Vendor Name: Super Duper Publications
Vendor Contact: Super Duper Publications contact page
Name of Product: Hear Builder
Price: CD ROM Hear Builder Home Edition: $69.95
Age/Grade Range: Ages 4-9 or Grades PreK-3
I was very excited to try this computer program from Super Duper Publications because following directions and listening to verbal commands and/or requests is something my younger two children struggle with so I was hoping this would help them in that area. The Webber HearBuilder Following Directions CD ROM is an interactive, evidence based computer program that aims to help children increase their auditory and following direction skills. Aimed at ages 4 to 9, I’d say even an older child might have fun playing this game if they need some help in listening skills – because I had fun playing it, but I won’t tell you my grown-up age in the review!
With this software, which is easy to run as soon as you pop it into your drive, your child will learn to:
- Follow directions that increase in difficulty
- Become proficient in 40 basic concepts in five areas: Basic directions, temporal directions, sequential directions, conditional directions, quantitative and spatial directions
The home edition allows you to add 1 to 4 players which is great if you have multiple children who need help with their listening skills and you have another one who just enjoys computer games. You’ll add a new player simply by typing in the child’s name and when the child goes to play again he’ll be ready to start where he left off the last time. A word of caution here, you may need to check your firewall settings so that the child’s progress will be saved. Then each child can chose a level of play, for my 5 year old I chose the basic, beginner level which began something like “Click on the dog” as they progress the commands get more advanced. Of course this also will depend on what area they are working on such as sequential directions or conditional.
There are four levels of play, beginner, advanced, expert and play all – again I had my 5 year old do the beginner, while my 8 year old did the advanced and I did some of all three for the purposes of the review. Your child is aiming to get supplies and tools for their toy factory which is a great incentive and fun to see them progress as they earn more tools. As the parent you can get a progress report that can be printed if you want something for your child’s portfolio for school or take to appointments. You can also delete records, if your child has completed all activities or no longer is interested or outgrows the program which frees space if you have other children who you need to add. Also as the parent you can do the following:
- Individualize each student program
- Set levels of difficulty for each activity
- Identify and print learning objectives for all levels
- Add background noise at any level
- Monitor progress and track data for an unlimited number of students (the home edition is up to 4 students)
- Track all relevant data
- Customize and print reports
My two children who tried it enjoyed this however my 5 year old become a little frustrated because it tends to move slower than he wanted or he didn’t want to wait for the instructions and just began clicking on whatever he felt like. I ended up sitting with him to help him with his patience and make him wait for the instructions. My 8 year old did fine on her own but she tried to hurry the game along as well when it wasn’t going quick enough for her, but she was more willing to wait for the directions to be given. I really enjoyed the game and even found myself getting excited over my next tool, I guess I’m a bigger child than I thought, this was a great way to have my children practice their listening skills and I hope to continue and see more improvement as they each move through the other levels.
Super Duper Publications is offering a discount to my readers for the HearBuilder Auditory Memory Home Edition for 30% off using coupon code: BLGAM30 expires 8/31/12
**Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.
GrowingForChrist 