iPad Apps

In today's society technology is a part of our daily lives. iPads and iPhones have become a necessity for most people. iPads and iPhones can do so much for us, especially in the area of AT. I have an iPad myself and see how much there is to offer with this technology that I wanted to look into iPads in special education. I watched a video about the use of iPad Apps for autistic and nonverbal students. The speaker, Lauren Meatty, gives great information about useful apps to use with nonverbal students or physically disabled students that may have difficulty with fine motor skills.

Lauren made the point that even when using iPads with students we need to keep the engagement between the teacher and student or parent and student. We cannot just expect to hand an iPad to a child and let them go. We need to be there encouraging, questioning, and prompting them.

I found a few of the Apps Lauren discussed to be useful for my classroom. 

1. Duck Duck Moose which plays nursery rhymes and familiar songs while having the student click on the items.

2. The glossary for American Sign Language which demonstrates the sign language for specific words.

3. SpeakIt which will read aloud the text you type.

4. Proloquo2Go which allows the students to tap on phrases such as I want.. and brings them to another screen to tap things like eat or play.

I feel through watching this video I have learned about some important Apps that I may use in my future. My classroom does not currently have iPads, but it is good to know about these Apps that I can suggest to parents or therapists. I believe that I would feel comfortable utilizing iPads in my classroom and learning about these Apps has only made me fill more comfortable.

Resource: iPad App video