Apps for OTs | Switch Activated OctoPlus

When Zyrobotics reached out to me to see if I was interested in checking out their new math app, OctoPlus, the switch-access is what really caught my eye about this new app. Switch accessible apps are not something that I have much experience with, so I hit the internet to see find more information. If you are interested in learning more, I recommend that you visit Jane Farrall's website, especially her very newly updated page on Switch Accessible Apps for iPad/iPhone. 

For the record: I don't currently have access to a switch, so I did not try this app with a switch. However, I did try this app, and as an OT, I really like the visual motor component of this math game. If you do have a switch, or work with a child who uses a switch to access apps, then this might be a good app for you to add to your toolbox.

Here's how OctoPlus works:

In this app, there are two options to choose from: drill and challenge. Within each option, you can choose Beginner, Advanced, or Expert. The drill option is just that-a drill of repetitive math problems where all of the problems have the same answer. This seems to be just to increase exposure to the math problems. In the challenge option, the user must solve the math problems and locate the correct answer.

OctoPlus is a beginner math app for sure, as the settings only go up to math problems that add up to 10. In both options, drill and challenge, the user must tap the correct answer at the bottom of the screen, while the octopus is near that number to squirt ink up to the turtle. This is where the visual motor and visual attention skills come into play, and as an OT, I appreciate that this app challenges more than just math skills.

As an OT, these are the things I love about the OctoPlus app:

• Switch accessible. While I did not try out this feature, it is my understanding that not a lot of apps are switch accessible, so I like that this app is accessible to children with special needs who may have mobility impairments. Zyrobotics sells a TabAccess Bluetooth Switch Interface that is compatible with OctoPlus, but I believe any iPad compatible switch will work.
• Encourages visual motor skills. The numbers at the bottom of the screen must be tapped and the numbers keep changing, so the user must visually locate the correct answer and then tap the number.
• Encourages visual attention skills. The numbers at the bottom of the screen are constantly changing, and the octopus is in constant motion, so the user must maintain visual attention to keep track of the numbers and the octopus.

App Information:

Name of App: OctoPlus
Publisher: Zyrobotics LLC
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch; requires iOS 4.3 or later.
Price: $0.99



P.S. Check out my app page for all of the apps I've shared.

*Disclosure: I received a promo code for this app, but all writing and opinions are my own. Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

Apps for OTs | Behaviors with Friends

The following is a sponsored post for teach2talk, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for your continued support of this blog and it's sponsors!

Behaviors with Friends is an iPad app that uses targeted video modeling to help teach children how to navigate and problem solve a variety of social situations. Created by Speech Language Pathologist, Sarah Clifford Scheflen, M.S., CCC-SLP, Behaviors with Friends focuses on common situations that children encounter, such as sharing toys and taking turns, and the common behaviors that often go along with these situations, like tantrums and name calling.

Here's how it works:

Watch videos of real children (not cartoons!) engaging in a variety of social situations. Throughout each video, the narrator stops to ask your child a question (e.g. "What do you think Jesse's friends are thinking when Jesse makes this choice?").

Correct answers are rewarded with a "sticker" for your child's virtual sticker book. Incorrect answers are explained and your child is given another chance to answer. It's really as simple as that!

As an OT, these are the things I love about the Behaviors with Friends app:

• Addresses executive functioning skills. Executive function skills include the ability to stop, think, plan, and then act; the ability to think flexibly; and the ability to manage emotions. By using video modeling of a variety of social situations, Behaviors with Friends shows children how to think through these situations while managing their emotions.
• Narrator encourages perspective taking. I love how the narrator pops up throughout the videos to ask the user questions. And the questions are good! The questions encourage the user to think about how each child in the video is feeling. Perspective taking is something that so many children struggle with, and Behaviors with Friends does a really nice job of encouraging the user to consider what other children are thinking.
• Uses interactive videos of real children. Not only does Behaviors with Friends use video modeling of real children, rather than cartoons, they are interactive videos. As I said above, the narrator pops in at just the right time and asks the user thought provoking questions. The child is really encouraged to think about the situation shown in the video and then choose the correct answer. This is a much better format than simply watching a video.

 

App Information:

Name of App: Behaviors with Friends

Publisher: Teach2Talk

Compatible with: iPad; requires iOS 6.0 or later

Price: $4.99

About Teach2Talk, LLC:

teach2talk™ produces educational resources for children, which target core speech and language, play and social skills using techniques including video modeling. Our products are created by a practicing speech language pathologist based on her clinical experience and her review of the peer–reviewed research of others, but are designed to be used by parents on their own without outside assistance.

teach2talk™ strives to introduce new and innovative products and to improve existing products based on the latest developments in scientific research and on feedback from the parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals who use our products.

Co-Founder Sarah Clifford Scheflen, M.S., CCC-SLP is a pediatric clinical speech–language pathologist who specializes in working with children with autism and other developmental disorders. Sarah is the founder of Scheflen Speech–Language Pathology, Inc., her private practice in Santa Monica, California, and she is also the senior speech–language pathologist on staff at an intensive partial–hospitalization program located at a major public research university in Los Angeles, California. She is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer, and her research focus is on teaching play and social skills through video modeling.

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by teach2talk. All writing and opinions are my own. Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. Links to iTunes are affiliate links.

Apps for OTs | Tiny Tastes

Today I am so excited to be participating in a blog hop and sharing with you a cool, new app I recently discovered. Tiny Tastes app is essentially a timer that encourages kids to try new foods.

Created by Emily Garber, a pediatric nutritionist, Tiny Tastes uses a picture of your child's food, along with  encouragement from Tiny the kangaroo and the opportunity to earn coins, to teach kids to try new foods.

The coins can be used to buy items from the Tiny Store, such as a new bowl or spoon for Tiny to eat with.

Tiny Tastes doesn't just help kids try new foods, it also helps kids drink, with a variety of cup choices available. I think this could be a great tool for transitioning kids off of the bottle, or for encouraging a child to use a straw.

This is a cute app with a fun reward system that feeding therapists and parents alike may find beneficial for their child. As an occupational therapist, I think this app could be a nice supplement to a child's feeding therapy program, or a nice way for parents to encourage their child to try new foods outside of feeding therapy sessions.

Ways to use Tiny Tastes app:

• Encourage children to try new foods
• Encourage children to eat or drink more quickly
• Transition off of the bottle
• Help children drink from a different type of cup

For more ways on how the Tiny Tastes app can be used in therapy, check out the informational PDFs on the Tiny Tastes website.

The only challenge that you might run into with this app is preventing the child from tapping the screen themselves and giving themselves credit for eating, when maybe they didn't actually eat their food. A difficult thing to get around with how tech-savvy kids are these days :) I would recommend trying to keep the iPad within the child's sight, but not within their reach.

App Information:

Name of App: Tiny Tastes
Publisher: Little Turtle
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; Requires iOS 8.0 or later
Price: Free!


Tiny Tastes is also available for Android!

*Disclosure: All writing and opinions are my own. Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

App of the Week | Dexteria Dots 2

I've long been a fan of Dexteria apps and I'm happy to report that Binary Labs, the creators of the Dexteria family of apps, has done it again!

Dexteria Dots 2, which builds on the skills taught in the original Dexteria Dots, is an app designed to teach young children basic math concepts. While this is a math app, as an occupational therapist, I like that it also encourages development of visual motor skills. As you can see from the screenshot below, this app is played by slicing, tapping, and dragging the dots.

How to play:

In the first game, the goal is to slice, tap and drag the dots to make two equal dots. Here's an example:

In the second game, the player must compare the dots to determine which was is greater. Again the dots can be sliced and dragged to help figure out the answer or it can be done visually without moving any of the dots. It all depends on the child's ability to estimate.

In the example below, these are dots in the expert level. Since this might be challenging for some to visually tell which dot is larger, I sliced each dot to the smallest sizes. Now I can count the dots and tell that the one on the left is larger than the one on the right. This is also a good way to teach students to check their work.

Another cool thing about this app is that each dot has four attributes: the number itself, dots, color, and size. As you progress through the levels, there are fewer attributes. So in the beginner level, you have all four attributes to visually assist, but by the time you get to the advanced level, size is the only attribute available. These attributes and the ability to choose the level (and thereby choose the number of attributes) is great for visual learners. The decreasing attributes as you progress through the game is also great for further challenging and developing executive function skills.

Let me show you a few examples:

Beginner Level

Intermediate Level

Advanced Level

Expert Level

Not only is this working on math skills, while sneaking in some visual motor skill practice, this game is also challenging students to use their executive function skills! While some kids may be tempted to just slice and drag the dots without much of a plan, to really master this game, kids need to plan ahead, problem solve, and then execute the solution. Yay for executive functions for making that all possible!

 Are you a fan of Dexteria apps? Which one is your favorite? I have to say, as an occupational therapist, Dexteria Junior is the one I use the most!

App Information:

Name of App: Dexteria Dots 2
Publisher: Binary Labs
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; optimized for iPhone 5; requires iOS 6.0 or later.
Price: $2.99



*Disclosure: I was provided with a free promo code for this app, however, all writing and opinions are my own. Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

App of the Week | Sunday Drive

I'm rolling with the travel theme this month. Are you staying closer to home this summer? If so, Sunday Drive might be the travel app for you.

In this app, you choose a start point, and it then provides you with driving routes along with points of interest along the way. To show you what it looks like, I put in one of my favorite places, Malibu.

This might seem like an odd app to share on an occupational therapy blog, but the reason I think this app has therapeutic power, is that it can be used by older kids or teens to help plan a day trip or staycation. Getting kids involved in the planning process for their day, week, vacation, etc. is such a great and practical way to work on those executive function skills this summer!

What do you think? Do you try to encourage your kids to help plan during the summer? How do you encourage executive function skills in the summer? I LOVE how Ali has tasked her son with making a batch of cookies each week this summer. What a great idea!

App Information:

Name of App: Sunday Drive
Publisher: Sunday Drive
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch; requires iOS 6.0 or later
Price: free


*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

App of the Week | Smart Fish: Frequent Flyer

Can you tell I have travel on my mind? Last week I shared the Off We Go: Going on a Plane app. Today I have another travel related app to share. Smart Fish: Frequent Flyer is a game that helps kids become familiar with the experience of taking a flight, including packing for a trip, driving to the airport, going through security, boarding the plane, fastening seat belts, and claiming checked luggage. I have not tried this app, but it gets great reviews on iTunes and looks like it could be a good option for helping kids get familiar with what to expect when flying.

Have you used this app, or another similar app? Please share in the comments below!

App Information:

Name of App: SmartFish: Frequent Flyer
Publisher: SocialBug Labs
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; requires iOS 7.0 or later
Price: $2.99


*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

App of the Week | Off We Go: Going on a Plane

 

Are you traveling this summer? I have a lot of trips coming up and several of them involve flying. Lisa, of Atypical Familia recently shared her tips for flying with a child with autism and she mentioned an app that she uses called Off We Go: Going on a Plane.

I have not personally used this app, so I can't give too many details about it, but it looks like a good option for families who are traveling by plane this summer. Here's a video of the app if you'd like to take a closer look.

App Information:

Name of app: Off We Go: Going on a Plane
Publisher: KIWA International, Ltd
Compatible with: iPhone app requires iOS 3.1.2 or later; iPad app requires iOS 7.0 or later
Price: $3.99



*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.


Have you used this app? Do you have a favorite app for helping kids understand airplane travel? If you do, please share in the comments below! Happy summer travels!

 

App of the Week | OverColor

If you like games like Rush Hour, then you will probably love OverColor. OverColor app is a challenging brainteaser that uses visual spatial reasoning skills.

There are five levels to choose from, ranging from what I would say is moderately challenging to extremely challenging.

Here is an example from the first level:

This is another one from the first level, showing you a step by step of how the pieces must be placed in order.

And here's an example from level five. As you can see, I haven't quite figured it out yet!

Close, but not quite! I like that there is not a timing component to this game, so you can just keep working at it until you figure it out.

I think if I was to use this game as a part of an occupational therapy session, I would cut out pieces to match the shapes on the app, so the child could physically manipulate the shapes to make the design. I'm not quite sure how I would do that, since the pieces are so intricate. Maybe print out screenshots and then cut out the shapes?

App Information:

Name of App: OverColor
Publisher: PopAppFactory Inc
Compatible with: iPad; requires iOS 5.0 or later
Price: $2.99

 
*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

 What do you think? Would you use OverColor as a therapy tool or is this game too challenging?

App of the Week | ModMath

ModMath is an app that was developed for students with dysgraphia and dyslexia. ModMath allows the user to type out math problems on the touch screen, decreasing the need to use paper and pencil to complete math problems. As one of the reviewers on iTunes stated, this is a visual organizer, not a calculator.

What ModMath does:

• Provides a virtual piece of graph paper, allowing students to legibly line up numbers and equations
• The size of the graph paper can be customized, as can the color of the worksheet (either dark print on light paper or light on dark)
• Rows and columns can be shaded to assist with alignment
• Allows students to do basic math problems (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) using a touch screen, rather than writing
• Pages can be printed or emailed directly to a teacher

Here are some screenshots of me doing a division problem:

Use the onscreen number pad to type out the problem.

Adjust the size of the graph paper as you like or highlight a column to assist with alignment.

 Show your work without picking up a pencil!

App Information:

Name of App: ModMath

Publisher: Hirsch/Denberg LLC

Compatible with: iPad; requires iOS 5.1 or later

Price: free!

*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

Have you used this app? How do you accommodate or modify math assignments for your students with dysgraphia? For ideas on how to modify paper for completing math assignments, check out my post on adapted paper for math.

App of the Week | Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame

Have you heard of Sesame Street's initiative, Little Children, Big Challenges? It is a bilingual, multimedia outreach initiative for military, veteran, and general public families with young children, to help increase self-awareness, boost self-esteem, and help children persevere through challenges. Topics include deployment, incarceration, and divorce.

The reason I'm bringing all of this up is because of the awesome app that has come out of this initiative. Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame is an app that helps young children problem solve and develop coping strategies when challenging situations arise. As an occupational therapist, this is exactly what I'm often helping families teach their children, and for the right kid, this app might be a great supplement!

Here's how it works:

The app has five scenarios with monster: getting upset because he can't get his shoes on, saying goodbye to mom at school, sad because his tower of blocks fell down, waiting in line for the slide, and anxious about going to sleep in the dark. Each of the scenarios using great feeling words to describe how he is feeling.

 

After the scene is set, the user is encouraged to tap the monster's belly to help him take slow deep breaths, which helps him calm down (Breathe). After that, the child pops bubbles (good for finger isolation too!) to help the monster come up with a plan (Think). Three alternate plans are then given to solve the problem and the child can choose a plan (Do).

After a plan is chosen, another scene is played showing how the plan works out for the monster. The Breathe-Think-Do routine is then repeated and the child is encouraged to use this strategy in his own life. There is lots of repetition in this app, which I think is great for young children.

In addition to the scenes with monster in this app, there is also a parents section that contains tips and strategies, on a variety of challenging situations. These tips are great because they provide parents with language that they can use to help their child understand his or her feelings, as well as strategies to cope with the situation.

This is a cute and interactive app that looks like it could be really helpful for any child learning to cope with challenging situations (which is something all children have to do). I also think this app could be a good supplement to other emotional regulation programs, like The Incredible 5 Point Scale or The Zones of Regulation.

App Information:

Name of App: Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame
Publisher: Sesame Street
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; requires iOS 6.0 or later
Price: free!

*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.


What are your go-to strategies to help teach kids emotional regulation? Would you consider adding this app to your bag of tricks?
 

 

App of the Week | DRAWNIMAL

You guys. This app is sooo cute! I love everything about it. The colors. The graphics. The outside of the box thinking. An app that encourages drawing? On actual paper? What's not to love about that?

Let me show you how it works:

Start by placing your iPad on a piece of paper. I'm using an iPad mini in these pictures and this is an app where a smaller device actually is better in some ways. This app would work great with an iPhone. Each letter has a secret animal. You are prompted to draw part of the animal on your paper.  I bet you can guess what A is for...

Draw the tail on the paper and then tap the play button to reveal the animal.

You guessed it! It's an alligator.

Tap the alligator to see what it does. Kids love this part!

As an occupational therapist, I love that this app encourages drawing. Actual drawing. And in OT jargon, it encourages development of visual perceptual and visual motor skills, which OTs get quite excited about. Most of the animal embellishments consist of simple lines and shapes, which is great for young children who are just beginning to draw and copy. Not too hard, but not too easy either. You can see what I'm talking about in these screenshots:

For the letter G, just add lines and semi-circles.

And for the letter L, add wavy lines.

Overall, I think this is a fun and engaging app for young children (and maybe older children, too!). The voice on the app does have a slight European accent and pronounces the letter Z as "zed", but those are small things that I'm willing to overlook. I haven't checked out Lucas Zonatto's new app MIXIMAL yet, but it looks like a winner too!

App Information:

Name of app: DRAWNIMAL
Publisher: Lucas Zonatto
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; requires iOS 6.0 or later
Price: $1.99

*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

Have you used DRAWNIMAL? Do you just love it? Have you tried MIXIMAL yet? Let me know, is it as good as it looks?