TOS Review: Super Duper Publications

 

  Does Your Child Have:

  

Difficulty listening in noisy environments?

Difficulty remembering things you say?

Language difficulties?

Low academic performance?

Behavioral issues?

 If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions,  HearBuilder® Following Directions can help!

 

 HearBuilder® Following Directions is an interactive software program that will help your child improve his or her listening and following directions skills.  It is recommended for children ages 4-9 or pre-k to third grade. 

  I was Super Duper excited to have the opportunity to review HearBuilder® Following Directions.   My girls are 5 and 3 and I'm always trying to find ways to improve their listening and following direction skills.  Many days, I think "I'm talking to a brick wall" or I'm constantly asking them, "did you hear what I asked you to do?" with little dazed and confused eyes looking back at me.  So, when I heard about a computer game that would improve these skills, I couldn't wait to try it out!  My girls enjoy their daily computer time, so this was going to be a treat for all of us! 

 

HearBuilder® Following Directions teaches 40 essential basic concepts including:

• Basic colors--red, blue, green, yellow.
• Quantities--one, two, all, both, either, except, none, or, and, don't, not.
• Sequences--first, second, third, next, then, last.
• Shapes--circle, square, triangle, star. 
• Size--large, small.
• Time--before, after.
• Spatial Relationships and Positions--first, second, third, last, between, beside, next to, above, below. 
• Condition--hot, cold.   

 

 Installation was Super Duper easy!  Simply place the CD-ROM in your computer drive and follow the directions on the screen.   HearBuilder® Following Directions is Windows and Mac compatible, as well as, SMART Board compatible. It runs almost completely from your CD-ROM drive.  The program only stores records on your hard drive.  It is important to note that your child should play on the same computer each time in order to save progress overtime.

There are 5 toy factory rooms (activities) in the HearBuilder® Following Directions program and each activity targets a variety of auditory processing skills children need for following verbal directions.   By completing the activities, your child will become a "Master Toy Maker".  

 

 I really like that each activity has multiple levels of difficulty.  Your child will master the task at one level before progressing to the next, higher level.  This assures that your child understands simple directions before moving on to complex ones.  Before beginning, the parent has the ability to choose levels of play:

• Play All:  Play every level of each activity.   

This is the setting that I chose for Izzie (5 years old).

• Beginner: Begin at level 1 and complete basic levels of each activity.  This setting allows children who are not ready for the higher levels to have success in completing the program.

This is the setting that I chose for Mac (3 years old).  She is a little younger than the recommended age level, but was able to successfully play to improve her listening skills too. 

• Advanced: Begin at the intermediate level and complete the advanced levels of each activity.  This setting is ideal for children who are ready for higher-level listening and following directions. 

• Expert: This setting allows the child to play the same levels as the Advanced setting with the extra challenge and increased difficulty of background noise. 

Each level of the activity presents your child with 5 answer choices.  If he or she does not complete the level with 80% accuracy, the program will reduce the number of choices to 3.  Once he or she answers 4 consecutive items correctly with 3 answer choices, the program will increase the number of choices to 4.  Again, once he or she answers 4 consecutive items correctly with 4 answer choices, the program will resume presenting 5 choices.  To move to the next level, he or she will need to answer 8 out of 10 items correctly with 5 answer choices.  

The Activity Menu (pictured above) is where your child will start each game.  The 5 doors lead to the 5 toy factory rooms.  The name of the toy factory room and corresponding targeted skill appear on each door.  Your child does not need to complete an entire toy room before moving on to another toy room, which Izzie really enjoyed having the option to choose which toy room she wanted to play.  There is a meter above each door that provides a general indication of how far along your has progressed.  As you can see, Izzie has completed the Tool Room.  Once your child completes an activity, a "Completed" certificate replaces the meter above the door.  

Here's a sneak peak inside the 5 Toy Rooms...

1.  Tool Room--Basic Directions 

This activity targets the ability to follow basic directions.  There are 14 different levels.  Again, each activity has multiple levels of difficulty.


Mac smiling as she is listening and choosing the correct item! 

Level 1:  "Click on the dog."

Level 14:  "Click on the large blue dog that is spinning below the boat."

2.  Toy Machine Room--Sequential Directions 

This activity targets the ability to follow multistep and sequential directions.  There are 7 levels.

Level 1:  "Set the size to large and press start."

Level 7:  "First, set the size to small. Second, set the temperature to hot. Third, set the shape to square.  Then, set the color to blue, and press start."

3.  Toy Inspection Room--Quantitative and Spatial 

This activity provides verbal directions that involve quantitative concepts (one, two, all, both, either, or , and, not, except, and don't) and spatial locations (first, second, third, last, between).  There are 20 levels.



Level 1:  "Choose 2 dollhouses."

Level 20:  "Choose the third small red plane."


 Izzie really enjoyed the variety of the rooms, even if she had to listen really hard and stop talking while she played!

4.  Toy Packing Room--Temporal 

This activity uses temporal directions, containing the words "before" and "after" in a variety of positions. There are 14 levels.  

Level 1:  "Put a train in the box before you put a duck in the box."

Level 14:  "Before you put the blue Frisbee in the box, put the red duck in the box."

5.  Toy Shipping Room--Conditional 

This activity provides directions containing conditions.  There are 14 levels.

 

Level 1:  "If a doll is in the box, put the box on the truck."

Level 14:  "If a green doll is in the box, put the box on the large truck; if not, put the box on the small truck."

If you would like to try out any of the above toy rooms, click here for demos! 

 Other options that I really like regarding HearBuilder® Following Directions:

 1.  It monitors and tracks data up to 4 children.  Izzie and Mac can play at their own level and pace.



2.  The option to print progress reports!  

 Izzie and Mac are enjoying their quest to become a Master Toy Maker!  I would recommend HearBuilder® Following Directions to help improve children's listening and following direction skills. 

Be sure to check out this SUPER DUPER computer game, HearBuilder® Following Directions.

Price: $69.95

Here's a Super Duper Coupon Code:  BLGFD30

You can save 30% by using the code before August 31st.



If you're curious to know what other Crew Members think about  HearBuilder® Following Directions
click HERE.  

Disclaimer: As a member of TOS Crew I received a free copy of HearBuilder Following Directions in return for an honest review.