Due to the blizzard like conditions, today's class took place in the comfort of our own homes! This also got me out of shovelling the large amount of snow that was drifted in our driveway :) It was so nice not to have to venture outside or try and make up the class at a later date. We logged into Blackboard Collaborate, which I must say, was a lost less painful than I anticipated. I didn't experience any technological glitches and I was able to easily answer questions and give feedback when needed. I thought this was a great way to have class. I really enjoyed the experience!
During our session together this morning, Tarah, Nancy, Mandy and Raeann shared some of the information they learned at the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC).
Tarah's presentation focused on sign language and she presented us with the app Signed Stories. Barb was able to show us a demonstration of the app from her iPad which I thought was pretty cool. This app tells stories through sign language. I also really liked Tarah's use of sign language in her classroom with the thumbs up and thumbs down. What a great way to decrease the noise level.
I had never heard of Tango before. After seeing Nancy's great presentation, the one thing that stood out to me about this device was the price-$8299!! My initial thought was, how can anyone afford that? and even if they could afford it, why would they waste that much money when they could purchase Proloquo2go and iPad and all the accessories for under $1000.
iComm was another new app for me. Mandy's presentation provided a great overview of this app and it's capabilities. This app is free with an upgraded version for the cost of $6.99. The one thing that stood out to me regarding this app was the price of $6.99. As Mandy mentioned, there are some limitations within this app, however it is a good starting place for young children.
Following our online class I watched three webinars that Barb created with the assistance of some of her colleagues focusing on apps what support fine motor skills, top free apps in special education and communication. I found these webinars to be very informative. They provided me with so many new apps that I wanted to download and try out. There were many apps that I could see benefiting some of students. I have listed some of my favourites from each webinar below.
Fine Motor Skills
I learned a lot of valuable information while watching this webinar since this is not my area of expertise. I feel like I now have a good understanding of what to look for and how I can help support students. Fine motor skills are the ability to make precise coordinated movements using the joints and muscles appropriate to hand and fingers. If a student is experiencing difficulty with their fine motor skills, they could have trouble cutting, gluing, writing, eating and completing other school tasks. These difficulties can become very frustrating for children. Fine motor skills develop at infancy and continue to develop into childhood. This webinar presented many iPad apps that can be used to assist children who experience fine motor dysfunction. iPads can be used as a part of a comprehensive fine motor skill remediation program.
Touch and Write: ($2.99) This app allows the user to touch the screen with their finger or a stylus and learn letters, numbers and words. You can write with shaving cream, ketchup, gelatine, pudding, chalk or a pencil. The user can choose between 29 different paper styles. There is a choice of two high frequency word lists and you can also create your own word list. This app enhances handwriting skills, control and grasp. This is a great engaging and creative way for children to develop their writing.
Dexteria: ($3.99) This app provides therapeutic hand exercises supporting and enhancing fine motor skills. It also helps children and adults develop their writing skills. The activities help build strength, control and dexterity. It also promotes, finger sequencing, isolation and control. A stylus can be used to complete the activities. This app is meant to be used in short sessions on a regular basis. If it is used regularly, improvements should be noticeable over time. This app is very engaging for students and motivates them to complete tasks.
Top Free Apps in Special Education
Bubble Popper: (free) This app gives you 1 minute to pop as many bubbles as you can or you can pop for as long as you like. It allows you to adjust the size of the bubbles and the colour. This app would be a great tool to use with students and individuals who have difficulties with transitions, for calming, relaxation, distraction and sensory regulation. As soon as I seen this app I thought of one of my students. He has ADHD and I think he would really enjoy and benefit from using this app. He has a lot of difficulty transitioning between activities and classes and settling in without being very disruptive. I think it would be worth a try. 
Pocket Pond: (free) This app provides you with your own personal pond. You can enjoy many relaxing sounds of nature including the ripples of water. This app allows users to interact with fish and feed them. The interactive water reacts to touches and swipes. There is an option to add lily pads, dragonflies, food, other fish and with the upgrade you can also add thunderstorm sounds. This app is very peaceful and is great for calming and relaxing. This app can be used with students who have autism for sensory regulation, to enhance discussion and verbal expression.
Pic Collage: (free) I love the app Pic Collage! We were first introduced to this app during our summer course and I have used it many times since them. This app allows you to create collages using pictures, stickers, borders, text and many others features. You can import your own photos from your photo library and you can upload photos from the internet. There are many different backgrounds to choose from and a variety of colours for fonts. It is very user friendly and easy to manipulate by tapping the screen and moving things around. This app is great for journaling, creating timelines, collages, brainstorming, visual schedules, picture dictionaries, procedural/informational writing and advertisements. Communication Disorders
This webinar provided so many great apps to support students. I found it difficult to choose three that I liked best.
Sign4Me: ($9.99) This app is a signed English translator. You are able to type in words, phrases and sentences and the character will sign back the translation. There are over 11 500 words in the library. Everything you type gets saved in the history until you delete it. You have the ability to zoom in and out on the character and speed up and slow down the rate the character is signing. This app is great for children and adults of all ages who are learning to sign.
ArtikPix: ($29.99) This app is an articulation app for children with speech sound delays. It has 24 decks of cards with 40 cards each for sounds and blends. The app consists of flashcards and matching games. Students have to touch the card to hear the word and sentence and swipe to move on to the next card. In the matching activity words are categorized into easy, medium and hard. This app also features voice recording and accuracy tracking for each individual. I think this app is a great at home practice tool for children who work with speech language pathologists. 
Pictello: ($18.99) This is a talking story and photo book creation app that is available in many languages. Each page of a storybook can contain a picture (you can add from your own photo library), 5 lines of text and a voice recording. Pictello can be used by children and adults of all ages, therefore it is very user friendly. Pictello can be used by people who are non verbal to share stories. It can also be used to teach social skills and recall events.
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