Dyslexia in Children: Mobile Apps Make Reading Fun

A recent study claims that Mobile apps and daily visual activities can encourage children with dyslexia to participate in reading exercises, says Lenin Grajo Ed.M., instructor of occupational science and occupational therapy at Saint Louis University.

"Reading has always been looked at as a skill you should be able to master," Grajo said.

"My approach basically focuses on participation. I look at how much you like doing a task rather than how well you can do it."

Dyslexia is a learning disability, in which children have a neurological disorder that causes their brain to process and interpret information differently.

But with the help of educators and therapists, kids with dyslexia can develop and enjoy reading and writing activities, and build confidence.

Children with dyslexia usually dislike highly-structured reading tasks, and therefore avoid taking part in reading activities.

But with the latest technological innovations, kids with dyslexia have started using tablet and smartphone apps that make reading and writing more fun.

"This is the multisensory approach that makes books very interactive," said Grajo, who got his training in assessment of dyslexia and reading difficulties at Harvard University.

"If you ask a child with dyslexia to read a book, they will say they can't. But through these apps, children actually like doing these reading activities."

Some of these interactive books have a built-in camera and recorder that engage kids. These apps play a big role in developing a child's reading, writing, spelling, studying and organizing skills, which eventually increases their self-confidence in the classroom, Grajo says.

Grajo says that parents and teachers should also incorporate arts and crafts into routine activities as kids with dyslexia are often instantly attracted to them. Instead of asking a child to read a book, he suggests involving them in a playful activity that includes lots of visuals as well as some reading and writing.

For example, parents can create a treasure hunt for their children and ask them to read the clues to find the hidden items.

Another way to encourage children to read is to cook with them. Parents can read the recipes with the kids and make cooking a fun process.

"Through these exercises, the child is reading without realizing it. This is the occupational performance approach to dyslexia," Grajo said.

"When you realize you enjoy doing something, you participate in it more and become better with it."

The apps and routine activities form a strong foundation for dyslexic children, which enable them to develop their own strategies to read and write as they begin to like these activities.

"Once they are confident, they feel they can do these tasks without the help of a parent or teacher," said Grajo. "As therapists, we are empowering and enabling them to be able to do what they couldn't do earlier."

Dyslexia: Brainscape Learn How to Learn Faster

BrainScape app

Dyslexia has always been thought of as a learning disability having to do with literacy impairment.

Many people who have it are unable to read properly when they are younger, or read a lot slower than a non-dyslexic reader.

They may also have trouble spelling or reading things like nonsense words. In short, dyslexia is a learning disability in which people have trouble translating visual language into language that the brain can understand.

It happens to be one of the most common learning disabilities among children, affect anywhere from 10% – 15% of our population, according to various sources.

Until recently it has been thought of mostly as a learning disability that specifically affects the ability to read and understand writing.

However, research recently completed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology adds another dimension to dyslexia that helps us understand exactly what it is.

Graduate student Tyler Perrachione, left, and Professor John Gabrieli found that people with dyslexia have a much harder time identifying voices of different speakers than non-dyslexics. 

Credit Photo: Patrick Gillooly

John Gabrieli, professor of cognitive neuroscience at GabrieliLab MIT, and his team of graduate students performed an experiment in which they took two groups of students, one with dyslexia and one without.

Firstly, they exposed them to voices of English speakers coming from cartoon characters.

Secondly, they exposed them to voices of Chinese speakers coming from cartoon characters.

After seeing the characters and hearing their voices, they were given a test, in which their task was to match the voice to the face of the person.

Overall, neither group was able to match the Chinese voice to the respective bodies with much success.

However, when it came to matching the English speaking voices to their cartoon bodies, the non-dyslexic speakers were able to match and distinguish the voices fairly well, whereas the dyslexic students had a similar success rate to matching the Chinese voices.

In other words, the dyslexic students faced difficulties matching voices to bodies no matter what the language.

This is a very significant finding because it shows that there is more to dyslexia than simply not being able to read properly.

It appears to have something to do with hearing as well, which could prove to be very helpful in diagnosing children with dyslexia much earlier on in life.

Many of the students with dyslexia who participated in the study were very high functioning students, referring to the fact that their dyslexia was not overly severe, yet they still had difficulties distinguishing the English speaking voices when matching them to the cartoon characters.

In light of this study, there could possibly be a way to test children when they are younger for dyslexia.

Currently, many students find out that they are dyslexic around the second grade, by which time they may have already suffered from a reduced level of learning.

Having found that dyslexia is also audio based, would allow educators to test students earlier, using some type of voice recognition test.

However, things are not that simple because failing a voice recognition test may not necessarily be a sign of dyslexia.

Read more at BrainScape an app that claims to help you learn faster.

Dyslexia: Mobile apps make reading fun for children

Mobile apps and daily visual activities can encourage children with dyslexia to participate in reading exercises, says Lenin Grajo Ed.M., instructor of occupational science and occupational therapy at Saint Louis University.

"Reading has always been looked at as a skill you should be able to master," Grajo said. "My approach basically focuses on participation. I look at how much you like doing a task rather than how well you can do it."

Dyslexia is a learning disability, in which children have a neurological disorder that causes their brain to process and interpret information differently. But with the help of educators and therapists, kids with dyslexia can develop and enjoy reading and writing activities, and build confidence.

Children with dyslexia usually dislike highly-structured reading tasks, and therefore avoid taking part in reading activities. But with the latest technological innovations, kids with dyslexia have started using tablet and smartphone apps that make reading and writing more fun.

"This is the multisensory approach that makes books very interactive," said Grajo, who got his training in assessment of dyslexia and reading difficulties at Harvard University.

"If you ask a child with dyslexia to read a book, they will say they can't. But through these apps, children actually like doing these reading activities."

Some of these interactive books have a built-in camera and recorder that engage kids. These apps play a big role in developing a child's reading, writing, spelling, studying and organizing skills, which eventually increases their self-confidence in the classroom, Grajo says.

Grajo says that parents and teachers should also incorporate arts and crafts into routine activities as kids with dyslexia are often instantly attracted to them.

Instead of asking a child to read a book, he suggests involving them in a playful activity that includes lots of visuals as well as some reading and writing.

For example, parents can create a treasure hunt for their children and ask them to read the clues to find the hidden items. Another way to encourage children to read is to cook with them. Parents can read the recipes with the kids and make cooking a fun process.

Read more at Saint Louis University Medical Center

Humanising Computer Aids affects trust and dependence

Computerized aids that include person-like characteristics can influence trust and dependence among adults, according to a Clemson University researcher.

A recently published study by Clemson University psychology associate professor Richard Pak examined how decision-making would be affected by a human-like aid.

Human Factor's Blog

The study focused on adults' trust, dependence, and performance while using a computerized decision-making aid for persons with diabetes.

The study is one of the first to examine how the design of decision-support aids on consumer devices can influence the level of trust that users place in that system and how much they use it.

Richard Pak

The design and look of an aid are important elements for designers because of the potential dangers associated when users trust unreliable decision aids or lack trust for reliable aids simply because of the their appearance.

"Just as trust is an important factor in how humans deal with other humans, it also can determine how users interact with computerized systems," Pak said. "Trust can be influenced by the aid's reliability and level of computerization as well as the user's experience and age."

Many people interact with computerized decision aids or automation on a daily basis, whether they're using smart phones, digital cameras or global positioning systems. When automation is only reliable sometimes, a person's level of trust becomes an important factor that determines how often the aid will be used.

"Figuring out how trust is affected by the design of computerized aids is important because we want people to trust and use only reliable aids," said Pak.

Pak's research findings have revealed that the inclusion of an image of a person can significantly alter perceptions of a computerized aid when there is no difference in the aid's reliability or presentation of information.

"Humanlike computer aids provide a reduced decision-making reaction time for adults," said Pak. "A plausible explanation is that the increase in trust led to an increased dependence on the aid, which led to faster performance."

Pak's future research will examine the specific aspects of the aid that affect trust in different age groups and gender.

He also is studying the affects of the aids on users when faced with decisions that have either a high consequence, such as making health decisions, or a low consequence, such as deciding what type of computer to buy.

Pak's study was published Tuesday in the journal Ergonomics. The journal article was co-authored by Clemson researchers Nicole Fink, Margaux Price, Brock Bass and Lindsay Sturre.

Children with Dyslexia Read Better with Free App

Parents who have children with dyslexia know the frustration they and their kids feel as they face the challenge of reading.

Now a French-Italian research team have discovered a simple way to help children with dyslexia read 20% faster and make much fewer errors, and you can try it with a free app.

You can help your child with dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that can interfere with an individual's ability to read, spell, write, and even speak in some cases.

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability among children, and it continues throughout adulthood.

The severity of dyslexia can range from mild to severe, yet it can be treated, and the sooner the better. Typical warning signs of dyslexia include

• Letter and number reversals. Although this is common in younger children, after age 7 or 8 it usually disappears. If it does not, children should be tested for dyslexia
• Difficulty copying from a book, computer screen, or board
• Difficulty distinguishing left from right
• Written work is generally disorganized
• May have difficulty moving to the rhythm of music

The research team, headed by Johannes Ziegler of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, discovered that increasing the amount of spacing between characters and words can improve how fast and how accurately dyslexic children read, and without any prior training.

What parents may appreciate even more is that these researchers also developed an iPad/iPhone application, which is available free of charge, that allows parents and dyslexic children to change the spacing between letters and test if this new approach to reading works for them.

What the dyslexia study revealed
The researchers came upon their finding by testing 94 children with dyslexia, ages 8 to 14 years, and their ability to read. The 54 Italian and 40 French children read 24 sentences with normal spaces and then wider than normal spacing.

When the children read the text with wider spacing, their reading speed was an average of 20% faster and they made half as many errors. This finding opens up great possibilities for children with dyslexia, for whom it typically takes one year to read what a "normal reader" can read in two days.

A free app for dyslexia may help
Parents can get the free app for dyslexia here. The free app is currently available in French and English, downloadable from Apple Store, and allows parents and children to alter the spacing between letters.

Children with dyslexia have an impairment in their brain's ability to convert images into language they can understand. However, this difficulty is not related to vision or hearing problems, nor is it caused by mental retardation or a lack of intelligence.

In fact, many highly successful and creative people had or have dyslexia. Some of them include Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Tom Cruise, Cher, Richard Branson, and Winston Churchill.

The authors of this new study report that "our findings offer a practical way to ameliorate dyslexics' reading achievement without any training." They note that "extra large letter spacing, which could even be optimized adaptively on an individual basis, can certainly contribute to achieving this goal."

Children with dyslexia can become easily discouraged by their difficulty in learning to read, and this can lead to development of low self-esteem, depression, behavior problems, and a dislike for school. A free app for children with dyslexia could be a new beginning for this population of young people.

SOURCE:
Zorzi M et al. Extra-large letter spacing improves reading in dyslexia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2012. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205566109

Apps for Children With Dyslexia - Gadgetwise

There is software out there designed to help children with dyslexia read (expensive software) but nothing yet in the way of an app marketed for that purpose (and there’s obviously no app that will “fix” dyslexia).
But just because there’s nothing actually marketed as helping students with dyslexia learn to better process in the classroom doesn’t mean there isn’t anything helpful out there.

Warren Buckleitner, who reviews children’s technology for The Times’s Gadgetwise blog, has posted his recommendations.

He suggests starting with a few really well designed letter and word-building apps on an iPad to get a child playfully constructing words and associating meanings.

One of his favourites for preschoolers is Toca Boca’s Paint My Wings, which lets children play informally with visual relationships in real time. For older children, he points parents toward Pocket Phonics, Montessori Crosswords and Word Wizard.

If you use any apps to help a child with dyslexia practice the skills she uses to cope, please, share in the comments. Which ones, and which skills do they improve? What works and what doesn’t when dyslexia is in the mix?

MyStudyApps | Dyslexia Lincolnshire

MyStudyApps provides a suite of portable software solutions (Apps) to support reading and writing, planning and organisation, as well as sensory and cognitive difficulties.

Goodnight iPad, by Ann Droyd - YouTube

Last month, the web watched with equal parts amazement, amusement, and sheer horror as a one-year-old thought a magazine was an iPad and just last week, we were unsurprised to learn that a presenter’s toddler cousin walked up to a TV screen and tried to “swipe” it like a giant iPad.

So we find ourselves delighted by the release of Goodnight iPad — “a parody for the next generation” by Ann Droyd, winking at the long-gone quiet era of the Goodnight Moon classic and “adapting” it for the age of LCD WiFi HD TVs and Facebook.

Dyslexia: Beneficial Apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Take a look at our recommendations and then purchase the Apps from iTunes.
The pricing shown below is just a guideline as the prices change on a regular basis.

eBook Readers

VOD - Voice of DAISY

The Voice of DAISY (VOD) is a player which plays and reads digital talking books created in the DAISY format.

The VOD is ideal for anyone who experiences difficulties with reading material, such as people with dyslexia or individuals with visual impairments.

The text is read aloud using text-to-speech with highlighting support. There are several functions available, such as: you can open with the last book played; you can go directly to a page by entering the page number and bookmarks can keep the actual time point.

• Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
• Device: iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod touch (2nd generation or later), iPad
• Price: Approx. £17.99
• Download: Voice of DAISY

Word Processing

Pages

Pages is a word processor for mobile devices. You can create, edit and view documents wherever you are. With 16 Apple-designed templates to choose from you can produce letters, reports, flyers, cards and posters and customise your documents with colours, fonts and textures.

You can view and edit Pages ‘09, Microsoft Word and plain text files, with the onscreen keyboard or a wireless keyboard with Bluetooth technology.  

Pages works with iCloud so your documents stay up-to-date across all your iOS devices - automatically. You can also easily import files from Mail, the web, a WebDAV service, or your Mac or PC using iTunes
 File Sharing.

• Requires: iOS 5.0 or later
• Device: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: Pages

Dictionaries

Oxford Deluxe - Oxford Dictionary of English and Oxford Thesaurus of English

Combining the entire Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) and the Oxford Thesaurus of English (OTE) plus 70,000 pre-recorded sound files from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary makes this an ideal application for anyone needing access to the English language with dictionary definitions and more.

Features of the Oxford Deluxe include wildcard search, complete off-line use, bookmarks with editable notations and hyperlinking between dictionary and thesaurus plus to and from appendices.

• Requires: iOS 3.1.3 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £37.99
• Download: Oxford Deluxe

Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus

Dictionary.com App delivers reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com including nearly 1,000,000 words with definitions and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms. No Internet connection is needed to search words.

Features: alphabetical indexing, example sentences, custom backgrounds, favourite word lists and more.
When connected to the internet you can also access phonetic and audio pronunciation, spelling suggestions and word of the day.

• Requires: iOS 3.0 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.99
• Download: Dictionary.com

Oxford Medical Dictionary

The Oxford Medical Dictionary contains 12,500 terms and concepts used in medicine today. Written by distinguished practicing specialists and medical writers the entries are accessible and jargon-free.

Containing over 140 illustrations and diagrams, along with recommended web links this is ideal for anyone working in the paramedical fields: pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, social workers, hospital secretaries, administrators, technicians, and so on.

It will also be invaluable for medical students and practicing doctors.

• Requires: iOS 3.1 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £10.49
• Download: Oxford Medical Dictionary

Text-to-Speech

Speak it! Text To Speech

Speak it! has been designed for ease of use; simply enter the text you want to say and press the ‘Speak it!’ button. Features include: highlights word as they are spoken, ability to create audio files and email them, save phrases to have them repeated later, pause and resume speech playback, change the speech playback speed and much more.

Speak it! includes four quality voices: American Male, American Female, British Male, and British Female with the option of downloading other voices (which will incur an additional cost).

• Requires: iOS 3.0 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.49
• Download: Speak it!

OCR

ZoomReader (iPhone 4 only)

ZoomReader, from the makers of ZoomText, lets you magnify and read text. First take a picture with your in-built iPhone camera of an object, like a book, menu or even a medicine bottle before the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology will convert the image into text. ZoomReader will then read the text back to you using a natural sounding voice.

It is designed to be able to photograph an 8.5″ by 11″ document. ZoomReader includes colour filtering to make reading easier.

• Requires: iOS 4.2+ Only
• Device: iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S
• Price: Approx. £13.99
• Download: ZoomReader

Prizmo

Prizmo lets you scan and recognise text. Ideal for documents so you can share with other users and for business cards where the information can be extracted to create contacts on your phone.

Key feature of Prizmo is the highly accurate OCR technology in 10 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.

• Requires: iOS 3.1 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: Prizmo

Note Taking

Notebooks for iPad

Notebooks allows you to conveniently write, capture and organize your ideas, notes, reminders, journals, diaries or details of life that you want to keep close at hand.  

Notebooks for iPad allows you to easily create notes and documents and then file them away in notebooks or projects. Import and view PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many other types of documents and file them with your notes.

You can manage your tasks using reminders and to-do lists and tick them off on completion.

Type your notes and texts, no matter how long they are. Draw with your finger or a dedicated stylus.

Select your favourite fonts, background colours and patterns. Quickly create new documents with the contents of the Clipboard or import web pages from Safari, Mail and other iPad apps.

Create as many nested books as you need with the ability to freely move, rename and restructure your documents and books. Full text search enables you to find notes quickly.

Protect your confidential documents with a passcode, Sync and back-up files via WebDAV and Dropbox.

• Requires: iOS 4 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £5.99
• Download: Notebooks for iPad

File Management and Annotations

GoodReader for iPad

GoodReader for iPad handles large PDF and TXT files, MS Office files including .doc and .ppt, iWorks, image manuals, large books video and audio with great speed. PDFs can be opened and annotated with typewritten text boxes, sticky notes, lines, arrows and freehand drawings. Annotations can be collated and exported via email.

You can create folders, move, copy and rename your files; zip, email, unzip and unrar them; plus send your files to other apps. Files can be synced to a number of file management services including DropBox, iDisk, Google Docs and WebDAV.

There is very limited VoiceOver support so this app cannot be used to read aloud files.

• Requires: iOS 4 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £2.99
• Download: GoodReader for iPad

Mind Mapping

iThoughtsHD

iThoughtsHD is a mind mapping tool for the iPad. Mind mapping enables you to visually organise your thoughts, ideas and information.

You can use iThoughtsHD for: tasking lists, brainstorming, project planning, goal setting, concept mapping, meeting notes; it’s also ideal for revision and course notes.

You can import and export to and from many desktop applications and Cloud synchronise with Dropbox, Box.net, MobileMe andWebDAV.

The mind map features of iThoughtHD includes: multiple topic options, over 90 built-in icon and 45 clipart images. You can attach notes with hyperlinks to topics; assign different colours and shapes to topics and much, much more.

• Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: iThoughtsHD for iPad

Organisational

Pocket Informant for iPhone/iPod Touch

Pocket Informant is a fully integrated Calendar, Task, Contacts and Notes solution for your iPhone/iPod Touch that lets you focus on everything you do in a day - not just your Tasks list.

With this highly customizable tool, you have the power to change virtually every feature to suit your preferences.  It comes with a full-featured Notes tab and complete Contact management system.

Features for the calendar include: customisable views for Month, Week, Day, List and Today; alarms and icons; photo and contact linking and more. With the swipe of a finger, or the touch of a button, you can add, edit, share or delete your information.

• Requires: iOS 4.2 or later
• Device: iPhone and iPod touch
• Price: Approx. £8.99
• Download: Pocket Informant for iPhone/iPod Touch

Augmented Alternative Communication

Proloquo2Go

Proloquo2Go provides a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking.

It provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices (currently American, British, and Indian English Only), high resolution up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, and a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, advanced word prediction, full expandability and extreme ease of use.

Special Learning Practitioners, teachers and parents recommend it for children and adults with autism, cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome, developmental disabilities, dyspraxia, motor neurone disease, stroke or traumatic brain injury.

• Requires: iOS 4.2 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £129.99
• Download: Proloquo2Go

Calculator

Calculator for iPad

Calculator for iPad is a standard and scientific calculator which features: advanced mathematical/scientific buttons in landscape view; basic calculation buttons in portrait view; calculate with degrees or radials; percent button will behave just like the original calculator; memory buttons will also behave just like the original calculator; button sound is mutable; invisible backspace button by sliding/swiping the result screen with your finger.

Also features 7 different themes: standard, silver keyboard, retro grey, sticky notes, pink keyboard, happy pink, and wooden.

• Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £0.69
• Download: Calculator for iPad

Recording

PureAudio Live Recorder for iPad

PureAudio is a full function digital voice and audio recording application with enhanced Andrea’s patented digital noise reduction microphone technology.

PureAudio digitally reduces background noise, while enhancing the recorded sound quality and intelligibility when making recordings in real-world noisy mobile environments.

It has an intuitive, simple to use interface with a user guide to all features and functions.

Some of the audio features include: digital noise reduction software to remove repetitive background noise from recordings; microphone sensitivity boost allows for far field recordings and three different recording formats: WAVE, CAF, AIFF.

There are various recording and playback functions to make your life easier including fast forward and fast reverse during playback using finger swipe gestures or by using the audio position slider.

File management for recordings is available so you can add, delete, rename and rearrange recording categories. You can also transfer recordings using iTunes File Sharing and more.

• Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.99
• Download: PureAudio Live Recorder for iPad 

Full Credit for assembling this excellent list of Apps goes to the people at Dyslexic.com

Amazon eBook readers and apps - RNIB

Amazon eBook readers and apps

You will find the following on the RNIB website:

• Kindle (reader)
• Kindle Keyboard (reader)
• Kindle for PC with accessibility (app)
• Other Kindle apps
• Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire (readers)
• Kindle DX (reader)

Amazon are a US company that make some of their products available in the UK. The first four items mentioned below are available in the UK now, the next two are expected to be available soon and the last - the Kindle DX - is only available through the US Amazon website.
Apart from the differences between readers and apps given below, there are other differences which are not so obvious. For example, some newspaper and magazine titles are available for the readers but not the apps.

Autism: Are apps the key to revolutionising learning?

Technology has completely and utterly changed Veronica's life.

"She has gone from being a little girl who had no way of showing us how much she knew, to a little girl who now has a portable device she can laugh, play and engage with," says her mother Sam Rospigliosi, from Edinburgh.

"Who knows, she might even use it as her voice in the years ahead if she never learns how to speak again."

Veronica is six years old and severely affected by autism. She has significant learning difficulties and finds many social situations very difficult. She lost all her speech three years ago.

But in common with many other children like her, touchscreen computers have provided a way of learning and communicating that plays to her strengths.

As a result, devices like iPads are fast becoming a 'must-have' for many families of children with autism.


Find Me App Demo from Interface3 on Vimeo.

Richard Mills, head of research at Research Autism and the National Autistic Society, says the technology is an opportunity to take "a huge step forward in our understanding of autism".

"They allow us to have an insight into how children think. People with autism have a different kind of intelligence. Their visual memory is strong, so PCs are highly motivating."
Token incentive

When Veronica took part in the trial of a new iPad app called FindMe, designed by a team of researchers at the University of Edinburgh, she loved the experience.

"Every time Veronica got an answer right, she got a token and she knew she had to get five tokens to get to the musicbox," her mum says.

"She was very motivated to answer the questions."

Aimed at non-verbal children from the age of 18 months upwards, the app encourages players to focus on other people and their needs, something people with autism find difficult.

Dr Sue Fletcher-Watson, a psychologist from the University of Edinburgh who led the app's development, says using touchscreen technology is crucial.

"A mouse and keyboard are not accessible for the youngest children. Early intervention is key for the most severely affected and iPads have allowed us to design for youngest ages.

"The app allows children to rehearse simple social skills over and over again. Practice makes perfect."

Read more of this article here

An Introduction to Letters, Numbers and Geography on the Apple iPad - Montessorium

Learn the shapes, names, flags and geographical locations of the countries in North America, through puzzles, challenges and drawing exercises. Based on the proven methodology of Montessori.

Your Child Will Learn

✔ To identify the countries of North America
✔ To discern the shapes of the countries
✔ To recognize the flags of North America
✔ The development of spatial relationships
✔ Fine motor skills and vocabulary

Read more and explore the information on Montessorium

Laugh & learn: Put your iPhone in the hands of your baby

Placing an expensive bit of electronics in the hands of an infant is never a good idea, but with its Laugh and Learn Apptivity Case, Fisher-Price appears to disagree.

The $15 colorful plastic contraption acts as a cradle for the iPhone or iPhone Touch, allowing young ones aged from 6 months to 36 months to poke and befoul the devices’ pristine facades without the risk of destroying them.

The device also features coloured rattles on its handles and a mirror on its back, allowing it to retain its status as a somewhat entertaining (albeit not as exciting) children’s toy even when the iPhone isn’t present.

Fisher-Price will start selling the Laugh and Learn Apptivity Case this October.

Speech recognition, mobile apps help build reading skills

Students’ scores on a national reading assessment have remained relatively flat for nearly 40 years, with students ages 9-17 scoring an average of 255 points on a scale of 0 to 500. As educators work hard to bring that average up, many are excited about the potential for new technologies to help.

Some schools, for example, are using tools such as speech recognition technology to give students a personal reading coach inside the classroom. Others are taking advantage of mobile technology to help students build the skills they need for reading fluency in their spare time, wherever they might be, by downloading audio books or applications to their mobile phones or mp3 players.

“Technology changes the whole game,” said Matt Walker, vice president of sales and marketing for Recorded Books, a company that provides audio books and other products for schools.

Meanwhile, there is new research to suggest that this approach can be successful: A PBS study found that mobile applications can help increase students’ vocabulary. That could be welcome news for educators who have seen students’ reading scores remain largely flat in national exams.

Long-term trend results in reading from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are available on the National Center for Educational Statistics web site for 12 assessment years, going back to the first in 1971.

The average reading score for 9-year-olds was 220 points in 2008, increasing 4 points since 2004 and 12 points in comparison to 1971. While the average score for 13-year-olds in 2008 was higher than in both 2004 and 1971, it was not significantly different from the scores in some assessment years in between, at 260 points. The average reading score for 17-year-olds was higher in 2008 (286 points) than in 2004 (283 points) but was not significantly different from the score of 285 points in 1971.

Scientific Learning Corp.’s Reading Assistant software aims to change that. The program is a guided oral reading tool that is used to build fluency. The software uses speech verification technology to monitor for signs of difficulty in reading—which include hesitations, silence, mispronunciations, and other cues—and provides assistance when students stumble or get stuck.

“Reading Assistant was developed with the idea of bringing additional reading tutors to students through computers,” said Maura Deptula, projects manager for Scientific Learning. “The computer can listen to students the way a teacher can and prompt the student when he or she gets stuck.”

The software automatically calculates a student’s fluency rate, and there is a direct correlation between fluency and comprehension, said Liz Kline, product manager for Reading Assistant. The software not only helps teachers identify problem areas but also allows them to make sure each student’s reading has been assessed.

Read the full article here