iOS 8 Checklist and Resources

Apple has released iOS 8, the new version of their mobile operating system that runs on iPads, iPods, and iPhones.  I just wanted to post some quick links to some good documents from the Ablenet website about new features in iOS 8 that might affect people with disabilities.  I have also posted a good checklist to look at before you make the decision to upgrade or stick with iOS 7 for a little while longer. 

Click the links below:

iOS 8 New Accessibility Features

iOS 8 Upgrade Checklist

Thanks for reading!

How to enlarge font size on an iPad or iPod

Check out this nice article for a great tutorial on how to make a lot of the text on your iOS device easier to access visually.

New Accessibility Features in iOS 7- Including Switch Scanning!

Apple has released their newest update to iOS, the operating system that runs their iPads, iPods touches, and iPhones last week.  For those of you keeping track, they have now updated from iOS 6 to iOS7.  If you've already downloaded the update, you've noticed that the look is very different, but the feel is still pretty familiar. (Note: Updating to iOS 7 will require some storage space on your device.  You may have to delete some things off of your device, perform the update, and then put those things you deleted back on your device.) There are several changes and additions in iOS 7, including several changes and additions to the accessibility options.  Some of my favorite are more and better voices for Speak Selection, better features in Guided Access, and, my personal favorite, Switch Scanning options!  This feature will allow people with motor impairments to access all aspects of the iPad and many of the great iPad apps.  To see a general list of what is new in iOS 7 accessibility features, click here.  To watch an excellent video overview of the new accessibility features in iOS 7, click here. 

Read on for more information about switch scanning:

Until now, many people with physical disabilities have been unable to interact with touchscreen devices, or their motor impairments have severely limited their ability to interact with the screen.  With iOS 7, these people can bypass all that junk that used to keep them back and can now access the iPad using 3 different methods:
1) using an external bluetooth switch
2) using the entire touch screen of the device as a switch
3) moving their head to the left and right (the front facing camera on the device watches your movement)
 You can also use a combination of switch options, such as using one bluetooth switch to scan through features, but using the touch screen of the iPad to go back to the home screen.

 (Note:  There is no way to plug a switch with wires into an iPad, so you will have to purchase a bluetooth switch to use with the iPad.  Click here for an earlier post about bluetooth switches and  iPad apps.)  

  You can set up the iPad for automatic switch scanning, where the iPad automatically moves the cursor from one choice to the next and you press the switch to select the option you want when highlighted.  You can also set up 2 or more switches to perform step scanning (i.e. one switch moves the cursor to the next choice and another switch chooses the highlighted option).  The head tracking option uses the front facing camera of the iPad and detects when you move your head to the right or left.  You have to move your head approximately 45 degrees either direction to get it to work.  When I played around with it, I had a hard time getting the iPad to recognize my right head movement, but the left head movement worked perfectly.  If you are trying to use this feature in extreme lighting conditions, it will not work very well either.  The switch options are highly customizeable.  You can set it up for very basic users, all the way up to neuro-typical kids with limiting motor impairments. 

I am really excited to see how these new features will open up the iPad to a whole new group of people who were previously held back just by their motor limitations.  To see an excellent video tutorial on iOS 7 switch scanning, including setting up your bluetooth switch and customizing all the settings, click here.  I would love to hear (in the comments) how your students and children are using this new feature.

Mobile Bookshare Apps for iOS and Android devices

Bookshare.org is a wonderful resource for students with print disabilities.  If you have not yet heard about what Bookshare is and how it can change your student's lives, please check out www.bookshare.org, or check out our Bookshare post. 

Students wanting to access free books from Bookshare on their iPad, iPod, iPhone, or Andoid phone or tablet can now do so with the help of a couple of nifty apps.  These apps will access the bookshare website directly from your device, download books directly to the device via wireless internet, and read them aloud using synthetic computer voices.  They are very easy to use and a great tool for mobile device users.

The Bookshare app for iOS devices is called Read2Go.  It costs $19.99 on the iTunes App Store and is compatible with any iOS device.  The app comes with high quality voices pre-installed.  You can change the font size and screen/text/highlighting colors, as well as the speed, pitch, and gender of the voice.  You will need to access a wifi network to download books to your device, but do not need to access wifi to read books already downloaded to your device.

One Caution: In order to use Read2Go, you will need to sign in using your Bookshare username and password.  This means that if students do not have an individual Bookshare account, they will need a teacher to sign in and download books for them using the Teacher's Bookshare username and password.  (Teachers, be careful with your password if using this option).  I have had several families who, once they purchased the app on a personal device, and got set up with an individual Bookshare account, take off and use the app completely independent of the schools, which can be a very powerful thing.

If you are an Android user, there is a free, open source Bookshare app called  GoRead.  The basic setup and idea is similar to the Read2Go app.  You will still need wifi to download books, but not to read, and you will still need a Bookshare username and password to use the app. 

There are still no direct solutions for reading Bookshare books on a Kindle, Kindle Fire, or Nook.  These three devices do not support the DAISY format and, (to the best of my knowledge) do not have DAISY apps available like iOS and Android.  There is a way to convert DAISY books to the Nook's ePub format using a $99 software program called DAISYtoEPUB.  Since the Kindle uses a proprietary book format, you have to then convert the Epub file to a MOBI file using a program called Calibre. or convert it to plain text (.txt) format.  Hopefully these devices will become more user friendly in the future for Bookshare members.

As always, please let me know about any problems or questions in the comments section, and thanks for reading!

Word Prediction Options (I made you a list!)

After some recent discussions with different parents and teachers about word prediction software, I decided to compile a list of some common options that are available for PC/Mac/iPad/iPod/Android.  This list is by no means exhaustive and authoritative, but it lists many of the more common options available today.  I have tried to arrange them  in order by price from "Hey, it's FREE!" to "Holy cow, that's half my mortgage payment!"  I have also tried to include websites for each product so you can do more research on your own.  To see the list, please click this link.

I hope this helps when exploring options.  Please feel free to share this list with anyone who you think would benefit.

Speak Selection in iOS- Make the iPad read to you!

We know that the iPad can fling angry birds against the wall, take notes, play videos, and even speak for you, but one of my absolute favorite features built into the iPad is called Speak Selection.  When this feature is activated, the iPad will read aloud any text that you can select.  I have found it especially useful in Notes, Safari, Email, and Dropbox, but it is limited only to what text you can select.  It is especially useful when paired with the Reader function built into Safari.  (for more info, see my post entitled "A Cleaner and Easier Online Reading Experience...").

To enable the feature, tap the Settings app, and then tap General > Accessibility > Speak Selection.  Turn On the slider bar, and adjust the voice rate.  You only get one voice right now, but it is a good quality voice.  In iOS 6, you also get the option to have the iPad highlight words as it reads.  You also can choose different dialects, just in case you watched Finding Nemo the night before and just couldn't get enough of the Australian accent.

I have included two links to great YouTube videos explaining the feature.  The first video features the ipad, and includes info about the languages and dialects options.  The second video features the iPhone, but it works the same on the iPod touch.





I hope you and your students enjoy this amazing feature.  If you have success stories or creative implementation ideas, please share in the comments section!

Free iOS apps available today/ A shout-out to the UCET blog.

I have been a fan for a while of a great blog put out by the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology (UCET).  It is located at http://ucetnews.blogspot.com .  The UCET is an educational technology organization that consists mainly of regular education teachers, but has been expanding more into special education as well as technology continues to bridge the gaps between them.

One of my favorite features of the blog is that they will periodically list iOS apps (apps for iPads and iPods) that normally cost money to purchase, but are available for a limited time for free.  I will try to update this blog with links to the UCET blog when they post that info.  To see today's list, go to the UCET blog, or click the following link.  Two that caught my eye were a Cookie Monster app, and a great figural analogy app.

Check them out and bookmark the UCET blog if you like to keep up to date on the latest in educational technology.

Guided Access - iOS 6 accessibility feature

I will be the first to say that I love the impact iPads have made in education. I have, however, always been frustrated that it was so easy for a student to quit a chosen app simply by hitting the home button on the bottom of the device.  It can be VERY difficult to use an iPad effectively once a student figures out how easy it is to exit that math app and play Fruit Ninja instead!  It is also frustrating when a student keeps tapping the wrong place in an app (settings buttons, ad banners, volume switch, etc.) and disrupts the learning of himself or others.

With the upgrade to iOS 6, that problem has been solved for us!!  Apple has introduced an accessibility option called Guided Access.  Turning on Guided Access enables you to do two really great things:
1) Disable all the external buttons on the iPad, including the home button, volume buttons, sleep button, etc.  (no more hitting the home button to exit an app, changing the volume, etc.)
2) Disable certain areas of the touch screen when using a chosen app. (no more clicking on ad banners or in-app purchase buttons, etc.)

Click this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wSuL-1TZro8#! to see a nice 3 minute video about Guided Access, or read on for more info.

This feature is accessed by tapping the Settings app, then tapping General-Accessibility-Guided Access.  Once you tap Guided Access, you will turn it on, and set a passcode (you will need to remember this passcode to get OUT of Guided Access once you've started it).

Then, get into an app, and Triple-click the home button.  This will bring up the guided access set up screen.  (NOTE: Guided access only works when you are already in an app, you can't get to it from the home screen of your iPad).  You can then draw a circle around certain portions of the screen you want to disable, as well as turn on/off access to the hardware buttons, touch screen itself, and the motion capability (shaking or rotating the device).

Once you have selected your options, hit Start in the top right corner of the screen to begin guided access.  Now you will NOT be able to exit the app by tapping the home button.  You will have to exit Guided Access by triple-clicking the home button, entering the passcode you set in the Guided Access settings, and tapping End in the top left corner of the screen.

Here's the link to the video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wSuL-1TZro8#!

This is available on all iPads, iPod touches, and iPhones that will support iOS 6.  The iPad 1 and several older iPods/iPhones will NOT support iOS 6.  You can see a full list of iOS 6 supported devices here (scroll to bottom of page): http://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/