Parents looking for resources to teach their children language skills have a unique ally in Milo the Mouse. The main character in the critically acclaimed iPad and iPhone app Speech with Milo: Verbs, Milo bounces around a colorful screen performing actions for your child to identify.
This innovative approach to teaching verbs improves upon static flashcards by showing a cute and friendly character actually enacting the verbs as they are both shown on the screen and spoken aloud. This helps improve a child’s association between the movement and the sound of the word, while also familiarizing them with letter to improve reading foundations.
Milo is educational and fun to hang out with. His stimulating antics hold the attention of small children the way that still pictures often cannot. He can perform over 100 customizable actions, allowing parents to choose ones that are familiar or especially challenging according to the speech development needs of their child.
Developed by a licensed speech-language pathologist, the app is designed to be used both at home by parents, as well as in professional speech therapy sessions by experienced speech language pathologists. The app comes with two sets of directions, one geared towards parents and one geared towards language development professionals, making the app a versatile tool for your child’s continued learning.
Recently, Speech with Milo: Verbs was nominated for the Mobile Premier Awards as “THE Outstanding Education App.” This high honor at the industry level is reflected in the user response. According to reviews on iTunes, parents love Milo’s ability to hold their child’s attention at home or on-the-go while providing an educational experience for their children. Overall, the app has a rating of 4+ stars.
Speech with Milo: Verbs is also a particularly useful tool to aid in the speech therapy and language development of children with special needs. The app is designed to cater to children with Autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, and speech and language delays. Since it was created by a speech language pathologist for use in speech therapy settings as well as for home use, many of its features are based on the needs of these children. Milo’s interactive and welcoming presence acts as a comforting incentive for children to learn using the app.
The app also encourages a broader concept of language development that incorporates context and syntax by offering a phrase button with each action. When your toddler taps the button, Milo uses the verb he is demonstrating in a sentence. This helps your child to build a meaning of the verb in relation to other words and to reinforce how he might process the same verb in his own actions.
This outstanding app is one in a series of similar products. In other versions, Milo teaches prepositions and sequencing (both of which are also available in Spanish) and even stars in his own interactive storybook. This energetic mouse is a great tool for helping your child develop her language skills in an exciting and interactive way, conveniently accessed in your iPhone or iPad.
