I'm seeing many parents use iPads with their special needs kids, so we are now considering getting one. I would like to know your opinions. Do you think it is helping with development? What are your favorite apps for your WHS child?
Thank you much in advance.
We have a few iPads, but haven't used them with Kendall yet. She likes to mimic what we do by pointing and touching, but she is doing it out of her peripheral vision versus looking directly at it. I would also be curious as well.
We got one for for Brodie this year, we debated about it til I saw the post JessMarie (Tanner's Mom) did called "You've got to have one of these." If you look it up on here she has a great video about different apps they use. Brodie isn't great with it yet, his attention span is short. But we use it every day, either while we are in the car or waiting for our food to come out at a restaurant, or at bedtime...I think it is good to teach him as early as possible how to use different mediums of technology and there's no way to learn how to use it without practice. I have to almost entirely operate it for him at this point and just have him watch but there's alot of educational interaction going on even with that. There are about 3 things we do on the iPad that Brodie uses the screen himself for, the magic piano app where they touch the screen to play the piano, an free app called TomCat with an animated cat that interacts with the user, if you touch his belly he purrs, touch his whiskers he gets mad, and when you talk to it he repeats everything you say. Our favorite thing is watching kids youtube videos and i put a bunch of lullaby type videos in our "favorites" list and then I let Brodie touch the screen to pick which ones he wants to watch at bedtime. Once he masters this we are going to begin using the ipad alot more in daily life to help Brodie learn to communicate with it...there are lots of communication applications that give the child picture choices for things they want and when the child chooses a picture others can know what they want. For example one app lets you structure several picture albums, one is called food and drink, another is called playtime, etc. In each album are pictures of all the choices available, and you can customize your personal pictures to represent all the choices available to the child. When you touch the picture a voice says "I want a drink of milk" or "I want a bowl of oatmeal" I would hope one day Brodie would be good enough at understanding the app for it to be his voice. His therapist said we could even find an app that lets us use a random little boys voice so that the little boys voice is speaking for whatever pictures Brodie chooses and would become like Brodie's voice in case he doesn't have words for a long time. We think he is quite a long way from speaking well, but has proved to be a good visual learner already so we just try to teach and teach him new words and new pictures and new concepts every week to build his vocabulary. We repetitively play and sing to him lots and lots of kids songs on youtube also like Barney and the Wiggles because a huge portion of concepts and words and signs that Brodie has learned have been from songs! Soon I will write down all the specific names of the apps we use and post them here for you.
I actually came looking and HOPING this discussion was started. We found a great app that is completely at our DEVELOPMENTAL level.
We use the fireworks for touch / cause / effect.
We also use the magic piano for touch / cause / effect.
However... we just found this peek-a-boo app. It is Peekaboo HD with a cow in the night time. This is a great app for Alexander because it is touch / cause / effect - but with a PURPOSEFUL place. The animals hide behind the bales of hay and you have to touch the hay to see the animal. It is great to help focus where Alexander is touching. The other apps respond to touch at all places on the IPad. This app is sort of the "next stage."
So... what apps are you using? What do you like / dislike about them?
I am amazed to see how quickly Evan has responded to his ipad! Here are the apps he likes…
1. I Love Fireworks Lite- (Free) Great for cause and effect. This is one of Evan’s favorites!
2. Magic Piano- Great for cause and effect. This is also a favorite!
3. Drum Kit XL- (Free) Another one for cause and effect.
4. Bubbles- The app fills your iPad with tons of virtual bubbles that can be popped. The bubbles create life like popping sounds when popped. This one doesn't hold Evan's attention very long.
5. Fluidity- (Free) Visual, interactive app. Looks like a lava lamp. Is good for Evan’s sensory processing challenges.
6. Doodle Buddy- (Free) The app gives Evan the option to finger paint and easily drop in cute stamps.
7. Sound Touch- There are cute cartoon images for Evan to touch. Touching an image brings up a real life photo of the item, accompanied by the sound it makes. Each item has 4-5 sounds and photos. Evan's therapist started using this one with him.
8. Peekaboo Barn- Evan loves opening the barn doors to find the animals. This app helps him learns about cause and effect and helps him become familiar with animal names and sounds. Definitely one of his favorites!
9. Bus HD- Interactive musical book, The Wheels on the Bus. I have to do a lot of this for him, but he loves to watch.
10. Baby See- This app has a series of contrasting, black and white, moving images.
11. ABA Flash Cards – Emotions- (Free) There flashcards show children with different emotions. You can also make your own custom flashcards. I added pictures of Evan’s family, friends, and toys he plays with on a regular basis. I like that I can also use my voice to record the flashcard titles.
12. Choice Board Creator- (Free) This app is great for creating customizable choice boards. It reinforces correct choice by playing an auditory reward. This app is advanced for where Evan is developmentally, but practice makes perfect!
13. Word Totz- Flashcards- This app has built-in cards organized into categories. Also this app has the option to create custom cards with your own pictures, and record your own titles.
14. Talking Tom2- (Free) Cute interactive app. Tom will repeat every noise Evan makes in a funny voice.
15. Talking Dino (Free)- Like Talking Tom2, the dino will repeat everything. It's a cute app!
I would love to know what apps other kidos are using!
Awesome! Will be sure to try them out. Thank you!!
Magnolia loves her ipad. I am also amazed at how deliberate her actions seem to be with it. Here are some of her favorites:
Awesome Xylophone by Tharts - We love this one. We tried several xylophones, but this one is our favorite!
We have several things by "Me and the Giants" and we love them all. We have Baby Look Peekaboo, Baby Look2 Spots and Baby Look Tickle.
Fireworks Arcade by Mike Newman is our favorite fireworks app.
Pocket Pond HD by John Moffett
Christmas Baby Rattle by SelenaSoft, Inc
Baby Rattle Toy by SelenaSoft, Inc
Sound Shaker by Zinc Roe - I love this one!!
Squiggle by Pill and Pillow Limited - not free, but Toller loves to play with it while Magnolia watches.
Draw with Stars! by L'Ecapadou
The Playmatic by Craig Janis
MelodyTouch Lite by Being True
BabyColor HD by BluPhant
Infant Visual Stimulation by Think Design Studio - this one is awesome.
Here are some apps made for the iphone, but we downloaded them for our ipad and they work great:
Fisher-Price See'n Say by IDEO is super cool.
Laughing Box by CreaTion
Baby Song Maker LITE by CreaTion
Baby Laughs Lite by RED AMMO, LLC
BubbleFREE by Orsome
The Mouth by Tayasui
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