Whiteboard Apps to use in Speech-Language Therapy

Since I am not always in my therapy room with access to a white board, I have found the following apps useful- Educreations, Kid Paint and Glow Coloring. I use them to write on the iPad, whether making a graphic organizer or setting up a color template for the Expanding Expression Tool. All three apps allow you to save your work as a photo so you can use it another time.

PlayHome Lite

Fellow SLP Kristen Brown told me about the free app  My Play Home Lite.  I found that it is a great app for eliciting the present progressive tense in preschool and kindergarten students since the actions they control in the play house occur in real time.  It features 5  family members so it is easy to elicit lots of correct subject pronouns too.  The free app only has the kitchen and living room.  You can get more rooms in the full version of My PlayHome, but the 2 rooms in this version offer plenty of choices to fill a therapy session.

Magnification Device

There is a free app called "Over 40". It acts as a magnifier and the magnification can be adjusted from 1x to 10x. Not for distance, only for near! Love the name!

Spelling

A1 Spelling App

Spelling Free: Enter your own spelling test and record your voice for students to follow

Spelling Bug

Reading

MeeGenius: Collect free books every few months

Monster Town: Simple stories with comprehension questions, vocabulary and simple sentence structure activities.

Articulation apps

Articulation! : This is my favorite app so far. It allows you to use words, sentences, loaded sentences and loaded reading passages followed by simple comprehension questions for practice.

ArtikPix

Pocket Pairs

Interactive Books

I have found several interactive books where the student can read the story or it will read the story to them. Also when you click on the objects in the picture they pictures with do different things.

1. Grimms Red Riding Hood - Interactive Pop up Book

2.The 3 Little Pigs (Lite) by Coleco

3. The Shoemaker (TabTale Books)

4. The Princess and the Pea (TabTale Books)

5.Alice in Wonderland (TabTale Books)

6.The Wizard of Oz (TabTale Books)

7.The Selfish Giant (TabTale Books)

8. Toy Story - Disney Digital Books

IPAD Social Skills

I have been using my IPADs with lots of my nonverbal or somewhat verbal MD kids.  TouchChat really seems to be making a big impact because of the language system and its opportunities for growth.  This has saved me some time so that I don't have to make as many communication boards for them since they are using the core vocabulary on their IPAD.  I have also been using the IPAD for my kindergarten social skill intervention in the classrooms.  Each week we cover a topic (keeping your hands to yourself, listening to the teacher), watch a video, and then I tape the kids practicing the skill or not practicing the skill outside of the classroom.  It is a great learning tool and the kids give feedback on how they did.  They really enjoy watching themselves and I think it is good for them to see what they are doing and break down what they can improve on next time.
Blake

Video Modeling in APE; YOGAtta Read This

We are starting a Yoga unit in APE that I am pretty excited about. I have downloaded a couple Yoga apps and have already begun using them in class with the students. The apps are free and somewhat basic, but the invaluable part of them is the picture modeling that come with them. I can takes pictures of myself in various Yoga Positions and use them as well with the students but the nice thing about the app is that eventually they will be able to search the app for poses they would like to attempt. I am in the process of creating videos of myself getting into the positions which will come in handy for students who need to see step by step what to do.

Endless Possibilities for iPads in the Classroom

I'm trying to find time each week to update the blog and add information that will help everyone make the most out of their iPads in the classroom.  This week I found a  great link - 75 Interesting Ways to Use an iPad in the Classroom.  Check it out....

Below are five more links I think you will find informative:

1.  Top 100 Learning Tools for 2011
2.  100+ iPad APPS Perfect for High School
3.  100 iPad APPS Perfect for Middle School
4.  65+ iPad APPS Perfect for Elementary School
5.  Khan Academy - educational videos (like having a second teacher in the classroom - one that can explain the quadratic formula.  Not an APP, but you can use your iPad to watch the video clips).

TouchChat

A second-grade student who is apraxic and extremely unintelligible transferred into my school.  He had received speech therapy since preschool and it seemed time to explore using an alternative communication device to help him express himself.  I introduced the TouchChat app  while working with him in the resource room.  He immediately loved working with it and within a few sessions he was writing simple sentences although it was very labor-intensive for him.  One day when I came to see him, he had just finished his spelling test and his substitute teacher for the day told me that while he could spell all the words correctly as a list he had memorized, he could not spell them on dictation and did not really know what they meant.  I used the keyboard feature on TouchChat and had the student type in one of his spelling words and then have the i-Pad speak the word for him.  His eyes lit up and he quickly typed in another of his spelling words.  I wish that I could tell you that this was the break-through moment like Helen Keller at the water pump, but unfortunately he transferred from my school after that session so I'm not certain of the impact.   I do think that this app had a lot of potential for him.

NASA

NASA has a very cool free app for those that love space or for a science lesson. You can learn about the planets and watch videos. Although my student with Autism isn't back this year, I searched for this app for him. He loved learning about space!!!

Patterns

I found an easy pattern game. It is called PatternGame...original...right?? Is has a beginner and advanced game. Working with the Numbers World curriculum in my the resource room, this app goes great with the patterns unit.