Assign 2 - iPod Touch Apps

I must say I am thoroughly loving my iPhone!  It is basically the iPod touch with a phone feature.  All the Apps you can get are amazing!  I have downloaded so many free Apps that are great for my daughter and since taking this course I have found so many that my students at school will find useful.  Our learning center will definately benefit from a lot of these Apps, now we just have to figure out how to get the iTouches.

I work in a academic Resource room.  The majority of my students have an LD whether they are diagnosed or not.  I searched for Apps that will help support LD students.  I started with one particular student in mind.  He has dysgraphia and has been using a laptop in class to take notes and do assignments. If he takes notes by hand he is not able to decipher what he has written, or his parents who are very supportive. He does not put a lot of detail into his written answers. He has tried Dragon Naturally Speaking but found it difficult to go through the training.

 I think he would benefit from the Dragon Dictate Application.  In this free app you can speak into the iPod Touch and what you say is then sent through the internet and then comes back typed on you iPod screen.  For the student to have full access to this they will need to be able to have wirelass access to the internet and be able to get through the firewalls.  If they want to save it they simply copy it to the clipboard and open the e-mail or document they want to put it in and double tap to paste.  The student would probably also benefit from having Documents 2 go App as well to save what he has put into Dragon Dictate.

Another student I thought of has poor working memory and an LD in mathematics.  She uses cognitive cue cards often for tests.  There are a lot of Apps avaliable to help build up basic math skills for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.  The one app that I found useful for building algebra skills is called Diamath.

The Diamath App presents a diamond able to hold 4 numbers.  You have to figure out the 2 numbers on the left and right that will add up to make the bottom number AND multiply to give you the top number.  Two different numbers are given in different spots.  You have to fill in the 2 missing numbers to satisfy the rules mentioned above. It is $0.99.

The other useful App is Flashcards.  In this App students can build their own flashcards to quiz themselves.  you can put things on the front and back of a cue card. There are a number of different ways you can access the cards, randomly, in order, you can tell which ones you get right and then it will only use the ones you had difficulty with.  If you are doing a lot of typing there is an option to do the cards on a computer in a spreadsheet and then uploading the to your iPod.  I believe this would also be a good app to make the cognitive credit cards to use for tests. A study tool and an adaptation in one. It is $3.99.

Some other applications I thoght would be useful are the dictionary App for those students who find using a paper dictionary cumbersome, the amount of info overwhelmes them.  They can simply type in the word or part of the word as it has a prediction feature, to find a definition that matches the use of the word.

I am very excited about the new technology that I have access to.  I am currently using the iRewards App with my daughter to encourage some more positive behaviours and help around the house.  She loves telling Mama when she gets a star.