WH Questions is a multi-player game designed specifically to help kids answer and ask WH questions. Children with language disorders often struggle to answer WH questions in a meaningful way1. In addition, many children with language disorders are unable to ask grammatically correct questions. Designed by a certified speech-language pathologist, WH Questions features over 400 WH opportunities to answer and ask real-world questions.
How to Play
When WH Questions first opens, the adult has the option of looking at results, starting a new game, adjusting settings, or viewing support. By tapping the “new game” button, the adult is brought to the players screen. Here the adult can select a current student or add a new student. WH Questions is fully compatible with the Therapy Report Center (TRC) which allows the adult to import students from the TRC and export data to TRC for easy report writing.
After the players are selected, the adult must select what type of WH questions should be asked. Questions available include: Why, How, Where, Who, When, and What. Because WH Questions is a multi-player game, the adult must choose the type of questions for each student by simply touching the appropriate box.
Once the questions are selected, play begins. The picture stimulus is shown with the WH Question posed at the top of the page and an audio recording asks the question. At the top of the page is a record button which allows the student to record his or her answers. A play button is provided to allow the student to develop self-monitoring skills and determine if the answers make sense. Data is collected by clicking the appropriate square.
Alternately, if the target is for the student to ASK questions, the written questions can be removed to allow the student to ask the question. The Record button could be used to record the student asking the question instead of the answer. In this scenario, the adult would track if the target was asking or answering questions.
Data Collection
When the session is complete, a simple touch to the All Done button brings the app to the reports function. Highlighting the student’s name will bring up that student’s data. A graph is provided showing the session date, the WH Question(s) targeted, and the percent accurate. The squares are colored coded to indicate accuracy: green 80% or better, pink under 80%, white not addressed that session.
WH Questions data collection reports can be exported to The Therapy Report Center for easy progress monitoring and report writing.
Customization
WH Questions has a settings button accessible from the home page. Customization allows the adult to tailor WH Questions for the child’s specific needs.
•Randomize Questions. By selecting OFF the questions will finish one type of WH question before moving to the next.
•Display written questions. Selecting OFF removes the written question from the picture. This is perfect for working with students who are working on attending to auditory stimuli or whose goal is to ask questions.
•Transition sounds. Allows the adult to determine if there is auditory feedback between questions.
•Number of questions per student. At times, the adult may want to ask more than one question for each student. Selecting the number of questions per student is ideal for increasing the number of opportunities per student between turns.
Sources
1Parnell, M., Amerman, J., Harting, R. (1986), Responses of language-disordered children to wh-questions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools; 17 (2) 95-106.
2 Sandbox Learning, (2006); http://www.sandbox-learning.com, Activities for teaching children to ask and answer questions.
3Justice, L. , & Ezell, H., (2004). Print referencing: An emergent literacy enhancement strategy and its clinical applications. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35(2), 185-193.