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Social Quest
By Ashley Kemper,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Direct social-learning tool provides thorough practice.
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Social Quest
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What’s It About?
In SOCIAL QUEST an adult will decide if the kid will work on receptive or expressive language, and then kids create a character (uploading an image or using an avatar). They can drag their characters to one or more environments and then slide the transporter icon to begin their quests. Kids listen to a scenario and choose one or more options that best fit social norms associated with that situation. In receptive-language scenarios, correct answers are marked with a green check mark, and incorrect answers are marked with a red X. In expressive-language scenarios, parents need to guide kids toward the best things to say to solve the social problem and get apples for missed responses, silver coins for answers that are close, and gold coins for answers that meet the expectation of that social situation. Kids complete as many situations as they have time for but must answer each scenario correctly before moving onto the next. Parents and other adults can access a kid's progress in the "report card." Users can earn long-term rewards that are social-language specific, such as binoculars to help kids remember to make eye contact.
Is It Any Good?
There are many scenarios surrounding 16 environments that kids might encounter, and instant feedback and long-term rewards help reinforce social problem-solving. The scenarios and responses are realistic, engaging, and helpful for kids who need straightforward social language practice. For some kids, the graphics-heavy interface might be distracting, so those kids might need more guidance to stay on task.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about expected and unexpected responses to common social situations. For example, it would be expected for someone to bring food, such as popcorn and soda, into a movie theater. It would be unexpected for someone to bring that same food into the bathroom. Parents can help kids identify expected and unexpected behavior in real-life and refer back to the scenarios in Social Quest for help.
Families can role-play an entire social encounter in one of the environments mentioned in Social Quest. Practice starting, stopping, and changing conversation topics at dinner. Help kids identify cues for when someone else is interested in what they're talking about and how to ask appropriate questions. How do you know when someone wants to know more about what you've said? How can you tell when someone is joking?
App Details
- Device: iPad
- Skills: Emotional Development : empathy, labeling feelings, perspective taking, self-awareness, Communication : conveying messages effectively, friendship building
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: November 12, 2014
- Category: Education
- Topics: Adventures
- Publisher: Smarty Ears
- Version: 2.0
- Minimum software requirements: 5.1.1 or later
- Last updated: July 28, 2016
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