The Social Express II
The Social Express II
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Social Express II is an excellent, animated app for boosting kids' social-awareness skills. Each lesson presents interactive social situations using video modeling, "hidden rules," and suggestions for how to problem-solve in daily life. Though the app is free to download, access is managed through a subscription. Though all kids could potentially learn something from this app, its approach is perhaps best suited to kids on the autism spectrum or kids who have difficulties navigating social situations. Parents should note that kids have the option to participate in the app's private social network, where they can reveal their real names and hometowns. For more information about the types of information collected and shared, read the app's privacy policy.
Community Reviews
Great interactive tasks to help kids understand hidden rules of social and emotional situations.
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Boring
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What’s It About?
After setting up or selecting a profile in THE SOCIAL EXPRESS II, parents or kids choose a beginner, intermediate, or advanced webisode. The fully animated lessons target many of the social skills kids encounter in their day-to-day lives, and kids must help each character make good decisions to successfully navigate social situations. Beginner lessons encourage kids to explore nonverbal cues and the importance of eye contact. More advanced lessons help kids transfer social rules into real life. Every lesson offers the option to stop and replay. The app works in concert with a companion website where, among other things, parents can track kids' progress.
Is It Any Good?
Interactive episodes do a fantastic job of offering kids a natural way to understand and learn key social cues and skills that are needed for success in life. Each lesson offers kids the chance to make decisions about the choices the characters make -- and witness the possible consequences of those choices. When it's time to make a choice, it's not always clear what the options represent, so kids may choose at random, but they try again until they make the "best" choice. Parents may feel that none of the choices is really the best possible outcome and that all lack nuance. For these reasons, The Social Express II may not be a good resource for all kids. Printables allow kids to have a tangible reminder of coping strategies, feelings, and more; kids can carry these with them or post them on a wall. Part of what makes the app shine is the guidance it gives parents, from the guide for parents (available on the Social Express website) to the "teaching tips" that appear during a lesson (tips can be turned off for kids using the app independently). The clubhouse social network raises some privacy concerns because kids can reveal personal information. Parents can monitor their kids' activities, and it's optional, so parents could also simply choose not to allow kids to participate, and kids can enjoy learning with the other parts of this fabulous app.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about connections between what they're learning with The Social Express II and real-life social situations.
Spend some time on the Social Express website before introducing the app. When logged in, you'll see a Getting Started guide that's not available thorough the app.
Check out the My DPS app, which can help kids with coping strategies on the go.
App Details
- Device: iPad
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: decision-making, making conclusions, problem solving, Emotional Development: empathy, identifying emotions, perspective taking, self-awareness, Communication: conveying messages effectively, friendship building, Responsibility & Ethics: making wise decisions, respect for others
- Pricing structure: Free to try, Paid (While the app is free to download and try, the full curriculum requires a subscription that costs $14.99 per month or $69.99 per year.)
- Release date: October 31, 2017
- Category: Education
- Topics: Friendship
- Character Strengths: Empathy
- Publisher: The Language Express, Inc.
- Version: 6.7
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 8.0 or later
- Last updated: October 21, 2019
Our Editors Recommend
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Hidden Curriculum for Kids
Practical but wordy app helps kids learn social skills.
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