Designed by Mobile Education Tools, Story Builder is one of the highest-ranked reading apps for iPad.

The app is designed to achieve the following goals:

• Improve paragraph formation
• Improve integration of ideas
• Improve higher level abstractions by inference

The audio clips in the program are ideal for children with special needs such as those with autism or with sensory processing disorders, and it gives children that extra sensory input to improve memory and learning.

Most children by age 2 or 3 are telling stories about their daily events, and by ages 3 to 5, children are re-telling familiar stories. Story Builder is an excellent aid for children who have difficulty creating or telling stories. The app includes the following features:

• Ability for a child to record a narrative in his own voice
• Includes three levels of play
• 50 story lines to choose from
• 500 audio clips of questions, and option to use questions and answers for reinforcement
• Ability to e-mail recorded stories

When using this app, children are able to record answers to questions, and the answers are then combined together to create a narrative. Each story includes colorful pictures, and children are prompted to answer the question of what is happening in the picture, or they are asked to give details about the picture, such as what is occurring or what will happen next. The child records his response and moves on to the next question. The child may also repeat the question and listen back to their answer. When the story is complete, the child can listen to their entire story.

The app is recommended for ages 6 through 10 or above, and it is a family-friendly app with quality content for children, especially those with special needs. It is an exciting and valuable tool for parents and special needs educators. Story Builder is available for iPad, iPhone, and iTouch, and it costs $5.99.

Photo by nooccar