Special Needs Professionals & Speech Therapists Play uKloo Games with Children of all Abilities!
uKloo games have been rigorously tested and awarded for excellence in learning play for Special Needs children by AblePlay in cooperation with The National Lekotek Center and the Anixter Center. Our games have also been tested and awarded by Speech Therapists at Play on Words.
AblePlay: Special Needs Report
uKloo games offer engaging educational play to children of all abilities.
Developmental Processes Promoted:
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- Social Interaction
- Pre-Literacy
- Letter Recognition and Identification
- Spatial Relationships
- Cause and Effect
- Cooperative Play
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- Patience
- Early Literacy
- Word Recognition
- Language Development
- Memory and Recall
- Self-Esteem
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- Visual Processing and Attention
- Problem Solving
- Gross Motor
- Motor Planning
- Sequential Thought
- Strategic Thinking
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- Confidence
- Peer Interaction
- Hand-Eye Coordination
- Visual Processing and tracking
- Rule Following
- Auditory Processing and Attention
Promoted Skill – Communicative
- uKloo builds vocabulary as child reads new words on clue cards and uses the Picture Helper as a guide.
- Cognitive thought processing, receptive and expressive language are engaged and enhanced during play.
- Verbal modeling can take place as a caregiver states a word for the child to say instead of using the Picture Helper.
Play Ideas
- Have a child create and tell a story based on the order of the hidden clue cards. How did they get there? Where did they come from?
- A child can expressively recall the hidden clue card path with a caregiver. For example, the first clue card said to look under the cereal box. The second clue card was in the sink and the surprise was in my sock drawer!
Adaptation Ideas
- Play with a limited number of clue cards to address the child’s particular needs.
Promoted Skill – Cognitive
- Children learn to recognize and identify verbs, prepositions and nouns when reading the clues and using the Picture Helper poster.
- Vocabulary is expanded as children or caregivers use the printed cards and create their own clues using the blank clue cards.
- Children learn to utilize the Picture Helper to discover and sound out new words independently.
- Matching a word of an object with a photo representation can be encouraged using the Picture Helper.
Play Ideas
- A caregiver can mix the 3 different levels of clue cards during game play.
- A caregiver can incorporate school spelling words into uKloo using the blank cards.
- The Picture Helper poster can be used as a “lifeline” a certain number of times during game play. For example, child can only refer to the poster 3 times during game play.
Adaptation Ideas
- Play with a limited number of clue cards to address the child’s particular needs and gradually increase the number cards as the child advances in reading and skill.
- A caregiver can sort clue cards using only the clue cards that would be familiar to a child.
- In preparation for game play, a caregiver and child can go through the object words (nouns) on the Picture Helper poster and find those objects in the house.
Promoted Skill – Social/Emotional
- Matching the word of an object with a photo representation can be encouraged using the Picture Helper to hone independence.
- uKloo is based on exploration and discovery allowing kids to build confidence while learning.
- Patience is supported during game play as children must find all of the clues leading to the surprise at the end. To help increase a child’s ability, begin with only a couple clues and gradually increase the number of clues as a child’s frustration level permits.
Play Ideas
- The uKloo game is simple to travel with and may provide comfort to the child when exploring a new environment.
- Child can create clues using the blank clue cards to create his own game for a caregiver or peer.
- Before game play, caregiver and child can go through the object words (nouns) on the Picture Helper poster and find them in the house.