A Day In The Life Of Oscar

The first webinar I watched was “ A day in the life of Oscar” who is a young boy with autism.  The webinar is an overview of many of the aps that Oscar uses in his daily routines. One of the first aps discussed is “Scene Speak” which is an amazing app that allows you to take pictures of areas that students commonly find themselves. Then the teacher programs voice prompts in so that when the student touches something on the screen the voice prompt tells them what the expected behavior is in that place. You can add many pictures of places in a school, bus stop, doctors office, bathroom and at home. I could definitely use this program to help a classroom teacher develop programing for high functioning students with Autism and even students with Asperger’s. Teachers could take pictures of their classrooms or any other room in the school and program in voice prompts for any areas where they have noted the student has difficulty remembering what to do or what is appropriate. I really love the concept of this app as many of our Autistic students react only to real pictures of places and people, this app is very concrete in nature and so very useful to a wide range of learners. This program is very versatile and could be designed to function in so many locations.

The next app that is reviewed is “Photo Touch Concepts” which is an app that I have used quite successfully with an Autistic student in my learning center. This app reviews basic concepts like size, orientation of objects compared to others and choosing what object is from a group of similar objects. This program was very useful with my student who had mastered these concepts a long time ago but had not practiced them in a long time. We found that he had forgotten some of these concepts which really impeded his ability to proceed with some more complicated tasks. I think although many of these programs are designed for young learners it is important to remember that even our older autistic students may respond well to these apps like “Learn with Poka”. I may try to find a more age appropriate program but the way that math concepts are taught with this app keeps it interesting for the student.

The pocket pond has worked very well as a calming tool for another student I have who is obsessed with water. He loves to play in it but unfortunately often gets him self soaked. The koi pond and pocket pond apps allow him to have the sensation and relaxing feeling of playing in water without actually getting wet. He also loves the two aquariums in the room but often loves to put things in the tank. This is another issue solved by the use of the pocket pond. For students who find water soothing it allows them to have their calming tools mobile on their devices.  Another great way to relax is to program a students favorite music into their device, one of mine has a Johnny Cash album they love to listen to.

Another great mobile tool that they show are the visual timers which many students find very useful and I use in my room all the time. The actual timers cost $ 80 or more thus making the 99 cent app a great alternative.  Apps like this are easy ones for teachers to use not only with their autistic students but many of their other students as well. Using these timers in conjunction with the other aps like scheduling a student to use a certain app for 10 minutes is a great way to implement them. Setting a visual timer app that students can check is a great way to help students stay on task for a set period of time with reduced stress.

One of the most important tools for our autistic students are the visual schedules. These schedules can be programed with many of their daily routines and can easily be changed by a teachers to incorporate changes into a daily schedule. As an RT I could easily  show a teacher how to input new activities dates and events into a visual schedule. One very important concept to remember is  that  these students tend to be very visual learners and  that this needs to be incorporated in their scheduling. Color coding, big lettering , moving or flashing objects may all be very useful when designing these schedules. Many of these apps have options for teachers to incorporate many visual aids into these schedules and tailor them for the student. The FIRST-THEN schedule app is an excellent example of this depending on the student the simpler schedules may be the best to use with them but teachers must learn how to quickly put events in this schedule because it will be almost constantly changing depending on the length of the activity. The Toca Boca app that teaches young learners about  choosing food items, purchasing the food and making change is a great concept. This could be applicable to a students math outcomes and used for young learners in a math class. There are many math apps which would be more applicable to older learners which is the case with many of these apps.  Creating visual schedules in apps like “i-book creator” “ Pictello” allows teachers or RT’s to create books that have real pictures of people, the student and situations they find themselves in. Students can flip through the pages and the book will read to them depending on the app. 

A sequencing app like “Speech with Milo” encourages students to explore cause and effect. Many students with autism have a lot of difficulty knowing the end result of their actions. If this concept can be introduced early it should help students develop a better sense of what may come before or follow something they have decided to do. Kiddie Questions is a great app for helping kids determine plausible answers to questions when people ask. There are so many apps that can be used to aid students with autism and the more I am exposed to the more ways I can see how they can be incorporated into students programing.

 

Apps For Sensory Regulation

The second webinar I chose is “i-pad and i-pod touch Apps for Sensory Regulation”.  The first thing discussed in the webinar is the assessment of the student, what their motivators are and barriers they may face when using the technology. These barriers may include physical disabilities, cognitive delays and in the case of autistic students their response to various stimulation. An app that works great for one student may make another student quite agitated.  We try and choose sensory apps that we think a student may enjoy or find relaxing. In most cases the more experience we have with a particular student the easier it is to predict what apps will work best for them. I have also found that an app we may not have considered to be compatible with a particular student due to its complexity or sensory features may be that student’s favorite app. In one case I have a student who hates to get wet but one day clicked on the “pocket pond” app and loved it, he could play in the water without getting wet. Another student finds the “shape builder app” very calming and can in many cases self regulate his agitation by using this app.

 

The first app that is reviewed is “Relaxed Melodies Premium” which looks like a great app that I would like to use with several of my own students. It allows a student to choose calming sounds and combine these sounds at the volumes they want. Students can the save their favorite ones and play them when they need to relax or to help them concentrate. The next app is “Bloom” which is also an auditory sensory app but it also has a visual component as well. It allows students to create their own musical sequences by tapping the screen.

The next app “Fluid 2” is one my students access on their i-pads all the time and like the pocket pond it gives them the sensory feedback of splashing in water with calming music playing in the background. This app allows you or the student to modify many of the setting like color, music, background and even the speed of the water rippling. Bubble popper is another app the students in my room use as a sensory tool. What I find interesting about this app is that in most cases it seems preferable to the real thing. I have given the students bubble wrap to pop but they prefer the stimulation they get from the app. The app “Pirate Scribblebeard’s Treasure” looks like a great app for students who are creative and like to draw. I know my students enjoy drawing and the social interaction they get when someone reads to them.

As a Resource Teacher I could easily demonstrate the importance of allowing a student to access these Apps in class. In the case of these apps the purpose is not to distract them from their classes but rather to calm them to a point that they can again be attentive to the lesson. For many of our students their ability to access the apps that allow them to relax is the difference between staying in class or having to leave for the remainder of class.  Besides a students ability to pay attention to instruction is the fact that we would not want any of our students to have overwhelming feelings of anxiety in class. Apps like these make the classroom experience much more bearable for many of our students.