Blog Post 12

I have to say that I love to work with children and I am currently working with Special Need students right now. I personally do not have an iPad, hopefully that will change very soon, but I spoke with several teachers that said they have iPads in their classrooms. And they think very highly of it because it's helpful with the children that have autism and other disabilities. This website gives 32 very good apps that will help an educator in their classroom. My blog post assignment is to pick four apps that you could use in you classroom and briefly explain how you could incorporate them into your classroom for Multi-Handicap students. The website is http://a4cwsn.com

1.Autism Shapes
This is Dr. Gary Brown’s Autism/DTT Shapes App. This app uses Discrete Trial Training (DTT) to help your child learn the basic shapes. DTT is the primary teaching method used in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to teach numerous pre-academic and social skills to children with autism. This app can be used to help teach the basic shapes to children with autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), or any child who has trouble staying on task. It is fun to teach the children there shapes. Be creative we use play-do, blocks or anything we can find. We draw them some time and they cut them out and that is always good for them. But you also have to remember they almost always love to work on the Ipad. Because it talks to them and they can see the objects move.

2. Autism Colors –Discrete Trial Training (DTT)
Dr. Gary Brown’s Autism/DTT Color App uses Discrete Trial Training (DTT) to help your child learn the basic colors. DTT is the primary teaching method used in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to teach numerous pre-academic and social skills to children with autism. This app has a setup screen that allows you to enter the basic parameters such as correct and incorrect colors, timing settings and number and type of cards to display. After you select the basic settings and press start, the app simply displays multiple colored cards on the screen and verbally announces to your child the name of the correct color that should be touched. After your child has touched a color, the app gives positive verbal feedback to your child, letting them know if they pressed the correct or incorrect color. After ten questions/trials the app will display the number of correct answers received, and it will also write a log entry so that these results can be reviewed later. Coloring is good for children because sometimes it could tell you what sort of mood they are in that day. And some times it an calm them down. The IPad is good for this with children with Autism because they are constantly moving and at least they have to keep moving things around on the screen.

3. Practicing Pragmatics
They ask you a question... what if... A friend gives you a birthday present. What do you say?
Well with this colorful social skills App for the iPad®, has all 52 illustrated picture cards (plus audio of the text on each card) from the Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck®. You would then select the card you want student to see, and have them answer social skill questions about Politeness, Solving Problems, Feelings, Giving Information, Requesting, Telephone Skills, and Staying on Topic. This is very important for special need students because some can speak and they should know there phone numbers and there addresses. Right now in our class we re teaching our kids there phone number and address and how to address an envelope. Also how to mail a letter. When to say please and thank you. When to speak and when not to speak. When to raise there hand and when not too. I also work with a young lady that is blind and she has a talker and when I ask her a question she will answer me yes or no.

4. Measurement HD
Mathomatix: Measurement
This is my favorite because it teaches them math it introduces them to basic concepts of measurements such as weight, volume and length. This learning apps is full is bright colors and cheerful graphics and fun activities that the kids are going to love.
This app comes with five activities that each teaches a measurement concept.
Crazy Clock: A friendly voice announces the time and all you do is to move the minute hand of a cute clock to set the correct time. Kids will get lots of practice learning to associate time with familiar activities in their day.
Scale Tale: This activity introduces kids to the concept of weight. An adorable one-eyed monster teaches kids this concept by holding two items and allowing them to guess which item is heavier or lighter. Is a pineapple heavier or lighter than a cup cake? Is a head of cabbage heavier or lighter than a strawberry? Familiar objects help kids learn the concept easily.
Fill Me Up: If you had to teach the concept of volume at home you are sure to have a mess all over the floor. Instead, Fill Me Up allows you to teach this concept through easy exercises such as filling pitchers with liquids or jars with cookies minus the mess.
Long and Short: Crayons, buses, park benches are all some of the familiar objects in a kid’s life. And these can be found in this activity as objects of comparison to learn the concept of length. This game presents two objects of different lengths. Simply tap on the one that is longer or shorter.
Action Months:This game introduces the basics of duration of time through a simple drag and drop activity to fill in the letters of the months. Special need students can practice the names of the months.
I personally love this one because my children in my class love working on all of these objects and I am hoping that one day my children in our class will receive an IPad of there own. So that they to will get the privileged to learn like all the other children.