Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck is an educational social skills app for iOSÂ ($3.99)Â and Android ($1.99) devices. Based on the card deck by Super Duper Publications, this app includes 52 cards reflecting social skills of children, including politeness, solving problems, feelings, giving information, requesting telephone skills and staying on topic. Appropriate for users between the ages of 4 and 12-years old, Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck develops the skills of communication, conflict resolution, language, problem solving, social and speaking & listening.
The app facilitator can select the specific cards for users to see or allow them to see them all. The app also allows the facilitator to track correct and incorrect responses for multiple students. These results can be printed or emailed for documentation.
When the user begins to play, a picture with a situation is presented. The user can read the situation and question or touch the screen and it will be read to them. The user answers the question and a red or green button can be touched to indicate an incorrect or correct response. A facilitator is needed to help the user evaluate the accuracy of their response. The tally of responses is displayed at the top of the page. The app continues to present pictures selected for the user until the facilitator chooses to pause or end the game. When the game is paused or ended, it returns to the home screen. From this screen the choice of resuming the game or viewing results is given. The results are presented by date and time or by the player’s name.
Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck was reviewed with elementary age children with developmental disabilities and autism. The child’s response could not be recorded within the app so an instructor was needed to help evaluate the response. The children were interested in the pictures presented initially and answered the questions. This app is useful for presenting a variety of situations quickly and helping the facilitator evaluate how well the child is using skills taught directly in therapy.