I\u2019ll confess, like many of you I collect apps. I have an old tablet devoted to nothing but \u201ckid\u201d apps. Finding information about a variety of book apps is relatively easy now that so many of us are using them and reviewing them. One question I am asked frequently is \u201cCan you recommend any assistive technology apps?\u201d<\/p>\n
There are several that have caught my eye recently so I decided to give them a try. I was impressed with the continued growth and development of these types of applications. There are many people, both young and old that could benefit greatly from using these simple programs. All the apps mentioned are intuitive, easy to use, some have a nominal fee and others are free.<\/p>\n
Kidspiration Maps is a kid friendly mind-mapping app for the\u00a0iPad. Kidspiration is similar to the Inspiration Maps, but Kidspiration includes more kid friendly templates and clipart like graphics. Kidspiration allows users to create mind mapping webs to help organize ideas and information visually. Unlike\u00a0Inspiration Map<\/a>s, Kidspiration allows users to insert a large variety of clipart images into their maps. Kidspiration also includes the ability to add a recorded voice note; a feature that is unfortunately missing in Inspiration Maps.<\/p>\n Kidspiration Maps includes a large number of pre-loaded templates for reading and writing, social studies, science, and math. These templates are geared for elementary school children and range from an \u201call about me\u201d web to sorting and matching activities. If no template is applicable there is an option to start a new document. One template contains a number of words and instructions to arrange the words into alphabetical order while another asks kids to match states to their capitals. With the nice visuals these activities can be engaging and easier than using physical manipulative. One drawback is when the student is completing the activities there is no way to program the correct responses in order to give the student immediate feedback. Also, when searching for clipart students cannot search for an image by keyword, but instead must scroll through long lists of images.<\/p>\n Bookshare\u00a0is an essential service for people with print disabilities.\u00a0Bookshare.org<\/a> provides accessible e-books for qualified students. Members can choose from over 200,000 downloadable titles including many textbooks.\u00a0Bookshare\u00a0books can be downloaded in a DAISY format for use with\u00a0text-to-speech\u00a0software or in a Braille format. Similar to Kurzweil, the combination of text-to-speech and highlighted text can greatly speed up and reading and increase comprehension for qualifying students. Thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Education Bookshare is free to U.S. students.<\/p>\n \u00a0Learning Ally\u00a0<\/a>is another provider of accessible books for the blind and dyslexic.Learning Ally mostly provides human narrated audio books for their members. Learning Ally is also expanding to provide \u201cVOICEtext\u201d books which include human narration and highlighted text. The highlighting of \u201cVOICEtext\u201d books is not word by word like in Bookshare and Kurzweil but rather is paragraph by paragraph. Learning Ally books can be read on\u00a0iOS\u00a0and\u00a0Android\u00a0devices using the Learning Ally Audio app.<\/p>\n