App Review: The Basic Concepts Skills Screener

Smarty Ears has many apps for speech and language therapy. This year, I was assessing a student for basic concepts, but I didn't have access to the BOEHM and I wanted more information than I got from the CELF. I searched the app store and found Smarty Ears' Basic Concepts Skills Screener.
*Disclaimer: I was not provided this app, but Smarty Ears has provided a free copy of the app for a giveaway. The views expressed are solely my own*

The Basic Concepts Skill Screener, BCSS for short, has 2 options for screening. There is a quick screener with 30 items and a full screener with 79 items. The BCSS measures comparative, quantitative, spatial, and temporal concepts.


During the screening, students are shown 4 similar pictures and a sentence written below is read aloud. The student touches the picture and then selects "next" to move to the next screen. If a student presses "next" before selecting an answer, an error message appears. This feature is very helpful for my students who are impulsive.

Other features include a notes tab for clinician use and the ability to change the selected item before moving to the next item if a mistake was made. If you can't finish the screening in one sitting, you have the option to save the test and continue later.


Finally, my favorite part of this app is the report it generates. The report includes lists of correct and incorrect concepts. The concepts are further broken down by type. Tables report the percentage of items for each concept type, as well as whether the skill has been achieved, is emerging, or not achieved. At the end of the report, there is a color coded visual for each concept type and age of acquisition. The best part about the report is that you can send it via email to a colleague or even yourself.

Overall, I really liked this app. I use it primarily with my younger students (ages 3-8), however, it can be used for older students to measure progress or current knowledge of basic concepts.

What I liked:

• The app is intuitive and easy to use.
• It is useful to assess pre and post interventions, to determine if further assessment is necessary, or to support standardized testing measures.
• The generated report is detailed and clear.
• The pictures are simple, clear, and colorful.
• Students hear a "ding" and see a swirl when they select an item, regardless if it is correct or incorrect.
• In the corner, there is a counter that tells you how many items have been completed

What I would change:

• There isn't currently a way to have the iPad repeat an item. If a student needs a repetition of the direction, you have to read it to them.
• Nothing else really. There are only 2 languages available at this time (English and Portuguese) so if you want to screen in other languages, it is not included in this app.

Basic Concepts Skills Screener is available on the app store for $29.99. If you are looking for an app to help you measure basic concepts for students on your caseload, check it out. There are tutorials and videos on the Smarty Ears website as well.

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Data and Attendance

Data data data BATMAN!

No matter where you work, collecting data is a big part of the work of an SLP. In my 2 years of working in the public schools, I have changed my data collection method 3 times before I found something I can actually stick with and not utterly despise. I have tried individual folders with goal sheets for kiddos - these were great in theory, but not so great when I had a group of 3 students all around a very tiny table; there was no room for folders. My next attempt was Google Docs. I LOVED this method for articulation because it showed a great progress graph, however, again within a group setting, this method was not always achievable. I found that if I switched forms on my iPad, the other form would delete what I added. Method number 3 was the winner: Labels!

The idea of using labels for daily logs came from Pamela over at Public School SLP. You can find the data labels she created HERE. At first I thought that purchasing labels would be super expensive. But, Amazon sells a generic brand set of 1,000 labels for around $10 and they work just fine with my laser printer. The best thing about labels for me was that at the end of the work day, sticking them onto the pages in my binder was a very mindless task that allowed me to unwind a little before facing traffic.

Even though I write the date on each label, I like to keep a separate page for attendance. I have 1 page for each month. I can track attendance on the computer or print off a sheet for each month. This allows me to see at a glance when students missed sessions, if they have been absent frequently, or if there are any scheduling problems. I created a form in Microsoft Excel to help me easily track the attendance of each student.

Each month has Monday through Friday with the date included. I mark student attendance after I print out the page and can easily see if they were seen one-on-one, in a group, or any other circumstances. I use a one letter key to mark the services students receive each month. Having the document in Excel also allows me to edit the student list. I like to list them in grade order.

I have found that this helps me document attendance very quickly and easily and can make 3rd party billing much simpler. Apparently our district is going to start using codes to document therapy this year, so I hope that this attendance method helps me to more easily completed 3rd party billing - time will tell!

You can find my 2015-2016 attendance calendar in an editable format HERE. Make sure when you go to print off the sheet that you highlight the area you want and select "print selection."