Dyslexia Resources Reviewed: What Time Is it Mr. Wolf? App

What Time Is it Mr. Wolf? App

What is it? An app which tests children’s ability to tell the time.

Cost: £1.49 on iTunes

Ideal for: All ages

Fun factor:
The wolf is well-drawn, well-voiced and there is smooth jazz music, which makes it cool, although not particularly fun.

Educational value:
Able to fine tune it to exactly suit the learner’s level.

Longevity:
Should last a few years, since parents can make it harder as your child’s ability to tell the time increases.

Why it’s good for dyslexics:

Dyslexics commonly struggle with learning to tell the time and, typically, it can be a long process. It may be hard for a dyslexic child to instantly know which way to ‘go round’ the clock face and which hand is which.

Telling the time also means switching to a different counting system. Here, we use ‘base 60’, where a unit is 60 (60 minutes in an hour; 60 seconds in a minute). Dyslexic children often struggle with concepts that have more than one name, such as 8:45 is the same as ‘quarter to nine’.

Good points:

• Cheap
• Long-lasting
• Doesn’t look too childish
• Adjust the level of difficulty, with 2-8 possible answers
• Set it to use words or numbers or a mix
• Choose a mix or work on specific times (e.g. o’clock, half past, 5 past, 25 to, etc.)

Bad points:

• Repetitive
• Sometimes freezes
• Can’t work on telling the time to the nearest minute

In a nutshell:

A cheap, long-lasting app, which you can set to exactly the right skill level. A little dull, but looks and sounds grown-up.