My most important hint!
One of the most important things you can do before starting to work with your child with an iPad is to turn off multitasking gestures! I cannot emphasize this enough. For weeks I was so frustrated that as soon as Tom started to play with an app it would close up and he would end up back at the home screen. It was so frustrating. I didn't understand how this was working for other kids when Thomas couldn't even play with an app for more than a minute without exiting it.
Basically, the iPad is set up to respond to different finger movements in different ways. Sliding your fingers might switch to another app that is running in the background for instance. So as a child playfully swats, taps, and pats the screen they are doing many different functions, none of which is allowing them to play the app they intended to play.
Go turn off multitasking gestures and see the difference it makes.
To Turn off Multitasking Gestures: go to Settings - General - Multitasking Gestures and turn to off.
Now your child can use an app without continually closing it.
iPad App List - Tom's Favorites
- Peekaboo Barn Very simple graphics. You tap on the big red barn and an animal will come out and make a noise. Then a child's voice says the animal name. Easy and cute! I plan to try the other Peekaboo apps also.
- Musical Hands Another favorite! The screen is divided into three rows of colored boxes. Each row is a different instrument. When you touch a box you get sound and a little burst of color where you touch.
- Itsy Bitsy HD An interactive storybook of the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Almost anywhere you touch on the screen will cause something fun to happen and a sound. Tom loves Itsy Bitsy Spider!
- PlayPhone Tom loves my iPhone so I had to get this one for him. The whole screen becomes a giant multi-color phone. The buttons are big and easy to hit. Each button will call a little character who says something silly.
- D-Volution Percussions This app allows you to choose from an array of percussion instruments to create lots of interesting sounds.
- Drum Kit XL This app is great in its simplicity. You have the image of a drum kit on the screen - start drumming!
- Miss Spider's Tea Party (Callaway) This app is based on the popular book. It is an interactive book along with a matching game, puzzle and painting game. Tom loves playing the matching game because you can also play by matching the sounds of the tiles. I could see Tom really growing into this app as he gets older.
- Dr. Seuss's ABC Another great interactive book. You can't miss with the lovely rhyming of Dr. Seuss! This app really keeps Tom's attention. He can make it all the way from A-Z. Not bad for a two year old!
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| Looks like someone is having fun! |
Visually Stimulating/ Pre-Braille Skill Apps
- BabySymbol This app has high contrast images that are visually stimulating yet simple. It's an easy cause and effect app that makes an array of great sounds as your young child hits each image. You can set it up as a grid of images or just one large image. Tom has a lot of fun with this app.
- Tap-N-See-Zoo (by Little Bear Sees) This app was created for kids with CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment). It has a black screen with a red teddy bear floating around. When you touch the screen the bear comes to your finger so you can tap on it. When you tap the bear it grows very big and you are rewarded with a fun sound. You can try the lite version for free or buy the app which allows you to customize the colors, speed and sound of the app.
- Sound Shaker (by Tickle Tap Apps) This app is good for finger isolation (a pre-braille skill). First you choose a sound from several images. When you touch the next blank screen little little dots will appear along with a sound. The sounds will change as you hold your finger on the screen. Eventually the dots turn into an egg which hatches and chirps! Very cute.
- bright Start baby You can choose Mozart, Beethoven or Bach on the first screen. Then high contrast black and white images move over the screen. Some images are simple and some are more complex. When you touch the screen stars appear at your fingertips. It is touted as excellent for kids with CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment) and I can see why! This app is free.
- i love Fireworks Lite We have the free version (Lite) and it's perfect. As you drag your fingers over the screen fireworks fly through black screen and burst into color. Nice color on a black screen and cool firework sounds.
- BabyTap This may be Tom's favorite! Big white screen that you tap and shapes will appear with a sound like a baby laughing or a doorbell ringing. Tom loves it when it makes baby sounds. This is a simple and visually uncluttered cause and effect app.
- Bubbles It starts with a black screen. When you run your finger over the screen bright blue bubbles appear which you can then pop! Simple and great!
iPad/App Links
- VI Family Network
- Apps for Children with Special Needs
- Moms With Apps
- Capable Kids Clubhouse
- Babies with iPads
- The Friendship Circle
Why Facebook? Because by friending or liking these groups you can get special deals. App developers know that parents are looking at these pages and often post information about app sales and special introductory prices for their new apps. It's a great way to find out about new apps and do it affordably.
- Thinking Outside the Light-Box: Vision Therapy Support Group Go to the notes section to find a huge list of iPad app recommendations.
- Fun Educational Apps
- Moms With Apps
- Special Needs Apps for Kids (snapps4kids)
I find a lot of app deals by friending app developers and the resources I listed above on Facebook. You can also do a search for "app party," "appy friday," or "app giveaway," to find special deals. A lot of developers feature special app prices for holidays so be sure to look out for those deals.
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| Tom leaning in for a better listen to his music. He has quite a library of music on his iPad. |
Other Useful Apps
An IEP Checklist app is a fabulous idea! It can help keep everyone on track at the IEP meeting and hopefully make for a more productive and fair result. What a great tool!
Want to know what it's like to be visually impaired? Check out the Braille Institute's free VisionSim app! This could be helpful to explain your child's eyesight to friends, relatives and siblings.