Instead of moping around that special needs kid and reminding him/her of his disabilities, we need to flip our perspective. Let them know they have wings, and they can fly!
Whether you are a parent or a teacher, you must train yourself if you interact with a special needs student. These students have varying needs, behavioral patterns, versatile talents, and challenges.
This is why employing apps, and other virtual tools for customizing your approach is pretty beneficial. These apps will help you customize your behavior according to students’ needs.
Students with special needs can also use these apps to enhance their lifestyle, education, and career. Let’s check out some of the best apps available in the market:
1. Learn with Rufus
This is a series of applications for students with special needs and young learners. Understanding their feelings and emotions is needed for students who face difficulties identifying facial expressions and emotions.
“Boys and Girls” is a part of this series that helps kids tell apart females and males. They may get confused by non-typical features and need a structured method to figure the difference.
Categories introduce colors, shapes, and sizes. Meanwhile, numbers teach the students to count and compare quantities. Rufus’s customizability, engagement, and friendly in-app character are common in all categories.
2. Speech Blubs
This speech therapy application uses video technology and voice control to develop speech articulation for young children. It has thousands of activities to help kids practice speech in a fun way.
The app will help to boost the pronunciation and speech of a child. It enhances their interaction and imitation skills, making them confident about talking to other people. Teachers can also witness a higher engagement in practicing speech sounds with their students.
The developers of this application have introduced some significant changes, such as an education section for parents, savable filters, and access to the reading application “Reading Blubs.”
Parents can personalize this application so that their child becomes the primary hero of the speech journey. They also get an opportunity to be a part of the supportive family of more than 4.5 million parents using Speech Blubs for their children.
3. Skill Champ
Teachers can use the Skill Champ application to supplement social therapy sessions and classroom learning. Students start using this app by working on its built-in lessons to practice drag-and-drop. Teachers can also help their students practice their progress by adding a sticker chart. This chart is based on the elapsed time or accuracy of the player’s targeting.
These will also help the students set goals for completing their activities and provide extrinsic rewards to celebrate the success of some students.
Teachers can utilize the resources provided on the developer’s website to create folder-based games on the skills used within the application. To extend its happy and sad activities, teachers may ask their students to take photos of themselves. They can also mimic faces among class fellows to include their folders in the application.
4. iCan
iCan Special Educational Fun aimed at children with special learning needs. It contains an endless ad-free library of games and educational videos. These are designed to promote a child’s self-care, socio-emotional, cognitive, and academic skills.
It brings many opportunities for children to nurture their basic life skills. For example, they get a chance to develop independence, practice their daily skills, understand social situations, and understand basic academic concepts.
The app is helpful for an individual student, the whole group, and even the entire class. It will work by ensuring that your device stays connected with a large screen or an interactive whiteboard.
5. Proloquo2Go
Proloquo2Go is a power-packed augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) application for people who have challenges while speaking. It is a part of a new wave of app development that will greatly modify the digital landscape.
Kids, teens, and adults who cannot speak can use this application as a daily communication tool. It allows setting boards for the students in several environments and specific groups or individuals. It also helps to improve their language skills.
The app is customizable and helps with a whole range of fine visual and motor skills. Its versatility makes it useful for non-verbal individuals and those with autism. The features of this app are handy for people with cerebral palsy, Downs Syndrome, and a variety of other diagnoses or speech impediments like apraxia.
The app provides natural-sounding text to speech voices. It contains a high-resolution library of more than 14 000 symbols, two research-based vocabulary organizations, powerful automatic conjugations, multi-user support, and advanced word prediction.
Its fully customizable vocabularies for users and a broad continuum of abilities help students to begin from symbolic communication and end their journey at full literacy.
6. Pumpic
It has become a common practice among parents to hand over smartphones to their children. However, parents need to keep some reigns in their hands when it comes to children with special needs. Students tend to engage in objectionable online activities or lose their focus during screen time.
Parents have access to the browsing history of their kids. They can also monitor a few messaging apps to ensure that students don’t get involved in unsafe communication.
This application’s geo-forcing and GPS tracking feature ensures that students don’t leave the boundaries without the supervisors’ permission.
Nowadays, cyber-bullying and data breaches are common in the virtual world. Parents need to ensure they choose reliable apps, such as Pumpic or airG scam-free apps, to safeguard their child’s interaction in the digital environment.
7. Easy Dyslexia Aid
Easy Dyslexia aid is a helpful addition to the assistive tech market designed for dyslexia. It helps to improve spelling and literacy with the help of “OpenDyslexic” fonts and colorful overlays.
Kids with dysgraphic often struggle with writing, organizing their thoughts on paper, and other academic activities. Easy Dyslexia Aid helps to improve these conditions. It serves as a support application within and beyond the classrooms.
This is one of the best unique educational resources to help students and parents alike.
8. Otsimo
Otsimo is a fantastic and inspiring app developed for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It covers 13 areas with more than 80 activities and stories. Each of these segments aims to inspire learning among the students.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the primary approach used in this application. This allows for feedback and encourages the completion of tasks within time. It also has a reporting section that allows you to track the students’ progress as they walk through the application.
This is useful to share between home ad the school, enabling teachers and parents to focus on the weak aspects of the children.
9. Video Scheduler
Video Scheduler is a visual schedule application with video model features. It allows the creation of checklists of steps required to achieve a goal or complete any task. The parent/teacher can accompany each step with a video illustrating this activity.
The app is customizable and allows the creation of pictures or videos of complex tasks. This method favors ASD students and those who struggle with time management.
The video scheduler helps them work independently with little or no help from the teacher.
Parting Thoughts
Digital tools can bring a magnanimous impact in bridging the development and achievement gaps. Some apps can do wonders for students with special needs, making them believe they have the potential.
The key is to look for applications that will strengthen a child’s skills and boost their confidence.
Michelle Joe
Michelle Joe is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, and experiences, and express herself through her blogs. You can find her on Twitter: @michellejoe524