Swim into Learning

Able AAC free

Able AAC Free is a free evaluation app to help evaluate two other paid apps called Able AAC and My Daily Tasks Able AAC. This app is designed specifically for individuals who have difficulty speaking or are nonverbal. There are categories listed on the right side of the app, such as, Simple Interface, Advanced Interface, Type & Speak, My Stored Sentences, My Tasks, My Audios, and My Videos.  There are subcategories listed under each one that you can access.  It can tell you the days and months, about animals, emotions, and math just to name a few.  It is set up where you can teach and learn on different levels. This app has different languages and multiple voice engines that can be used also. Once a child has completed a certain level they can move on up to more advanced levels. This is an awesome app and I would definitely use it in my classroom. This app appeals to different cultures and makes it one of the best apps out there. Also built into the application is a configurable home/school daily schedule check able task list, reminder list, reward/motivational system, video and audio learning system

ABA Flash Cards and Games – Emotions

In my review of this particular app, I liked it. It is fairly easy to use and it allows you to change the settings that can be customized for each student.  This app also gives you the option of creating your own cards, which again is good, because you can tailor it for each individual student. It is a simple app that is good for learning emotions and how to connect those emotions with body language and facial expressions. I would definitely use this app with my students especially with the ones who may have difficulty displaying or understanding emotions.

Model Me Going Places

This app was probably one of my favorites because it is designed to help children with autism and development issues. However, it is friendly enough to be used for students on the other end of the spectrum that may not have those issues. It teaches kids how to develop good social skills in six different locations and also how to model good behavior while visiting those places.  In my opinion, the only drawback is not being able to customize the social scenarios to cater to each child and the places they may go. However, the six that were chosen were ones that the majority of children can relate to. So, I would say yes to this app as well. I would use it with my students because it’s them a good model on how to behave in social settings.

Model Me Faces and Emotions

This is an awesome app as well because it helps children with autism and other special needs to understand emotions. There was a time when we were not as well informed about autism and how to teach autistic children or even knew what the meaning of autism. Therefore, to see great apps like this being made to help special needs children is a great thing.  This app is instrumental in helping students learn about different emotions, such as, happy, sad, calm, and proud. The music and pictures add wonderful elements because it can cause the children to be more engaged.  There are different slides that tell about each emotion. You can choose the emotion that you want to hear and see about. These tools are also available on DVDs. This is a great app to use in the classroom to help students that may not be as advanced as others.

My Visual Schedule Lite

This app was created for children with special needs as it relations to audible and visual support. It allows you to create schedules to increase a child’s independence. There are sections that allow you to add lunch and activities and to check those things off the list once completed.  It also allows a user to create multiple schedules for children for different days of the week. This is also a good app that I would use to help students who may struggle in this area.