It was so much fun to share Little Stories Pro with all of you at the 2018 SLP Summit in January. I hope you are as excited about this app as I am! It is the only tool I am aware of that targets speech, language and literacy objectives so thoroughly all in one place.

Below I have responded to the questions you asked during the SLP Summit. I've also included the video of the presentation and links to download the handout and presentation slides.

If you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We want this app to be a powerful resource for you and your students.

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I can’t find the app in the App Store? Is Little Stories Pro only available for iPad, or is it available for the iPhone also?

Little Stories Pro is available for iPads running iOS 9 and later. It is not available on iPhone (yet) so if you search the app on your iPhone it will not pull up. Search "Little Stories Pro" on your iPad and you'll easily find it. If you still don’t see it search "Little Bee Speech Apps".  You can also click here to view Little Stories Pro in the U.S. App Store.

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If I have Articulation Station, will I be able to get Little Stories Pro?  I have an old iPad but have Articulation Station Pro.

Little Stories Pro requires a newer operating system than Articulation Station Pro currently does. Your iPad must be running iOS 11 or newer.

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I’m not understanding how to get this app for my iPad if you do not go to the App Store.

The only way to get Little Stories Pro is to download it through the Apple App Store. Click here for a direct link to the App Store.

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Are these only available on Apple products? Is Little Stories Pro available for Android?

Little Stories Pro is only available for the iPad running iOS 9 and later.

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Is there a trial version of this app? Looks awesome!

We do not currently have a trial version of Little Stories Pro but we are working on one and we hope to release is within the next couple of months!

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Are there 2 separate apps: Little Stories for Speech and Little Stories Pro?

No. We currently only have one version of this app, Little Stories Pro.

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Might you adapt materials for PC use? (This would be more convenient for teletherapy.) If you did adapt these for PC, I would gratefully share it in all of my teletherapy (materials) groups!

We do not have any plans to adapt this app for PC use at this time but if that changes we will announce it on our Facebook page first!

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Can you go over reading level text again?

The stories in Little Stories Pro are leveled according to their narrative complexity, vocabulary difficulty, and age appropriateness.

Here are the specific levels:

Level A: ages 6.5-7.5 (mid first grade to second grade)

Level B: ages 7-8.5 (second grade)

Level C: ages 8-9.5 (third to fourth grade)

Within these categories the stories are sorted according to their Flesch-Kincaid scores. This measure predicts the readability of a text by using the average number of words per sentence and the average number of syllables per word.

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Do your reading and fluency levels correlate with a reading program called Fountas & Pinnell?  Our district uses this to assess our students reading levels and target where they should be by grade level (not age level).

Our reading levels do not correlate with Fountas & Pinnell but we did use Fountas & Pinnel type factors when we leveled our stories such as narrative complexity and age appropriateness.

Our reading system uses BOTH qualitative and quantitative measurements. The qualitative measures were determined based on narrative complexity, vocabulary difficulty, and age appropriateness. The quantitative comes through the calculations we got through Flesch-Kincaid. We found that combining both qualitative with quantitative helped to balance out the limitations of both approaches.

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Is there a way to correlate TRC/DIBELS levels to the reading levels in the app?

Not at this time.

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What is the highest age/ grade level these stories are appropriate for?

The stories were written for grades K-4 but we have found that upper elementary students that are struggling with reading fluency, comprehension and/or speech production can benefit from reading these stories as well. Enlarging the text field to exclude the illustration is one way to make the stories more age appropriate.

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Are there any stories appropriate for older elementary students?

There are some stories in the app that older elementary students will find particularly interesting. Here are a few of my favorites for older elementary kids.

- Pirate Treasure (Fixing the pirates speech errors is a great grammar lesson.)

- Blair’s Dare (Memorizing this funny poem can be a fun challenge.)

- Theseus and the Labyrinth (A classic tale from Greek Mythology in a simpler format.)

There are also several stories written in the 2nd person point of view. A discussion on how to identify different points of view and write in different points of view would also be a great learning activity.

We also offer a more in depth look at our stories in the Closer Look section. Students can learn a lot about narrative techniques, narrative structures and narrative genres by identifying them in these short stories.

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How many different phoneme targets are there? Does it include earlier developing phonemes or just the later developing ones?

There are 41 different phonemic targets. The targets include:

/l/ initial

/l/ medial

/l/ final

/l/ mixed positions

/sl/ blend

/bl/ blend

/fl/ blend

/gl/ blend

/kl/ blend

/pl/ blend

/r/ initial

air- mixed positions

/ar/ mixed positions

ear mixed positions

ire mixed positions

/or/ mixed positions

er mixed positions

rl mixed positions

r mixed positions

/br/ blend

/dr/ blend

/fr/ blend

/gr/ blend

/kr/ blend

/tr/ blend

/pr/ blend

/s/ initial

/s/ medial

/s/ final

/s/ mixed positions

/st/ blend

/sk/ blend

/sp/ blend

/sw/ blend

/sm/ blend

/sn/ blend

th voiced & voiceless initial

th voiced medial

th voiceless medial

th voiceless final

th voiced & voiceless final

th voiced & voiceless mixed positions

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In the future, would there be a chance of adding earlier developing phonemes? Will you be adding stories for additional phonemes?

Yes. We hope to be able to add more stories that target more phonemes.

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Are there vowel combinations/dipthongs targeted in the stories?

Only the vocalic Rs are targeted.

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Can you print out flashcards?

You cannot print out the flashcards but the words in error are listed and can be sent home in an email or printed out.

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Can you print the story to send home to parents?

Yes. You can print or email student results (from the data screen) and the story will be included for the student to practice at home.

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Do you mark errors on the iPad while the student is reading?

Errors are marked after the student has finished reading, while you listen to the recording. This can be done with the child present or alone when you have time.

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When and where are you tracking errors?

To track reading, vocabulary and speech errors select the reading fluency test by tapping on the stop watch icon in the lower left corner of the story text field. Have the student read the story aloud. Then listen to the recording and mark the errors.

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Do you mark every word that is in error or is one counted wrong just once (like mammoth)?

Every time a word is read incorrectly it is marked as a reading error. Every time a word is said incorrectly it is marked as a speech error. Vocabulary errors are only marked once.

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Could you clarify-What does the APP track?

When a reading fluency test is initiated the app records the child reading and tracks the time it takes the child to read the 100 word story. It is up to the reading helper and/or reader to mark the errors. After the student’s reading sample has been scored the app automatically calculates the words correct per minute based on the time it took the child to read the 100 word story minus the number of reading errors. Speech and vocabulary errors can also be scored in the reading fluency test.

In the comprehension activities Story retell can be scored for story structure and expressive language. When a child completes the sequencing activity and comprehension questions scores can be saved for those as well.

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Are the reading fluency norms listed in the app?

The reading fluency norms are not listed in the app at this time but we do plan to include them in a future update.

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Do you delete the student’s reading sample as you go?  Can it be zipped to save space?

Reading samples can only be deleted if the entire session is deleted. To delete a session swipe left on the session summary in the scores screen.

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Does the sequencing have pictures to sequence for younger students or just the sentences?

The sequencing does not have pictures. We created the sequencing activity to not only help the students learn to put the events of the story in the correct order but to also teach story structure by teaching them word prompts for the different parts of the story. For example, a good way to introduce a story is to use words like, “Once there was…” and a good way to introduce the problem would be to use a word like, “but…”

A great extension activity would be to have the child draw the scenes of the story and write their own sentence for each scene using the word prompts, “Once there was… but… so… finally…now…” They could put them in order to create a story. You could even print the coloring page for the story to use as a cover image.

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Can you graph the comprehension info?

For now, Words Correct Per Minute, and Speech, Reading, and Vocabulary errors are the only results that are graphed.

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I have your Articulation Pro.  Is there a way to delete student names after they are no longer receiving services?

To delete a student’s name swipe to the left on their name and a red delete button will appear.

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Can you toggle between students to take data when working with groups?

No. You can’t work with one student, pause where they are, work with another student and then return to the first student’s data in the same way that you can in Articulation Station.

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Can I use Little Stories Pro for group therapy?

Yes, with adaptations. You can do a reading fluency test with one student, save your results and then begin a new reading fluency test with another student immediately following the first student.

You can also complete any of the comprehension activities with one student, save your results and then begin a new comprehension activity with another student immediately following the first.

If you are working in a group I would recommend printing out the coloring page of the story you are working on for each student. You can do pre-reading activities with all the student’s together. You can read the story to the students, then while the students color their picture or make written predictions you can have the student’s read to you one at a time. After they have each read the story they can each take a turn completing the comprehension activities. It’s likely that each student won’t have the same goals so you can pick and choose the activities that meet each student’s individual objectives. Then you could do the story talk questions as a group at the end as a post reading activity.

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How did you access the coloring pages? I have the app but I can’t find them.

To access the coloring pages you have to go back to the story selection screen and close the sorting options by tapping on the round sorting button in the lower right corner of the screen. Then you will see the blue coloring icon appear next to the data button. Selecting the blue coloring icon will open up the coloring pages. In a future update of the app the coloring pages button will be visible on the screen at all times.

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Can it be used on a Smartboard or Elmo?

Yes, if you can hook your iPad up to your Smartboard it will work. Of course you still have to interact with the app on the iPad.

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How much data does it take up?

195 MB - plus any data and audio recording that you save within the app. We have taken measures to shrink the sizes of all the audio files created with the app to ensure the app takes up the least amount of space possible on your device.

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Can we get  a copy of all slides you presented. Some very good info. I would like to share this with EL and Reading specialists.

Yes. Click these links to download the handout and presentation slides.

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Is the screen sharing tool you use free?

For this presentation I connected my iPad directly in the computer using the usb cord and used Quicktime Player to mirror the iPad screen onto the computer. The Quicktime Player app comes with most Mac computers. Click here for a tutorial on how to mirror your iPad screen using Quicktime Player.

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