Emotions & Feelings Social Story

Features
Price $4.99
Age Range Lower Primary & Upper Primary
App Type Learning App
Version Reviewed 3.2
Android Available?
Lite Version Available?
Help Provided?

Bloom's Thinking Process
Creating
Evaluating
Analysing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering

Adaptability
Includes recorded voice
Includes text
Includes images

Review Comments
Emotions and Feelings Autism Social Story includes an excellent Social Story. The Social Story talks about feelings (angry, sad), physiological states (hungry, tired) and behaviours (silly). There is also a emotional vocabulary section which shows a flashcard with voice of these feelings and behaviours. The social story can be read by the child independently or they can listen to it read by the recorded voice. Social Story Criterion Evaluation (see Carol Gray, 2010) Criterion Achieved: The story is in first person. It explains why people talk about feelings. I like the line "Whatever I am feeling is okay". The app uses repetition to state the situation and the feeling that accompanies it e.g. "When I play games and dance, I feel happy". There are illustrations and the language is appropriate for students in the primary years. Vocabulary is accurate and literal. The story includes descriptive, perspective, coaching and affirmative sentences. The language is positive and socially and emotionally safe. The ratio of coaching sentences (1) to other (13) sentences is correct. The app uses a repetitive format which enhances learning.

Review Comments

Emotions and Feelings Autism Social Story includes an excellent Social Story. The Social Story talks about feelings (angry, sad), physiological states (hungry, tired) and behaviours (silly). There is also a emotional vocabulary section which shows a flashcard with voice of these feelings and behaviours.

The social story can be read by the child independently or they can listen to it read by the recorded voice.

Social Story Criterion Evaluation (see Carol Gray, 2010)

Criterion Achieved: The story is in first person. It explains why people talk about feelings. I like the line "Whatever I am feeling is okay". The app uses repetition to state the situation and the feeling that accompanies it e.g. "When I play games and dance, I feel happy".

There are illustrations and the language is appropriate for students in the primary years. Vocabulary is accurate and literal. The story includes descriptive, perspective, coaching and affirmative sentences. The language is positive and socially and emotionally safe. The ratio of coaching sentences (1) to other (13) sentences is correct. The app uses a repetitive format which enhances learning.

Use	Rank (*)
Social Stories		Ranked 3rd of 16
Emotional Vocabulary		Ranked 28th of 64
Top Apps Prep Teachers		Ranked 7th of 11
Top Apps for Parent of Children with Autism		Ranked 6th of 16
Top Apps for Occupational Therapists		Ranked 4th of 14

(*) This app has been ranked according to its' effectiveness to achieve the learning goals and strategies listed. Some apps may rank highly for achieving a specific use and lower for other uses. Some students will learn and engage with one app more than others, because of the individual nature of us all.

Learning App
Learning apps are designed for a specific purpose. The authors claim to teach a goal, skill or concept.

Bloom's Thinking Process
Bloom's Taxonomy is classification system used to explain the behaviours important in learning. Apps range from simple memory tasks such as flashcards apps through to creative apps which ask students to create an original story or video.

Bloom's Creating
The student creates new ideas, products or ways of viewing things. Activities include making, animating, designing, constructing, planning, producing and inventing.

Bloom's Evaluating
The student justifies a decision or course of action. Activities include counting to check, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting and judging.

Bloom's Analysing
The student breaks the information into parts to explore understandings and relationships. Activities include explaining, ordering, inferring, comparing and organising.

Bloom's Applying
The student uses the information in a new situation. Activities include implementing, carrying out, using, illustrating, classifying and categorising.

Bloom's Understanding
The student comprehends the new information. Activities include describing, predicting showing understanding use a multiple choice.

Bloom's Remembering
The student recalls information they know. Activities include matching, 'fill in the blank', making a choice, answering using a multiple choice, naming a group.

Learning Connection
How well does the app teach the targeted skill or concept? This is the area where we refer to current research and pedagogy to evaluate the efficacy of the app.

Authenticity
Authenticity looks at the manner in which skills are learnt. Authentic apps use real life or genuine activities. Students learn in context rather than in a contrived or rote fashion (such as flashcards).

Feedback
Feedback needs to be specific and result in improved performance. Feedback should be supportive and encouraging rather than negative. Data should be available to support decision making.

Differentiation
Differentiation is the ability to customise the app to suit the student. The ability to record you voice, customise text, add pictures and alter settings enables individualisation of the app.

User Friendliness
User friendliness is a measure of how well a student can use the app independently. Some apps are simply intuitive to use. Others include audio or visual prompts which support the student.

Motivation
All apps are engaging the first time they are played. However, students with diverse learning needs may need to return to the app many times. Motivating apps offer rewards,games or incentives.

Social Stories
A Social Story™ describes a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses. There are ten criteria that need to be followed to write a Social Story (Carol Gray, 2010). To make your own Social Stories, see Story and Book Makers apps

Emotional Vocabulary
Emotional Vocabulary apps help children to label an emotion, to identify emotions in others or to identify their own emotion. Emotions should be related to what can be seen e.g. a smile means happy. It is also useful to link the emotion to an activity e.g. being last makes me cranky.

Top Apps Prep Teachers
This is a list of the Top Apps for teachers of children in their first year of school

Top Apps for Parent of Children with Autism
This is a list of the Top App Parents of Children with Autism

Top Apps for Occupational Therapists
This is a list of the Top Apps for Sensory Skills and Social Skills

Domain	Score	Details
Learning Connection	4	This app follows all of the 10 Social Stories criterion. It is easy to read and the repetitive format assists with comprehension.
Authenticity	1	Social Stories allow children to analyse social behaviours by exploring social norms and suggesting perspectives and coaching strategies. I would like to see the student able to interact with the story, perhaps by recording their own voice.
Feedback	1	Feedback is not included in this app.
Differentiation	2	The story can be read aloud or the student can read it by themselves.
User Friendliness	4	The child simply taps through the pages of the book. I wish there was a way of returning to earlier pages and a home button to return to home.
Motivation	3	The images in the story are fun and age appropriate. A reward at the end of the book would improve the engagement of students who need to read this story on several occasions.

From the App Store

Developer Touch Autism
App Store Rating (from 1 reviews)
Current Version Rating (from 1 reviews)
Current Version 3.2

Developer's Description
This app includes a social story about different emotions and feelings you may have throughout the day, and a simple visual support for asking how someone is feeling, or identifying feelings or emotions. The story focuses on why or when a person may feel something, and what may cause different feelings or emotions. The app opens up to a menu that lets the user choose to either read the story or go to the “Emotions and Feelings” page. The social story describes different emotions and feelings, and what may cause them. The “Emotions and Feelings” page has nine buttons with different emotions and feelings from the story that say the word when pushed. Children with Autism Spectrum disorders often have difficulty recognizing or identifying emotions and feelings. They often miss the facial cues that other people rely on to gauge the moods of others, or even of themselves. Teaching social skills such as recognizing or describing emotions and feelings to any child may be easier and less stressful when visual supports, like social stories are used. Typical children usually develop an understanding of emotions and feelings without direct instruction from adults. This makes it is easy to forget that this may not be the case for everyone. Certain individuals, particularly those with social or communication delays, like someone diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, may need more direct instruction in this important skill. Social stories are an important type of visual support often used with children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or other special need. This social story uses simple text and descriptive pictures to describe common emotions and feelings and identify when and why they may occur. Social stories were first defined by Carol Gray in 1991 and are commonly used to break down a task or social situation into small and easy to understand steps, often accompanied by descriptive pictures. Social stories are easy to implement and are used by many professionals for a wide range of behaviors and skills.

Developer's Description

This app includes a social story about different emotions and feelings you may have throughout the day, and a simple visual support for asking how someone is feeling, or identifying feelings or emotions. The story focuses on why or when a person may feel something, and what may cause different feelings or emotions.

The app opens up to a menu that lets the user choose to either read the story or go to the “Emotions and Feelings” page. The social story describes different emotions and feelings, and what may cause them. The “Emotions and Feelings” page has nine buttons with different emotions and feelings from the story that say the word when pushed.

Children with Autism Spectrum disorders often have difficulty recognizing or identifying emotions and feelings. They often miss the facial cues that other people rely on to gauge the moods of others, or even of themselves. Teaching social skills such as recognizing or describing emotions and feelings to any child may be easier and less stressful when visual supports, like social stories are used.

Typical children usually develop an understanding of emotions and feelings without direct instruction from adults. This makes it is easy to forget that this may not be the case for everyone. Certain individuals, particularly those with social or communication delays, like someone diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, may need more direct instruction in this important skill.

Social stories are an important type of visual support often used with children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or other special need. This social story uses simple text and descriptive pictures to describe common emotions and feelings and identify when and why they may occur.

Social stories were first defined by Carol Gray in 1991 and are commonly used to break down a task or social situation into small and easy to understand steps, often accompanied by descriptive pictures. Social stories are easy to implement and are used by many professionals for a wide range of behaviors and skills.

Disclaimer: The evaluations and rankings information provided here are based solely on the opinion of the author and are for informational purposes only. Families should seek professional advice before making decisions regarding interventions for their child.