7 Great Resources for (Gently) Used Assistive Technology!

There is no question that the iPad has brought much more affordable learning and communication technology to children in need.  With this awesome gadget, we can now offer voice output communication for a mere fraction of the cost of dedicated AAC devices.  However, for some kids with special needs, dedicated AAC devices may be more appropriate for long term language growth and communication development.  This necessity comes with a hefty price tag as many dedicated AAC devices cost thousands of dollars and are not fully covered by private medical insurance.  For those children with medical coverage that reimburses for these systems, the assessment and application process can be effortful and time consuming for the parents and team supporting the child, at times resulting in denials from funding sources.  And lets not forget that just because the iPad and other tablets are much less expensive then these dedicated systems or a personal computer, doesn't mean that all families are able to meet the financial requirements that arise in setting up an iPad communication system.   A family can expect to spend $1000.00 or more when you consider the base price of the tablet, protective gear, audio gear, apps, access supports like switches and switch interfaces-the list could go on and on!  So what options are available for families who just can't meet the iPad price tag or for kids that truly need a dedicated system at a significantly lowered price?

Here are a few great resources to help you find used and donated (i.e., lowered cost and free) assertive technology (AT), including communication devices, mobility equipment, and mobile technology.  

1. Pacer Center: Champions for Children with Disabilities
2. Get AT Stuff 
3. AbleData Classifieds
4. Tech ACT Projects   (resources by State)
5. Pass It On Center  (resources by State)
6. Apple Store (Refurbished and Clearance Center)  Apple has a section of their online store that is dedicated to selling used/refurbished and clearance technology, including iPads
7. Used iPads on Amazon

Do you have a source for affordable AT that you'd like to share?  Do you have equipment that you'd like to donate to a child in need?  Contact SNEAK or post in the comments below.

If you want to continue the discussion on the technology divide, please comment below or join our chat at SNEAK Freestyle Forum.

Disclaimer:  I checked out the above resources to the best of my ability and each seems legitimate and responsible when it comes to assuring the quality of goods being sold as well as the honesty of those selling them.  Please be aware when purchasing equipment and other products for third party sellers that you are not familiar with as their is always risk involved.  I have never purchased from any of the above links and therefore cannot fully endorse the safety of shopping through these sources.  

Hands-Free Solutions for iPad? Yes, Please!

The iPad is a WONDERFUL tool! For play, for learning, for therapy, for communication, you name it!  But is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking sometimes? "Oh great! Another THING to  literally JUGGLE with all of the other THINGS in my therapy session/classroom activity/daily routine! Sure, it's light, it's small, but I need to be an octopus to balance the kid, the visual supports for behavior, the toy, the tactile prompting, and the iPad all at once!  And how about the issue of joint attention and focus?  I want my kids looking at me, in my direction, and interacting with me- not turning this way and that doing a juggling act of their own.  so I was thinking the other day, why can't I just stick the iPad to my chest, that wY, I can have both of my hands free and increase focus to my direction rather than the table top.  I was pretty sure this could be accomplished DIY style with a simple cooking apron and some Velcro.  But I thought I would check out some ready-made solutions just to see what was out there.  What I found made me chuckle, but it also revealed some potentially feasible products to address this "hands-free" concept.

Defender by Assero Industries is a carrying case and hands-free, no-table-needed chest harness that is designed to hang (as shown in picture) so that you can use the iPad facing towards you, in horizontal mode, and laying flat.  This might be appropriate for children (and adults) who are ambulatory and use the iPad on the go as a communication device.  It isn't clear from the website if this would adjust to fit small kids, but it certainly has potential.  I also wonder if you could use it in conjunction with a stand that sets the iPad upright.  If so, a therapist, educator, or parent could wear the harness with the iPad on the stand and facing outward so that the child could access it on the facilitator and the iPad could also be accessed from behind by the facilitator.  Far fetched idea, right? But it might work :) Check out a review of Defender on GeekwithLaptop

iPad Jacket by Alphynin is a polar tech jacket with a secret iPad pocket in the front that zips up to store the iPad and then unzips and lowers as a platform to use the iPad hands free (as pictured above). It works similar to the Defender (above) and might have similar potential uses for AAC users on the go who are ambulatory, and for facilitators (given the right stand to position the iPad upright).  I liked this option (hypothetically, of course :) because you can stow the iPad when you aren't using it.  It might be a bit too toasty for using indoors though, and I can't see fleece being functional (or bearable!) in warm climates.   Check out a review of iPad Jacket on Geekosystem.

GoPad from GoPad is a more simplistic version of the two above. I don't think this one would work for a facilitator.  Check out a review of GoPad on Gizmag

iPad Style Shirt by Style Shirt is my favorite potential solution fir the problem outlined at the beginning of this post.  It is a simple t-shirt with a clear pocket in the front that still allows you to interact with the touch screen.  I imagine you could buy one big enough to simply slip over what you're wearing, but not too big that it affects the placement of the iPad on your body.  I may have to get one of these to try for myself. :) Check out a review of iPad Style Shirt on enGadget

And don't forget the DIY Way! :)
Get a cooking apron or communication apron, attach some heavy duty Velcro to the apron and the opposite side to the back of the iPad, and just stick it on!

Stay Tuned to SNEAK for ATIA 2012 Coverage!

 How amazing is technology?  As I write this, I am 35,000 feet in the air, wedged in the middle seat of a very full airplane, on my way to Orlando! And what waits for me there?  More amazing technology!  While I may not be a reporter, I'm going to take a stab at it this weekend to bring all of you on-the-spot coverage of the great resources at ATIA.  Most of you know about ATIA, some of you may not, but in short, it is an amazing conference that brings together great minds in education, innovation, therapy, advocacy, and so much more!  AT for mobility, low vision, special education, hearing impairment- you name it and it is at ATIA!  And to back up these amazing products, fresh and innovative perspectives from experts in the supporting fields that bring ability to children and adults with special needs.   Stay tuned through SNEAK email updates, my Twitter feed (@sneakotb), RSS feed, and Facebook so you won't miss a thing tomorrow through Sunday!! :) 

 

20 Great Android Apps for Kids with CVI/Low Vision

iPad hogs the spotlight these days, but considering the switch accessibility features of Android devices, and the up and coming market of Android tablets that strongly compete with iPad, I plan on spending a bit more time focusing on this alternate technology.  To start, here are a list of 20 great Apps for Android that posses certain characteristics that I find helpful for kids with cortical visual impairment and other forms of low vision.  This is by no means a complete list, but it's a great start, especially if you're looking for Apps for kids in the early developmental stages.  I picked these Apps for their visual properties and ease of use, making them great Apps to try with kids with CVI and LV.  However, many if not ALL of these Apps are great for kids with a variety of special needs. 

You can get all of these Apps in SNEAK's Android aStore! 

When you link to Amazon's Android App Store through SNEAK, you support our blog and get cool Apps with no extra cost to you!

1.  Knee Bouncers Big Little Games: Vol. 1 (5 games in 1) has bright, contrasting colors, is visually simplistic but engaging, and requires simple interaction for cause-effect and engagement.  Games included are: 1)  Choo-Choo: Your baby or toddlers will love this bubble blowing train.; 2).  The Alphabet game: Introduce your baby or toddler to the letters of the alphabet in this fun interactive game.; 3).  Pop-A-lot: It's a bubble bursting bonanza. ; 4)  It's Colorific: Your baby or toddler will begin to learn all the basic colors with this big, bright and colorful game.; and 5)  The Big Top: A three ring circus comes to life as your baby or toddler taps the screen.

2.  My Baby Drum is designed for the development of your baby’s senses. This app provides various children's songs and authentic drumming.  Add drum sounds to children's songs to make exciting musical performance.  When touched, the program activates animations and vibration to stimulate children's curiosity. Bright drums in a rainbow of colors on a white background make them easier to see with large surface area for each drum allowing for easier interaction.

3.  Kids Xylophone encourages interaction through music and a  bright, simple, visual display.   Play  your own songs or play along with favorites, this App encourages cause-effect, imitation of sound and rhythm, and visual attention.

4.  Little Piano is a  high-contrast, black and white toy piano that encourages exploration and touch screen interaction.  

5. BalloonMaker is a simple but engaging App with a bright, high-contrast display.  This fun App encourages interaction through sound and movement.  It's  simple visual display and easy activiAtion make it great for kids with CVI and other challenges.  

 6.  Balloonimals is a favorite for iPad users now on Android!  This great, cause-effect game lets children use different touch screen gestures to blow up balloons, create a balloon figure, interact with the figure, and then pop it!  Great selection of balloons to choose from and easy gestures for interaction.  High contrast with bright balloons on simple white background, great animation, and sounds!

7.  Pop Goes the Bubble Every kid loves bubbles but these are easier to see and therefore, easier to track!  The app has 4 game modes, each offering different skills to target.  You can expand on language skills by talking to your child while they play, improve tracking and hand-eye coordination, and foster independence as this App is a great one to let your child play alone or with support.  

8.  Sound Touch was designed to help expand vocabulary knowledge through sound and picture associations.  Thiss visually simple, easy to use App will encourage sound imitation, visual attention, touch screen interaction, and case-effect.

9.  My First Race for Babies is a colorful App that resembles a toycar on a race track.  Drive the car with the touch of a finger! This App helps children with sensory and motor involvement interact with pretend play schemes more easily!

10., 11., & 12.   Kids Doodle - Movie Kids Drawing, Neon Draw, & Picasso-Kids Paint Magic are three great drawing Apps with high-contrast, neon on black displays.  Kids Doodle records doodles to playback as a movie!  These Apps are great for early touch screen skills, exploratory play, and for use as a learning tool like an interactive whiteboard (but black).  

13.  Peek-a-Boo Barn is an old favorite for iPad users, now on Android.  Visually simple pictures and interaction allow users with vosual limitations learn animal names and sounds, cause-effect and early toich screen skills in a fun, motivating way!

14.  Mazeball is not as simple as some of the others but it offers a great, high-contrast black, white and red display where you lead a red ball through a black and white maze.  There are different levels of difficulty within the App that you can adjust.  Mazeball is great for tracking for higher level kids and for practicing more advanced touch screen skills

15., 16., & 17.  Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and Five Little Monkeys are creative expansion of these favorite children's songs.  These Apps are  very interactive to build language and cause effect.  Highly engaging movement, colors, and simple visual display make them more accessible to kids with visual limitations.   These Apps encourage imitation of sounds and song, as well as visual attention skills. 

  

18.  Lightbox (Premium) turns your Android device into a Lightbox! 

Need to Kid Proof Your Android Debice?  Here are two apps that do just that! 

19.  Kids Place with Child Lock  Childproof any app just by adding the ones kids use on your device to Kids Place. The custom launcher will display only parent-authorized apps. Use the Child Lock feature to protect your data and the Toddler Lock setting to enforce locking for apps launched from Kids Place. Other settings let you disable wireless signals as well as block or allow incoming calls while the Kids Place app is running.

20.  KinderTube is a kid-friendly video app that embeds links to over 100 per-screened You Tube videos for kids, so you don't have to worry about them seeing inappropriate content if left to explore unsupervised.  

You can get all of these Apps in SNEAK's Android aStore! 

When you link to Amazon's Android App Store through SNEAK, you support our blog and get cool Apps with no extra cost to you!

What cool Android Apps are you using with your child?

The Trabasack Helps Your iPad Stay Put!

Buy the Trabasack Curve Connect on Amazon!

This is a clever product and when I saw it, I immediately thought of the many wheelchair lap trays I have outfitted with tons of Velcro strips to get toys and tech to stay put!  I think this smart little lap desk/carrying case is a great alternative for some kids who need their materials anchored for access!  The Trabasack (sometimes referred to as a "buggy tray") comes in four versions: Trabasack Curve,  Trabasack Curve Connect, Trabasack Mini , and Trabasack Mini Connect .  "Connect" versions are covered with a material that feels and acts like the soft side of Velcro. To anchor toys, games, tech, or anything else, you would simply put the hook side of a Velcro tab on the item.  You may need more Velcro on the item depending on its size and weight.  The Trabasack also acts as a carrying case so yo can ensure it is always with the child, toting anything he needs to work and play!  The Trabasack has great potential as a communication board as well, with handy storage for all your PCS right inside your Trabasack,  Thanks to Viviane on Thinking Outside the Light-box for mentioning this cool new tool!  if you buy your Trabasack through this link, you can support our blog at the same time, with no extra cost to you!  Thanks for your support and I welcome your input on this product!

Some Other Great Links About the Trabasack:
Switch Mounting with The Trabasack
YouTube Videos about The Trabasack

Tecla Access for Android Opens Doors for Switch Accessibility in Mobile Devices

What is Tecla Access?

Tecla Access is an App and hardware “shield” designed to provide switch access to the underlying operating system (Android) on Android mobile devices. This includes ALL of the Apps loaded onto a particular device.  In other words, you can use Tecla Access on your Android tablet to access other Apps witch a switch. This technology is in the pre-production stages and is currently being tested in the UK, Canada, and US with adult users.  The research team at the Inclusive Design Research Centre of OCAD University in Toronto is currently gathering data on the compatibility of Tecla Access with various Android Tablets and Android Apps. They post this data as it is gathered on their project site.  Currently, Tecla Access is compatible with various Android mobile phones and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (a mobile tablet similar to an iPad).  The research team will test the compatibility of different Android Apps with the Tecla Access system upon request.  They are still in the working stages of identifying those Apps which follow best accessibility practices most closely, and therefore present good compatibility with Tecla Access.  Check the Tecla Access Project site  for more information on the Apps that have been tested as well as those in process. 

How do I get Tecla Access?

Visit Tecla’s site to learn more about how to participate in the initial use of this amazing product.    Keep in mind that this is a two part system-in order to use Tecla Access on your Android tablet for switch accessibility you must have the Tecla Access App  and the Tecla Access Shield. 

You can download the Tecla Access App for free in the Android Market.  You can get other great Android Apps in  the Amazon AppStore for Android

I am really excited about this project and I can’t wait to see how it develops in the coming months. Despite the fact that the initial focus of this project is on adult users, I am completely confident that this technology has wonderful applicability for our kids who use switches.    Do you use Android Apps with your kids?  Which Apps should Tecla Access test out to get this project moving for our kids?

A special thank you to Jorge Silva at the Inclusive Technology Research Centre of OCAD University for answering all of my dummy questions and providing great resources for this post! J

iOS vs. Android: Switch Accessibility Decisions, Decisions...

The iPad has certainly taken the market by storm, and many of us are left thinking "what other mobile tablets?".  Some of you might be rather surprised to learn that there are actually many other options for mobile tablets!  It can be overwhelming, however, trying to understand the differences between these technologies and how they might impact your purpose: helping your little one with special needs achieve success.  I wanted to start a dialogue on this topic because I think, as parents and professionals, it's important that you not let your overwhelm scare you into buying an iPad just because you can't make up your mind, or don't know where to start.  In a series of posts this week, I hope to help you all learn the pros and cons of each of these systems so that you can make purchasing choices with the future in mind.  For my first post, I thought I'd just clear up a bit of the lingo confusion!  How about some OS 101? :)

What is this OS business?

An operating system (abbreviated “OS”) is the software that supports a computer's basic functions, such as scheduling tasks, running applications, and controlling other tools like the keyboard, speakers, and mouse (called ”peripherals”).  For those of you who use personal computers(PC’s), Windows is your operating system.  If you are using Mac computers, your operating system is Mac OS X.  The operating systems for mobile devices, like the iPad and other tablets, is different from that running on a computer.  This is important to understand (at least at a basic level) when it comes to switch accessibility on mobile devices.  In order for switches to work on a mobile device, the OS has to “let them in” and help them communicate with the other software programs (the Apps) that the user wants to run. 

What is “iOS”?

iOS is Apple's mobile operating system.  This OS runs on all of Apple’s mobile devices: the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone.  You may see these devices referred to as “iOS devices” because they are using iOS to get things done.  The Apps that you use on your iOS devices were developed specifically for iOS.  When an App is developed for iOS, it is able to take advantage of different “services” offered by the operating system, like using the camera and recording voice.  iOS does not allow access to the “input” features of the operating system, therefore, programs cannot alter the directions to the device when it comes to accessing everything with a switch.  In order for you to access an iOS device with a switch, you need two things:  1) a switch interface that allows a switch to send signals to the device and 2)  an App written to receive those signals because iOS is not listening. J

What is Android?

Android (recently modified to Honeycomb) is a mobile operating system by Google that runs on all other mobile devices, excluding iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).  These devices include tablets like the Kindle Fire, Samsung Galaxy Tab, HP Touch Pad and more.  The Android operating system is known as “open source”, meaning that developers can change the way the operating system functions.  This gives developers the opportunity to access “services” like the input method, not readily accessible in iOS.  Being able to access the input method of a device through the operating system, versus an App-by-App basis, means that you can control the entire device with a switch. 

But how? That leads me to the main feature of my next post! Stay tuned...:)