Leveling the playing field with apps

Join Diana Petschauer this summer as she presents this Free Online PD: "Apps Across the Curriculum! Supporting Struggling Learners on All devices & platforms! Free and Low Cost Assistive Technology Solutions" funded by CTD (Center on Technology and Disability).

Teach Speech Apps encourages learning side-by-side with an engaged adult.

Benefits of Teach Speech Apps:

• Professional and colorful photographs- Using real images allows Teach Speech apps to be utilized by all ages and learning levels
• Distraction-free design - clean and simple design allows for focus on the task
• Affordable apps- Teach Speech recognizes that you may not have a big budget for purchasing apps.  
• Enriches vocabulary - We start with a base of common words and then add some "stretch" words so the user can learn new words
• Multi-sensory learning- You can see and hear when an answer is selected, providing great feedback
• Aligned with the Common Core Standards

Voice Dream Writer app is truly an app that can level the playing field for a broad range of learners that struggle with writing. Check out the video on this site to discover why it is such a WOW! Here are the features of this new app:

Voice Dream Writer reads out loud using text-to-speech, so that awkward sentences, grammatical errors and typos can be easily spotted.

Writer helps finding the right words through phonetic search and meaning search.

Writer automatically keeps an outline of headings, paragraphs and sentences. The Outline helps writers better structure their writing with an always-on overview.

Free eBook that will get you started in using the iPad for speech pathology and special education.

• Understand Initial iPad Setup – What are all those features?
• Navigate the App Store like a Pro
• Discover New Apps by Taking Advantage of iPad Settings and Outside Resources
• Take your Teaching to the Next Level Using Built In Accessibility Features for Vision, Hearing, Physical & Motor, and Learning
• Start Teaching Right Away Using Our Favorite Apps for Communication, Language, and General Education

This webinar will present several apps and extensions to support literacy and executive function, and they are free to download right in the Chrome web store. If your learners are using laptops (Mac or PC), Chromebooks, or a tablet, Chrome apps and extensions can support them on their device in the classroom and at home. Apps and extensions demonstrated will include text to speech, voice recognition, mind mapping, word prediction, highlighting and research tools, timers, support with reading fluency and comprehension, and more.

Check out all the great iOS 8 Accessibility features in this article. Here are those features that are designed to "level the playing field".

> Alex

> Speak Screen

> Zoom

> Grayscale

> Guided Access

> Enhanced Braille Keyboard

> "Made for iPhone" Hearing Aids

> Third Party Keyboard API

Miscellany. iOS 8 brings with it a few housekeeping changes to Settings.app, where the Accessibility options are located. For example, the Subtitles & Captioning option — which previously was found under Hearing — has been moved to a new Media section, right next to a new Video Descriptions toggle. Furthermore, the Physical & Motor pane — home to such features as Switch Control and AssistiveTouch — has been rechristened Interaction.

From the University of Edinburgh, the author of this wheel shares her notes about the development of this Wheel of Autism Apps.

"Every app which has made it on to this wheel has been reviewed by me and I can recommend each one.  Apps which are merely intended for people with autism are not necessarily featured here. I am not trying to provide a comprehensive summary of available apps, but instead a visual shortcut which brings together the apps I like the best, by function.  For this reason, as my collection of app reviews continues to expand, I’ll be updating the wheel at regular intervals."

Another thank you goes out to inov8 educational consulting for providing an update on 6 apps to create social stories. Social stories can be used for behavioral support, for describing and teaching social interactions, to ease transitions, and to teach new adaptive skills (among many other uses!). Check out these 6 apps (some free and some cost $).

> Pictello

> Story Creator and Story Creator Pro: Make Stories, Photo Albums, Scrapbooks, Collages and more

> 30hands: Create & Show What You Know

> Widgit Go

> Explain Everything

> Popplet

 "Children and teens with learning disabilities sometimes have a hard time with social skills and behavior, including reading or communicating nonverbal signals. The following mobile apps may provide your child or teen with some high-tech support. Although we did extensive research on available apps, we also learned that just because “there’s an app for that” it doesn’t mean that it’s right for everyone."

Darla Hatton and her teenage daughter have reviewed these 10 apps in Apple products for you to try out.

> iEarnedThat

> Hidden Curriculum for Kids

> Model me Going Places

> Tap to Talk

> Verbally

> Middle School Confidential 1

> Middle School Confidential 2

> Cyber Bullying

> Angry Octopus

> Your Turn - Kid Timer

Reviewed by Jo Booth OTR/L:

"It was intended as a tool to help kids on the spectrum, their families and caretakers identify both sensory styles and compensatory techniques so that they could open up a dialogue to communicate and share experiences. This little app however, has a much more powerful impact and reach. I consider it an essential app for all classrooms and families who deal with sensory issues, and not limited to those on the autistic spectrum alone."

Here is a significant update of the Padagogy  Wheel developed by Allan Carrington. Here is what he has to say about what is included in the update:

• Links to twice as many apps: It has direct links to 122 of the latest and most popular educational iPad apps.
• App selection criteria: to help teachers make better app decisions These also are linked to the APPitic website and each Bloom’s Cognitive Domain Category has comprehensive selection criteria.  Prompts asking the teacher to think how the app would help the user achieve the domain activities.
• Each domain activity linked to apps:  (that’s wheel 5 from the core) is linked to a group of apps considered most useful to enhance good outcomes.
• The SAMR model wheel better communicates the idea.  This might seem a small addition but I have added two way arrows around the wheel.  I hope this helps teachers understand that the idea is to virtually align the SAMR model with the Bloom’s category they are working with.  The idea is once one or more apps are chosen then think Redefinition if possible. Just keep in focus that the SAMR wheel is meant to spin.  It also has a link to a great video from Dr P. as we call him in the ADE community (Dr Ruben Puentedura) who invented the SMAR model, that’s also worth watching.
• The QR codes have been updated: and provide a great way to connect the “treeware” (aka printed) poster to online resources.  Every mobile device should have a QR reader App …. they are free as well.  The email QR code is particularly cool in it sets up an email to me in your email program and even gives it a subject line and says “Hi Allan”.
• Information available in 19 languages: This is the most exciting new feature to me and it is again thanks to the hard work of the APPitic team.  So if one of these languages is your heart language, and not English, you can research the app and the pedagogical resources in your first language. Now that opens up help to a lot more teachers.  Of course the challenge is to get a padagogy wheel in the same 19 languages … anyone like to help?

Did you know that most smartphones, tablets and other devices have built-in technology that can help with learning and attention issues? The range of assistive technologyfeatures varies among brands. But iPhones, iPads, iPods, Android devices and Windows phones all have features that may make life easier for people with learning and attention issues.

This 'wheel' of AAC Apps by Sally Millar and Gillian McNeill of CALL Scotland, provides a categorised guide to iPad Apps for people with complex communication support needs, who may need to use some form(s) of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

Discover 7 Apps that can make a difference for learners with dyslexia. They include:

> vBookz PDF Voice Reader

> SoundLiteracy

> openWeb

> ModMath

> Dyslexia Quest

> Oz Phonics

> Inspiration Maps

This iPad app wheel includes apps for reading, writing, memory, organization and numeracy. There is a link to acquire the PDF version on this site.