Software & Online Games for Children with Visual Impairment

Not everyone has a mobile tablet (iPad, Android tablet) and for some kids with special needs, especially those with visual impairment, tablet activities may not be the best choice for all occasions.  Personal computers are readily available in many classrooms and homes and there are lots of great software programs out there for kids with special needs!  I often hear parents and professionals say "Why would I spend $200.00 on a software program when I can get an App for $2.99?".  This is true, many of these software programs require a bit of an investment.  however, more often than not, the programs available will grow with your child and can be used across his or her development.  Furthermore, the development of these products involves extensive educational research and product support and in my opinion, that often justifies the cost!  Lastly, for kids who use switches, personal computers offer a much wider variety of educational programs and games than mobile devices.  Here are a few resources to find software and online activities/games that can be used on laptops or personal computers for children with a variety of special needs, including visual impairment: (PS:  Some of these are free!! :)

Software

7-128 Software for Blind & Visually Impaired Kids
This company makes simple, low cost games that you can download directly form the site or obtain on a CD.  The games were developed to be accessible to children with special needs at a variety of ages and stages.  The company uses an accessibility rating system that is helpful when choosing the right program(s) for your child.  There is also some free stuff on the site, definitely worth checkin out!

Inclusive Technology
This company offers a variety of accessible software for entertainment and education and also has some great Apps for iPad and Android tablets.  Many of their software programs and apps are also switch accessible.

Intellitools Products
A great source for educational programs like the Intellitools Classroom Suite.  This company also offers an activity exchange area where users can share the activities they have created for Intellitools programs.  One of the things that makes Classroom Suite a great tool is your ability to create custom activities for your child's needs.  They also have a braille learning program, IntelliBraille.
Free trials are available for download on the company's site.

Laureate Products
These programs focus on language and communication development.

Softtouch Products
Switch accessible programs for cause-effect learners and academic subjects (reading, match).

There is also a great list of Switch Accessible Software at Marblesoft

Online Activities

Starfall
Focus on literacy with activities for kids at all stages of reading development.

HelpKidzLearn
Free online games from cause and effect to problem solving.  Most games are switch accessible and all visually simple with high contrast.

Symbol World
Online newspapers for kids and adults using symbols to enhance literacy.  Free to access and the site offers accessibility settings like high contrast and large print.  Unfortunately, no voice output yet. :( But they're working on it.  Read more about it here.

News-2-You
Another symbol-based newspaper with a variety of reading levels (even appropriate for really young children).  This one is subscription based and comes with companion activities in each issue.  Also has voice output :)


Kneebouncers
Fun learning games for tots and preschool kids.

Looking for resources for older children and teens?
For some great resources for teens and adults, visit Wonder Baby's list!

What software and online activities do you enjoy?

New High-Contrast Picture Symbols for Boardmaker: A Great Tool for Children with CVI

Mayer-Johnson recently released an addendum library for the Boardmaker software family that uses high-contrast to make picture communication symbols (PCS) more accessible to children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) and other visual impairments.  Prior to the release of this addendum, many of us had to edit each symbol  by hand in the Boardmaker editing tool to change the color combinations and other symbol features so that they were more appropriate for kids with complex visual needs.  This great edition to the extensive PCS library in Boardmaker is sure to be a time saver for many parents and professionals who support kids with CVI.  

From Mayer-Johnson:

Working in conjunction with Linda Burkhart and Gayle Porter, the creator of PODD (Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display), Mayer-Johnson has created a powerful library of high contrast symbols for individuals with low vision and visual impairment. PCS™ Classic: High Contrast offers a core library of over 1450 symbols that are drawn with bright colors and minimal detail. These symbols are easier to see than standard symbols and offer a range of vocabulary topics to enable individuals with low vision or visual impairment to participate in a variety of communication settings. PCS™ Classic: High Contrast includes symbols for food, clothing, games, community, school, social interaction and much more.

For more information on using visual supports to adapt learning and communication for children with visual impairment, check out Linda Burkhart's site.  If you support a child with significant visual impairment and are not working with a vision therapist, find one in your area here.  
Do you have visual supports that you find helpful for children with CVI/visual impairment?  Share them with us!

Tap-n-See Zoo: App for Children with CVI

Get this App in the App Store!

Many apps that are currently on the market for kids are way too visually complex for many children with special needs, especially those children with visual impairment. The folks at Little Bear Sees have recognized this and have created a great cause-effect app for children with CVI and other visual impairments!  It is wonderful to see these supportive parents turned App developers pioneer this technology in the direction of low vision and CVI!  

Tap-n-See Zoo  is a simple but delightful app that offers great potential for children with significant visual challenges to interact with the iPad in a supported, yet motivating way.   In a nutshell, the app presents a series of bold- line, animal pictures in a variety of solid colors on a contrasting background.  The animals are presented one at a time and float around the screen to draw the child's visual attention.  When the animal is touched, it "grows" in size for visual emphasis! and a "reward sound" is played to provide the child with feedback.  The screen then presents another animal for the child to interact with in the same manner.  Many features of this app can be modified in the settings, including randomizing colors, animals, and sounds, and changing the size of the animal and the speed that it moves around the screen.  You can also turn sound off for those children who struggle with processing both sensory stimuli at once.  

Things I Love About Tap-n-See Zoo:

• Smart, simple design that is great for children at the early stages of learning (e.g., cause effect).
• The ability to customize the appearance of the app to suit each child's needs?
• High-contrast colors with bold animal pictures that stand out from the background and are appealing to children.

My Wishlist for Tap-n-See Zoo:

• More vocabulary to provide language learning opportunities.  This app only has 5 animals to choose from. I would love to see updates that expand on this vocabulary to include other animals and other categories, such as common objects, foods, and even basic concepts, like shapes, colors, numbers, and letters.  Being ale to select which of these pictures/words to target could be part of the settings, that way users can keep the language on the level that the child is able to manage.
• Sound rewards that emphasize meaning and associative leaning.  I like the sounds provided in the app (whistle, laughing, and applause) as far as "rewards" but I wish that the sound was related to the image to encourage cognitive mapping for these kids (e.g., the bear is paired with a bear sound or the word "bear" and a bear sound".
• A variety of movement patterns that can be customized in the settings.  It would be great if images could move in different ways other than just floating (e.g., wiggling, spinning, growing and shrinking, etc...). I think this option is helpful for children with different visual needs and also to promote variety and, therefore, continued interest in the game.  I would love the images to pause in the middle of the screen sometimes as well, since moving targets are often difficult for kids with CVI and other visual challenges to hit, regardless of how slow they move.  

 Tap-n-See Zoo is

 

What do you think of Tap-n-See Zoo?

ATIA Update! Adapted Learning for Kids with CVI

 I have been dieing to attend a workshop with Linda Burkhart since graduate school, but I just haven't had a chance to make it happen. Today, I FINALLY got a taste of her wisdom and on, of all things, one of my favorite topics-CVI (cortical visual impairment).  A bit of what I took from today's mini-session with Linda Burkhart:

• All kids with CVI are different and even skills within each child with CVI may vary
• Don't judge a book by its cover: not all children with CVI have the same level of,m If any, significant cognitive impairment.  
• Successful intervention for children with CVI isn't just facilitating opportunities for sight, but also providing meaningful contexts for associative learning.  
• Adapting materials and the environment is not a one size fits all solution for kids with CVI: try these strategies and measure how they improve or hinder visual and leaning progress

                   -Add light via use of flashlight and other focused light sources to draw visual attention to symbols and objects for children with CVI who "light gaze" 

                   -Reduc glare which interferes with "flashlight  highlighting".  One way to do so, avoid high gloss laminating film and go for low-gloss or no- gloss options.  An alternative way to protect visual supports without lamination is a waterproof paper called iGage, sold at www.trailexplorers.com

                  -Establish visual attention by incorporating movement with objects or symbols, which taps into the "fight or flight" area of the visual brain.  Move objects and symbols by shaking them in the  periphery for establishment of visual attention, and then stilling them centrally for children o establish visual focus.  Use animation in computer programs and realize tthat some kids see better when they move-bounce on therapy balls, swing, or learn while moving in other ways. 

                  -Visual complexity is a significant problem for many kids with CVI so simplify visual materials by presenting pictures and text separately, reducing detail in symbols, reducing color array, and reducing symbol array (in situations of AAC).  

                 -Mask visual complexity by using simple techniques like covering extra visual info (e.g.,  extraneous objects, busy prints on clothing or confusing work surfaces, like clear lap trays) with dark fabrics in navy or black.  

                  -Use software programs that reduce visual complexity by keeping graphics and colors simple, such as those by Inclusive Technology.  Also, incorporate additional visual and auditory info via screen highlights, sounds assigned to different functions within games and AAC layouts, and verbal auditory cues. To AAC devices  

                  -Test software for kids with CVI to meeT these guidelines and do so with your eyes literally closed so you can experience what the feedback is like.  

                    - Keep in mind that kids with CVI may have difficulty processing sensory info together.  So they may not be able to look and listen or look and physically activate at the same time.  

I love the twist that Linda Burkhart gives to the field of working with kids with severe challenges and it was so awesome to hear her share her experience in person.  She also mentioned that Mayer -Johnson is due to release a high contrast version of PCS symbols as an addendum library to BoardmKer, very exciting for the application of visuals in the learning environments of children with CVI. Goodnightbfir now, more info from ATIA tomorrow, including extra focus on apps and other great gadgets in the exhibit hall!  

Gain more insight from Linda Burkhart at her site!

 

 

 

 

 

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

Your iPad Settings are Your Friends!

Using iPads with kids can be tricky, especially when it comes to keeping them out of functions where they can wreak havoc! At times, you may just need some safe-guards to keep kids away from unfiltered content (e.g., You Tube), or just keep them focused on the task at hand, rather than exploring other Apps and functions.  Advance recently shared a post on getting to know your iPad settings and how making a few easy changes can save you from disaster!  MacWorld also shared a post in October on the new accessibility settings on iOS5 (iPads with the most recent software update) which outline built in features that help children and adults with visual, hearing, and physical disabilities better access the iPad.

One setting change in the Accessibility settings of iOS5 that I have found handy is toggling the Zoom.  I noticed with my kids with motor challenges that they often lean on the iPad screen a bit with their hands or fingers, or some with better motor skills may double tap the screen.  These gestures make the screen zoom-by turning the Zoom off when working with these kids, I saved some redirection time.

Being visually impaired, I LOVE the Accessibility features of the iPad and I recently stumbled across one that I didn't notice before.  Check out my next post to learn about the Reader function in Safari :)  

Switch Accessible Apps from Inclusive Technology

Great News!  Inclusive Technology, the folks who brought us one of the best free, switch activity websites on the web, Help Kidz Learn, is now offering 5 Apps for download in the Apple App Store!  Even Better News!  4 of the 5 have switch access!  You heard me, there are finally some cause-effect, play-based apps with switch accessibility on the iPad!  I haven’t had a chance to check these out yet but I wanted to share them because I couldn’t’ contain my excitement! I will give each a closer look and follow-up in a later post, but for now, here are the fab 5 for your reviewing pleasure.  Let us know what you think!


Purchase these Apps in the App Store  through the links below to 
Support SNEAK OTB at the same time :)

Hidden Grid

Peeping Musicians

Aunty Maggie's Recipe 

Five Sharks Swimming

Smarty Pants

SNEAK's Peeks #3: Using DrawCast to Create High Contrast Picture Symbols

Here is a quick demo of how to use a free App, DrawCast, to create easy, high-contrast picture symbols that you can load into other apps (e.g., AAC Apps, flashcard Apps), or use in print materials for children with visual impairment.  The use of high contrast when creating visual materials for children with visual impairments is an adaptation that helps make pictures and text more accessible to children with special visual needs.  There are a few Apps on the market that sell you high contrast picture sets as flashcards (e.g., Baby Symboizer, iLook) but I find these somewhat limited for the cost, at least when it comes to working with kids with visual impairment and CVI to build attention, vocabulary, and a picture communication system.  Consult with your child's vision therapist or other vision specialist about which vision adaptations (e.g., color combinations, size of pictures, line thickness, etc...) would be best for his needs.  With some guidance and a little creativity, you can use this simple App to create a library of accessible picture symbols for your child that helps build vocabulary and communication skills!

Music Draw App, Great for Kids with Visual Impairments!

Music Draw Free is a nice App for children with visual impairment to create music by simply dragging their finger across a high contrast (neon on black) screen. The biggest downfall of this App is the glaring advertisement that takes up a considerable amount of screen space along the top of the display (huge bummer!). BUT, it's a free App and definitely a great starting point for kids with CVI, low vision, or other visual impairments to practice touch screen skills, cause-effect, and tracking. Pretty fun too :)!

More Early Childhood Apps for Kids with Visual Impairments

In my previous post, I shared a high contrast App called Bla Bla Bla with a promise for follow-up.  Here it is! :)

2)  Glow Coloring & Glow Coloring Pro
This is a high contrast drawing and coloring App that I came across at SpedApps2.  The free version (Glow Coloring) let's you draw, type messages, and even import pictures to color from your idevice camera or Photo library.  It also comes with "stamps" that can be pasted across your coloring page in various designs and sizes, simply by using a light touch on the screen. The Pro version ($0.99 at the moment)  integrates with GlowColoring.com, a social network of sorts where users can post their Glow Coloring creations, view the work of others, and even vote for their favorites.  (A cautionary note: I would use your own discretion as far as GlowColoring.com as I'm not sure what safeguards are in place to regulate the content).
 
I used this app with my little guy with CVI and found it to be helpful in targeting things like:

• Motor control for different touch-screen motions like touching and dragging.  These are skills I know will be important to help this little guy learn how to access more structured technology, such as AAC and Apps targeting early basic concepts, when the time comes. Using a drawing platform to help him learn these subtle differences and how to control his body to achieve different outcomes creates a visually motivating, error-less environment to build fun, successful, early experiences.
• Scribbling Practice!  Most children with significant developmental delays don't have the motor skills nor (quite frankly) the interest to sit down and color for any length of time.  Scribbling is essential to early development and an integral part of EVERY typical toddlers play routine-so why not our special kids?  I think this App  adds a bit more spice to a recipe for success when it comes to motivating these kids to interact with fluid materials.  

I think that this App works as a great high contrast "white board" (although it's a black board :) too.  I have used it to teach basic concepts like numbers, letters, shapes, and colors simply by drawing as I teach or by creating static supports form my drawings through the Apps built in sharing feature that allows you to share via email, Facebook, or by simply saving to your Photo Library.  You can create high contrast "flash cards" of the concepts you are working on, organize them into an album in your Photo Library, and use them as a quick teaching tool that can be added to any play session.

One of the downfalls of the free version of this App is, of course, the ads-however, I didn't find this aspect to be a huge barrier to interacting with the App.  I also realize that not all of our kids (my little guy with CVI included) have the motor skills to use drawing programs without support.  I think that motor limitations can definitely be assisted by some good old-fashioned adaptations-but more on this in a future post! :)

Have any ideas on how to use this App differently?  Please share!  Sometimes the simple Apps stretch the farthest.