Low Tech Items from Dollarama - Task A

The first item I found is just a simple cup sleeve. You can buy a set of two for $1.00 and I though they would provide extra grip on a cup for students who perhaps have trouble hanging onto a smooth cup. They could also provide a barrier from a cold or hot drink for students who get overwhelmed with too much stimulus. Sorry that all my pictures are sideways :S

These are cute little plant tie's that I found. I thought they could be used to keep cords from laptops, etc., together. I was also thinking they would make good fidget toys as they bend every which way and do not seem to break easily. They could even be put on a pencil as a fidget! :)

I couldn't believe I found this at Dollarama. It is $2.00 and it is a stand for an iPad! The back is adjustable so you can change the height depending on the needs of the student. The iPad sits right in the case, so even if it falls, the iPad will be protected.

I found these two items and they are each $1.00 (I think they are actually used for cleaning a shower?). Barbara had alternative paint brushes that she showed us, and I thought these would be great for painting as well. They have soft rubber all along the bottom, and because of the hole in the handle, a students can grasp them a few different ways depending on their needs. They would also be very easy to clean!

This is a clear plastic folder that I found. It can be cut in two and used as a coloured overlay for students with dyslexia. I have found that blue tends to be a favourite.

How fun is this! This would be great for hand-eye coordination, group play, social skills, and it's fun! The velcro on the glove makes it easy to catch the ball for those who would otherwise have difficulty playing catch.

Social Story

I had fun creating a social story with my group using the Book Creator app. I have never done one before, and I find myself wondering why these are not put into practice at my previous school. The students there on the spectrum are all high functioning, but there would still be a lot of advantages for teaching about different social situations and 'hidden curriculum'. There is a whole social skills program taught at the school that the use of this app would be perfect for. Below is a little demo of how to use the app.

Webinars

Physical Access to Mobile Devices
WritePad - $3.99

I like the idea of this app, but I am unsure if I would use it. The app did not seem to recognize messy handwriting, which is the issue with many of my students.






Dragon Dictation - Free

I would really like to test this app out. So many students are very verbal, but find it hard to write out what they wish to say. This app would give them the freedom to use their verbal strength and have a written output :)





Touch Trainer - $4.99


I think it is great that there is an app to train people in how to use the buttons on most apps. I also like how it the settings the touch can be adjusted to recognize different taps depending on the needs of the student.




Executive Functioning
Sock Puppets - Free

This app is so cute! I think it would be great for students with autism who have trouble speaking to people. I am thinking of a past student of mine who is completely verbal but does not really speak in school. Perhaps this is the answer!

The Shredder - 0.99

This app is great! A lot of the students I worked with at my previous school have a lot of anxiety, negative thoughts, and insecurities. I could see this being very therapeutic for them :)









Let Panic Go - $2.99


I can see the benefits of this app, but personally I do not like it at all. I have anxiety and I found this app just made me focus my anxiety and made it worse!




Early Learners
Kiddie Questions - $2.99

I think this is a great app for language building. I had a student on the spectrum that always said he had a question at the beginning of class. When I would ask what it was, he would proceed to tell me a story of something that happened, haha. This would be great for someone like him, to show him what questions are! :)

Bugs and Buttons - $2.99

Great app for honing fine motor skills. I could see a lot of my little students really enjoying this because of the bug component. They would forget they were learning!






JibJab Jr - Free

I love JibJab. I have often put pictures of my partner, cat and myself as elves at Christmas time! I love that they took that idea and put it into making personalized books for kids. Really attention grabbing.


Communication
Speech Tutor - $9.99


This is such a great app. Teeth, tongue and lip placement was a component to the phonetics program I taught for 4 years. This app is so much better than using mirrors! My only complaint is that it does not have all the consonants, and has no vowels. I am sure there is an app that does though.

Sign4Me - $9.99



Really cool app. I am thinking that this could be used for students who communicate by signing, but perhaps have difficulty with their fine motor skills.




Math
Count Money! - Free


Great idea for an app. Money is a hard concept for a lot of students. I am wondering if you can get this with Canadian coins?




Symmetry Shuffle - $1.99

I would play this so much if I had an iPad.....I love puzzles. I found that many of my students loved puzzles, mind games, etc.








Number Line - Free



I like this app. Great for visual learners. Math teachers at my previous school often put number lines on the floor for more kinesthetic learning, but this app would also be good depending on the learner.


Free apps in Special Education
Pocket Pond - Free

This app is so fun and relaxing. I love watching fish swim, and with the app, you can take it with you :) This would be a great way for students to calm down if they are frustrated or just need to relax.




Tourwrist - Free



I had so much fun with this. How great would this app be to incorporate into classes like Global Geography, learning about different cultures, etc.





Science 360 - Free

This app looks like it has amazing graphics. I like that it has a lot of videos to enhance learning.

AAC Apps

Expressive - $25.99

Allows users to communicate through the use of pictures and audio. The user can choose from  a pool of images with audio files or create their own folders. Comes with 600 vocabulary pictures. It actually appears to be quite similar to Proloquo2Go. I could not find a good demo of the  app so I uploaded a few pictures of it.

MyTalkTools Mobile -  $49.99

Can easily customize through the use of pictures, video, images, symbols, and audio. I like this because you can record your voice to say a phrase when a picture is pressed. Here is a short video of how a father customized the app for his son.

Speech Button - Free

 

Comes pre-loaded with 25 vocabulary words and is a good option for a primary communication app or as a springboard for a more sophisticated app in the future. Helps people express their basic wants and need, thoughts, feelings, and express themselves in a variety of environments. The display can be customized depending on the cognitive needs of the user. It says it has a gender neutral voice, but as you will hear in the demo, I found it to be a very young child's voice and I don't feel an adult would want it to sound that way.

Functional Communication System - $49.99

This app is designed to be easily customized to the user. Uses real images and video instead of symbols. You can also record your own video and use your own images. Comes with 500 vocabulary words to get you started. I like that it uses real, life like images as I feel this would be better for adults. Here is a demo of the app below.

GoTalk NOW - $79.99

Page layouts and navigation can be customized, voice can be recorded, and has text-to-speech capabilities. Comes with a symbol set and can add your own images as well from your photo library or the internet. Can link your favourite songs from your playlist, which I feel would be so cool for junior high and high school students. It comes with a lot of customization options, but appears to take some time to get used to all the functions. here is a demo below. 

May 26th - Morning

I had so much fun using Proloquo2Go! I really want to use this program again to help a student be able to communicate. Learning how to design it for a specific student based on need and abilities was a really great way to learn. Below is a really good demonstration of Proloquo2Go by a cute little boy named Max :)

Here is a news broadcast I found featuring a Speech Language Pathologist and how Proloquo2Go greatly improved their access to communication.

May 5 - Afternoon

I liked learning more about the program Proloquo2go. This is such a smart program and can be advantageous for all kinds of learners. I would really like to work with this program more and hopefully be able to put it into affect for student(s) in the future.  Here is a little clip showing students using the program. I like how they were not only using the program so that students who were non-verbal could communicate, but they were also using it so that students who do not form complete sentences could benefit by using it. 

Day 1 - Morning

This morning we started out by using the app Pic Collage on the iPad's. This app was very easy to use and I could see students using this for a presentations, poster projects, or as a way for students to get to know one another at the beginning of the year. We were not able to upload pictures from the internet, so we took pictures of pictures already on our phones :)


Demonstration of Pic Collage on the iPad

I really really impressed with the accessibility options on the iPad. I knew that the option was there for the speech auto text, but I had no idea of the other great options. I really like the speech selection as well as the white on black option for students with dyslexia or low vision.


Here is a demonstration of some of the accessibility options available.

I have seen QR Codes around lately, but I did not really know what they were. I feel these would be really fun to incorporate into classroom activities. They would also be very useful for accommodating students with their classwork and testing. 


Here is an example of a teacher using QR codes in his classroom.

I want an iPad now more than ever!