Now Tech That!: Appy Friday the 13th and Assistive Technology as a crutch 5/13/16

Appy Friday the 13th Readers!

We’re a little light on free apps today (especially in language arts), shall we blame it on it being a Friday the 13th or the full moon?

Well it gives me a little extra time to share with you an Assistive Technology issue I had today during a consultation meeting. I met with a team who is new to Assistive Technology and the SETT (decision making frame work, Student, Environment, Tasks and Tools). Right before we discuss our feature match, I ask if there is anything else we need to consider when we are picking a tool (typical examples are student has another device in a black case and needs a case in a different color, the school is starting a Chromebook initiative in a couple of years), but today the teacher said she was worried that the student will use AT software as a “crutch” and never learn how to spell or write on his own.

My response is that you don’t stop teaching how to spell or write. The purpose of the AT tool for this student (every kid is different) is for the student to show what he knows without having to think about how to spell every word in the sentence. The only way to know how it’s going to go, is to try it.

This brings up a bigger point about the perspective people have about Assistive Technology. That’s it’s negative, something to hide or that it is only for those with severe disabilities. A long time ago I was at an AT conference and someone explained Assistive Tech in a way I loved (I wish I could remember who said this!). They said AT is like a kickboard. Remember what it is like learning a new swim stroke? Sometimes it’s hard. If the typical teaching strategies aren’t working, you have to switch it up. So your teacher gives you a kick board. The teacher doesn’t worry that you will become dependent on the kick board. She gives it to you so you can concentrate on learning the leg movements in the water without worrying about staying afloat or running out of energy. Yes, some people will need the kick board for weeks. Some people need it for 30 minutes. And yes, there are some people who will always use a floatation device in the pool. At the end of the day, you’re still in the pool right? This is why working in Assistive Technology is rewarding. It is all about participation and meeting personalized goals. The technology is just the tool to let a person do their individual version of better, faster, or more independently.

*Stepping off soapbox*

Have a great weekend,

Betsy

Reviews

Early Childhood

Tiggly Shape's Got Talent by Tiggly

https://appsto.re/us/CAqO6.i

Normally $2.99

The theme is America’s got talent, but all with animated shapes. Your child can experiment with shapes, dress up shapes like paper dolls, record stories and take pictures. This is a great app for learning attributes of shapes, cause and effect, finger isolation, dragging, listening to a story, etc. Very cute!

Elementary

Kids Time Fun by One Step Ahead Apps, LLC

https://appsto.re/us/UwA-s.i

Normally $1.99

Kid Time fun works on practicing basic telling time skills such as telling time, elapsed time, time after and time before, setting the time and then you can have a mix of questions. What I like is it tracks the number of correct/incorrect answer, you can choose if you want them to do 10-50 questions or work for 1-5 minutes and select a difficulty level (1 minute time increments to 30 minute time increments). What I don’t like is when they present a field of answers, the answers are in very small text boxes with tiny font. I also don’t like the design (flowers, rainbows and sunshine), it might be too distracting for some students or may look too young or babyish for older students.

Middle-High School

Vintage Gadget by HolosOne

https://appsto.re/us/_ghZI.i

Normally $0.99

This is a Steampunk styled bundle of tools: timer, stop watch, flash light, level, ruler, compass, protractor and counter. You move through the tools on a cogwheel and every time you close a tool, it puffs out steam. You can tell this is really an iPhone or iPod Touch app (1x is in the corner), which only matters when you are trying to use the flashlight. It’s a fun way to access some tools that typically spread out amongst several different apps.

Always Free, Always Awesome

Irregular Verbs - English Grammar Games by Innovative Mobile Apps

https://appsto.re/us/3ISncb.i

Innovative Mobile apps are always on my favorites list, so it feels a little like cheating that I’m reviewing another one of their apps. I can’t resist though, I like this one!

Innovative Mobile Apps makes Bitsboard, which is a flash card app. Then they also post Bitsboard formatted apps that works only on a specific skill, this one is on irregular verbs. It has several games to allow for repetition and drill. It starts with flash cards so you can learn the words in the activity. Then you can play games like true or false, unscrambling sentences, fill in the blank and matching, etc. Depending on your student, you can make it easy (field of 2, lots of visual hints) to tough (field of 6, no visual or audio hints). The best part of the app is that you can make your own boards, it takes data and you can export and import activities.

Also free today!

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Dr. Panda's Toy Cars by Dr. Panda Ltd

https://appsto.re/us/yVxIZ.i

Normally $2.99

*Also on Google Play, but not free today

Toca Band by Toca Boca AB

https://appsto.re/us/iR5fF.i

Normally $2.99

INTERACTIVE BOOKS/ELECTRONIC STORYBOOKS

Chug Patrol: Ready to Rescue ~ Chuggington Interactive Pop-up Book by StoryToys Entertainment Limited

https://appsto.re/us/W7PpP.i