas Social Skill Stories App and the i Get…Christmas Vocabulary App can help relieve some of that stress and prepare the user for some of the exciting things that happen during the holiday season. Both of these apps help teach and prepare for all things Christmas. Today I will be reviewing both of these apps together. They are very similar in their functions and the set up of the app but they do have some key differences that we will discuss. Both of the apps are very visual and are in a photo album format which makes it easy for kids to navigate and for facilitators to organize.Both apps were created by i Get It! Apps which design apps to support language skill development and cognitive growth.

App Features

Okay let’s get started. To begin, open the app. On the bottom right of your screen, you will see “Add User”. You want to select this option to create a profile for each user or student that will be using the app. You are able to create unlimited users which is fantastic for Educators, classrooms, and Speech Therapists. After you have finished creating the profiles you are wanting, it is time to go over the app settings. You can choose to adjust any sounds, or toggle checkmarks that can appear on the images. You are able to allow swiping to turn pages or drag and dropping. Also a favorite option of mine on this app is the ability to back up these books on dropbox and basically export them for printing, or viewing on another device. In the settings, there is a also a lot of support available for navigating these apps, answering questions, or connecting with the company.

Go ahead and click on your user profile now. You will see photo album books organized on digital shelfs. As you click on each album, you will be able to see the images organized into the theme very nicely. The “My Favorites” and the “My Photos” album will be empty and available for you to customize and add in your own images. The “How Do I” Album is a tool for support and understanding more about either of the apps. To create a new book, you will select “Add Book” in the bottom right corner. You will be given the option to use a template from one certain album, or to select “Blank Book” which allows you to take images from different albums and your own photo stream. What I love about these apps is the ability to customize the albums or books with your own pictures, subtitles, and audio. You can basically write your own social stories with the tools offered on both of the apps. You are able to change the order of pages by simply dragging and dropping them into place.

One feature that both of the apps include is the lock-in feature. This allows the facilitator to lock a user into their own profile so they cannot view, edit, or delete anyone else’s photo album books. The lock is a 4 digit code that can be set by clicking on the lock icon at the bottom left corner of the screen on the main menu. If you wish to reset the password, you can find that option by going to the Christmas section of the settings app. You are also able to hide pages or books from certain users or during a certain time by accessing the book settings. Overall the features that are offered in both of the i Get It! Christmas apps are versatile and user friendly.

i Get…Christmas Vocabulary App

i Get…Christmas Vocabulary is a an application that provides photo albums to help teach and prepare for all things Christmas. It is a great labeling tool for users with receptive and/or expressive language delays. The images are basic but they do cover a lot of important elements for the Holiday season. There are 4 photo album books that are specifically Christmas themed in the Vocabulary App.They are titled: Christmas Tree, Presents, Decorations, and Santa. I found that the images in the i Get…Christmas Vocabulary app were suited best for “How-to” Books. For example, “How to Decorate a Christmas Tree” or “How to wrap a Present” would be very easy to put together with the illustrations offered. That is not all it can do however. Since you can personalize it to your liking and add your own images, you could also use it for a to-do list as you count down to the holidays, or a way to explain an overview of Christmas. There are 117 Christmas themed illustrations available in the Vocabulary app to use. Overall I think this app is suited best for users that need help labeling items, making lists, or are being introduced to Christmas for the first time.

i Get…Christmas Social Skills Stories App

i Get…Christmas Social Skills Stories has the same menu and navigation settings as the i Get…Christmas Vocabulary app. They are nearly identical except for one key difference. Christmas Social Skills Stories offers images that discuss behaviors and social skills rather than objects for labeling. These behaviors and activity images are necessary for many activities and tasks that are associated with the holiday season. You won’t find these images in the Vocabulary app. You will need to create your profiles again just as you did in the previous app. Once you click on the user, you will notice there is only one album themed with Christmas. While this app doesn’t have as many images available as the Vocabulary app, the images available in the Social Skills app are better for explaining different behaviors, activities, and social skills that the user may be expected to participate in. Examples of tasks or behaviors that these images represent and that are available in this app include: Waiting for others to open presents, Going to Church, Attending a party, Exchanging gifts, and saying Thank you. There are 30 images available in this app that discuss different behaviors. You can also customize this app with your own books, images, audio, and subtitles. This app would be best suited for those that struggle with anxiety and certain behaviors especially around the holiday season. Perhaps crowds, noises, or taking turns is difficult for this user; In that case a social story built from the illustrations in this app could be very beneficial.

What’s Great About These Apps

I would recommend both the i Get…Christmas Vocabulary App and The i Get…Christmas Social Skills Stories App to anyone that struggles with change, and anxiety. It can also be helpful to those with an Autism Spectrum Disorder or PDD-nos that often respond better to visual cues. I love the customization options available in both of these apps and they are very user friendly. The recording audio function is great for labeling. The user can identify with your own voice each time they click on the image. I would love a way to combine both of these apps to use them together to make social stories. For now, I would suggest the i Get..Christmas Vocabulary to children who need help labeling and the i Get…Christmas Social Skills Stories to children who struggle with transitions, change, and sharing. I believe both can be helpful in learning behaviors, traditions, and easing the anxiety for the holiday season. Have a very merry Christmas!
The i Get It! Website container other great Apps that help with labeling, transitions, and social skill stories. At the time of writing this review both apps retailed for $2.99 each.

Buy i Get…Christmas Vocabulary and i Get…Christmas Social Skills Stories in the App Store

A social story & vocabulary app that teaches and prepares for all things Christmas.