3 Apps - Assignment #2

I found this assignment interesting yet time consuming. I found some OK apps and found myself going back repeatedly to the app store to try and see if there were better apps. I will describe the 3 I selected for my student that were free and then a few others I thought applied to my student just so I won't forget them. I even found a couple for his dad.

My student: A boy going into grade 4 that is profoundly autistic. He is similar to Miranda that we saw today. His areas of strength are receptive language and visual perception. Though he is very good at recognizing pictures and details he does not recognize symbols, therefore he does not recognize the letters or numbers. He likes routines and learns the majority of steps quickly. He has a daily visual schedule with many built in breaks where he chooses an activity of choice and there are built in sensory activities. He needs activities that address his oral motor and proprioceptive sensory needs. He has many snack breaks with crunchy foods. He enjoys jazz or blues music, rocking, hammock swing, wagon rides and quiet time. He loves traveling in the car and is a great traveller. He does not consistently sleep through the night. Even nights he has not slept much, he will stay awake and alert while at school. He has been more successful with a variety of functional routines and social situations when using a static social story and / or task strip. He can be a runner and is very quick to grab things he wants. He is highly motivated to work for food. He has a strict wheat & casein free diet so we have to be very careful about the types of foods he can have in his day. The free apps I choose are:


Model Me Kids is an app that has several videos (video modeling) of the routines involved in visiting various places and the expected behaviors at those places. We want this student to become more capable of going places and behaving appropriately outside of the school setting; just as importantly we would like for him to go to these places with as much independence or as little assistance as possible. Also his dad would become more confident in taking him out places and feel his son can travel about in a public setting appropriately and in a safe manner. (Dad is visually impaired and it makes it that much more difficult to go out). School can support dad in working towards these life skill goals.


The irelax app would be great as a relaxation strategy. The app allows you to create your own relxation melody from a possible 16 different sounds. " It's perfect for relaxing, releasing daily stress or falling alseep" (itunes store).He could use it at school as one of his choices or we could build it into his schedule depending upon how his day is going. This expands his choices to allow him to stay calm and focused while at school to behave appropriately and complete more less desired tasks. Also he could use it at home, and especially at night when getting ready for bed. This could really help with getting to sleep or possibly help with getting back to sleep if he wakes in the night.



This app is to help learn the alphabet and names of fruit and veggies. The letters or fruit make noises, bounce and so on. It is very visually attractive. (This app does cost 0.99)He did learn the letters A,B, C when there was a visual attached to the letter. As we faded the visual or tried adding to the quantity, he became inconsistent or less successful. We could try using this app since it uses food of high interest to him and see if this app improved success. He is very good at matching so even he he did not learn the letters or words he could be successful by matching the letters. Presume competence. This may just be the tool that wakes up his brain to this skill. No harm in trying!

Some other apps I found I thought would be helpful or he'd like are (though not all free):
Proloquo2go
Visual Timer 0.99
Vibrating Massager 0.99
Pizza Time: Make More Pizza - Free
Blowfish Poppers - Free
A Mood Pad - Free (these are like the fluid only they create colors when you touch)
Sense Pad - Free
kinecticballs - free
Highlights Hidden pictures 1.99
Touchy Books
Pop Pegs Lite - free
Then there is also all the music he would love!
This i touch and the apps are really endless.

(I also thought his Dad would really benefit from the Dragon Dictation that's free and Magnifier, Powerful Reading Glass 1.99)

I hope someone else can find these apps helpful too!