Education experts give tips on apps for your kids

Kids these days have a penchant for high-tech and would rather play with smartphones and tablets than board games and building blocks.M

And they start younger and younger. A whopping 83 percent of children age 6 and younger use some form of screen media, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Although screen time has been linked with diminished creativity, childhood obesity, sleep disturbance and the like, it doesn't all have to be negative, said University of Alabama at Birmingham education experts.

"When used appropriately, technology and media can enhance children's cognitive and social abilities," said Jennifer Summerlin, an instructor in the UAB School of Education.

"Interactions should be playful and support creativity, exploration and authentic learning."

Summerlin offers some tips and to help ensure children make the most of their screen time:

• Have a plan: When choosing media for your child, be informed and intentional and make appropriate choices. It should be appropriate for their age, individual nature, cultural upbringing and linguistic abilities.
• Make sure their brain is put to work: Select apps that are active, hands-on, engaging, empowering and give the child control.
• Enable fun: Be sure to provide your child with any accessories needed to make the device easy to use.
• Don't let the app be the sole teacher: Let the device be one of many other options to support learning.

UAB instructor and elementary school teacher Allison Hodges, Ph.D., recommends these applications for toddlers and preschool-age children:

• Peekaboo Barn introduces children to animal names using the familiar peek-a-boo game.
• I Hear Ewe is a library of animals, modes of transportation and their sounds.
• Starfall ABC's is an alphabet-teaching app that works well.
• AlphaTots is an excellent tool for helping children learn the alphabet.
• ABC Alphabet Phonics helps children learn their ABCs by sight, sound and touch.
• Elmo Loves 123's is designed to teach preschoolers numbers from one to 20.
• Starfall Learn to Read teaches kids the basics of reading.
• Teach Me Toddler drills kids on letters, numbers, shapes, colouring and counting.

Hodges suggests these applications for elementary school-age children:

• Toontastic allows children to create amazing multi-scene cartoons with musical scores.
• ABCmouse.com lets children explore the habitats of various animals.
• Stack the States makes learning the 50 states fun.
• Marble Maths Junior uses fun mazes to teach kids to solve math problems.
• Marble Maths, based on the Common Core Curriculum, is an engaging way to learn mental maths.
• Numbers League lets kids practice basic math facts while helping superheroes fight evil villains.
• Questimate! is a math-estimation game that directly involves kids in making word problems with just enough guidance to keep the problems relevant and challenging.

Dyslexia: Smartphone Apps for Students

NCLD: Reading is the area in which students with dyslexia struggle the most. 

Fortunately, there are many mobile apps that can help.

While we’ve reviewed all of the following ones, and they work well for my daughter who has dyslexia, we also know that “one size (or app) does not fit all.”

You may need to do additional research before finding the app that provides the best “fit” for your child.

Touch Bionics I-Limb Ultra: Boy uses Smartphone App to adjust Prosthetic Hand

A teenager who lost his hand to meningitis has become the first in Britain to be fitted with a revolutionary bionic replacement - operated using an iPhone.

Patrick Kane, 16, can now control his state-of-the-art left hand using a mobile application on his iPhone 5 which gives him 24 different pre-set grips.

He can create favourite grips and configure the settings on his arm for different situations, like sport or using a keyboard.

The thumb on the next generation prosthesis now rotates automatically instead of Patrick having to move it manually with his other hand.

Today Patrick - dubbed the bionic boy - showed off his brand new i-limb ultra revolution at the headquarters of Touch Bionics in Livingston, West Lothian.

He said: “It makes a big difference. It has got a mobile phone app which means it can go into 24 different pre-set patterns.

“I can operate it using my iPhone 5. There’s nothing it can’t do.”

Experts at Touch Bionics lead the field in the use of intelligent prosthetics, and Patrick, from London, is the first in the UK to benefit from the latest technology.

At 13, he had already become the youngest amputee in the world to be fitted with one of the company’s pioneering prosthetics when he received an earlier model, the i-limb pulse, in 2010.

But the upgraded i-limb ultra revolution is even more sophisticated, and allows Patrick to create favourite shortcuts to control the arm via an app that can be used on an iPhone 5 or 4S.

He can use the biosim mobile control app to activate 24 different grips or gestures just by tapping the screen.

The grips include different pinches, fist clenches, a tripod grip and a single finger point.

“We believe that the i-limb ultra revolution, with powered thumb rotation and the ability to quickly access multiple grip patterns, offers unparalleled dexterity and control, enabling wearers to more easily perform activities of daily living and thus increase their quality of life. Ian Stevens, CEO of Touch Bionics.

TOUCH BIONICS I-LIMB: Prosthetic Hands controlled by Smartphone App

Credit: CNN

Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows you the latest in prosthetic technology: bionic hands controlled from an iPhone app.

I-Limb Ultra Revolution from Scotland's Touch Bionics.

“We believe that the i-limb ultra revolution, with powered thumb rotation and the ability to quickly access multiple grip patterns, offers unparalleled dexterity and control, enabling wearers to more easily perform activities of daily living and thus increase their quality of life. Ian Stevens, CEO of Touch Bionics.