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.

How struggling in school can help you succeed in life.

This is a link to a great article written by Don Johnson, a man with severe learning disabilities who founded and owns one of the largest assistive technology companies in the world, Don Johnston Inc. (makers of Co:Writer software).  He describes how struggling with dyslexia actually gave him an edge over his peers, to whom school came easily.  He also describes how a caring teacher became the "change agent" that changed the course of his life forever.  This is a quick and inspiring read, and would make a great mini lesson for students to discuss disability, perseverance, and overcoming adversity.  You can access the article by clicking here.  Enjoy!

SoundingBoard-Easy (and free) AAC app for iPad

Sometimes, you don't want an AAC app that comes with thousands of buttons and lots of complex menus to have to learn.  Sometimes, you just want to quickly and easily create a board with a few pictures for your emerging communicators.  And sometimes, you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on an app that you're not even sure will work for your student.  If any of those "Sometimes" applies to you, then you might want to check out a FREE app from Ablenet called SoundingBoard.

SoundingBoard is an easy to use app that lets you quickly make communication pages (or "boards") for students.  These boards can be linked together to make a more complex communication system, or can just be selected as needed based on the setting and task.  The AbleNet website describes the app this way:

SoundingBoard is ONLY available for download at iTunes stores.

SoundingBoard transforms your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch into the latest in communication technology. In just minutes, you can create custom boards using AbleNet symbols or your own photos.

• Create boards with up to 20 message locations
• Virtually unlimited capacity; create boards for any situation
• Use the built-in AbleNet symbol library for instant access to hundreds of symbols
• Record messages of virtually any length for each symbol
• Use your own photo library for even greater flexibility and options
• Take your own photos using your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch and use them in a board immediately*
• Increase the physical size of the boards by using the iPad

If you haven't checked out this free resource yet, you should add it to your AAC toolbox.  It is a great app to have for many different situations.  My only caution about "build your own pages" apps is that, for students who have a lot to say, it may be a very frustrating experience to only be able to say the things my teacher and SLP get around to programming for me.  For those kinds of students, you may want to check out a more fully featured AAC app.

2 new fully featured AAC apps for Autism: AutisMate and Avaz

When most people think about AAC and the iPad, they usually think about Proloquo2go.  It is a great app that offers tons of preloaded vocabulary, along with a highly customizable interface to support lots of different levels of communicators.

  I have recently learned about two other apps that share many of the features that make Proloquo2go so popular.  They are called AutisMate, and Avaz.  Both apps are designed for students with autism, but would support many other students with cognitive and communication impairments.  It is always good to have options when individualized supports for students, and I hope this info will help you expand your AAC toolbox a bit today!

First, let's talk about  AutisMate.  It costs $149.99 and is available on the Apple app store.  This app is a unique blend of visual behavior supports and communication.  The AutisMate website says:

AutisMate is an iPad app for autism that improves communication and social and behavioral skills (life skills) for individuals with autism by reinforcing autism treatment through a comprehensive approach, offering all of the Visual Supports, including Visual Scenes, Visual Schedules, Video Modeling, Visual Stories and Grid-Based AAC.

The idea is that, since communication and behavior are so intertwined, why not combine them into the same app?  The interface is clean and easy to use, and the visual supports are great.  Check out the AutisMate website to see some great videos of the app in action.  I have also included a video demonstration by a mother of a child with autism showing how she uses the app at home.



Next up is the Avaz app. It costs $99.99 and is available on the Apple app store. Unlike AutisMate, which is a hybrid between a behavior and communication app, Avaz is an AAC app designed to rival Proloquo2go.  It offers many really nice features, including:

• 3 levels of vocabulary (500 - 5000 words)
• Easy customization
• Multiple types of vocabulary and communication strategies, including Core Words, a Keyboard with word prediction, a Mistake button, an Alert button (for getting someone's attention), and Grid based AAC.
• Can start with only 2 buttons on a page and grow from there.
• Can hide buttons and zoom in on buttons when tapped
• High quality voices
• Automatically tracks how the app is used during a session (instant data collection!)
• Lots of ways to adjust and change settings based on the student.

 This looks like a great app, with lots of great features, and at a very reasonable price for an app of this caliber.  Check out the Avaz website for more info.  I've also included a brief 1 minute video overview of the app for your enjoyment.

Cosmonaut-Wide grip iPad stylus for small hands or other motor impairments

My last post dealt with how switch scanning in the new iOS opens up the iPad to people who couldn't previously use it due to physical motor limitations.  In that same vein, I wanted to briefly discuss the Cosmonaut Large Grip Stylus.  This was designed to feel more like a dry erase marker than a traditional pencil style stylus.  I think it is ideal for young children who can't really grasp a smaller stylus yet, as well as for young children who have not yet learned to only touch the screen with one finger at a time.  They can grip the stylus and then the stylus becomes that one point of touch screen contact.  (We've all been frustated by trying to tap somewhere on the screen with one finger and accidentally doing something weird when another finger made contact with the screen at the same time).  This stylus may work as well for older students who have problems extending just one finger to tap a touchscreen, or who cannot hold a teeny little stylus, but could control something a little bit bigger.  You can get more information at
http://www.studioneat.com/products/cosmonaut

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.

Introducing Students to Text to Speech Accommodations- (That weird computer voice can be your friend!)

I have produced a short (4 page) document designed to help concerned, yet busy teachers and parents make sense of Text to Speech (or screen reader) technology, when you really don't feel you have time to take on ONE MORE THING!!  It is designed to quickly and easily help you:

1. Better understand what Text to Speech (TTS) technology is and how it can help struggling readers.
2. Find you free and easy tools to get Text to Speech going in your classroom TODAY.
3. Figure out how to build Text to Speech into your already WAY too busy school schedule in small, manageable steps.

To access the document, please click here.