4/11/14 Appy Friday

Make room in your iPad folks because there are TONS of apps free thanks to Autism Awareness Month and Occupational Therapy Month! Here are just a few picks. I could spend all day reviewing apps!


Early childhood apps:
Shiny Party - Shapes & Colors by Shiny Things (normally $2.99)

Shiny party has a book that introduces two characters and then games to help the characters learn shapes and colors. I like that you can skip the back story and go directly to the interactive games: find a shape, build a cupcake, shape puzzle and match blitz jr. Works on visual discrimination, dragging, matching, and step by step construction.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shiny-party-shapes-colors/id618658350?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 


Thinking Time Pro by Kiko Labs (normally $4.99)

This early childhood app has four games: memory, reasoning, sorting and rule switching. Honestly, this app is worthwhile when on sale for free, but I wouldn't purchase the full version. Mostly because I didn't like the patterns game. The pattern was put in a 2x2 array which is confusing. The sorting and rule switching games could be frustrating to some little ones at first, it is deliberately tricky. However, I really did like the repeat the sequence game that works on visual memory and sequencing. You follow the pattern and then repeat it in the same order.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thinking-time-pro-brain-training/id727848493?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 



Elementary apps:
Happi Connect & Collect by Happi Papi (normally $2.99)

The purpose is to play an association game where they give three flash cards and you have to identify the word that it has in common. Works on vocabulary, spelling and categorization. I like that it verbally describes the pictures as they pop up so you don't have to guess what the picture is (sometimes drawings are obscure) and provides cues if the user gets completely lost. When you get it correct, you get a silly or strange collectible card.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happi-connect-collect-word/id793368327?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 




Montessori Math: Add & Subtract Large Numbers by Les Trois Elles Interactive (normally $3.99)

This app has three games: the stamp game, the bead frame and the magic slate. There are profiles so you can track individual students' progress.The games use base ten strategy to teach addition and subtraction. This is a great way to help students with fine motor difficulties to virtually use math manipulatives.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/montessori-math-add-subtract/id661156236?mt=8







Middle-High School
Hark - Quick Text to speech (normally $0.99)

This is a simple word processing app with text to speech with highlighting. You can do the same thing just using the accessibility features built in the iPad (speak selection). However, if you have an iPad 1, you might want to check it out.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hark-quick-text-to-speech/id715455614?mt=8






Chemist - Virtual Chem Lab by THIX (normally $4.99)

Tap and drag chemicals, beakers, pipettes, etc. from toolbars to set up a virtual lab experiment. This would be good for high school students who were homebound or have physical impairments and cannot use lab equipment. It's not a standalone instructional app, but more of a school tool to be used within a classroom activity.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chemist-virtual-chem-lab/id440666387?mt=8

Can you match? by Raja Mohammad Zishanullah (normally $0.99)

Can you match? is an extreme version of the memory game where it shows you face up all of the cards, flips them over and then moves the columns on you as play. Works on visual memory, visual discrimination, matching and eye tracking skills.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/can-you-match/id514730264?mt=8