"Flux" & "Flick" Help Visually Impaired Kids Access Their Favorite Tunes

Clipart images by Mealonheadz Illustrating
Read Terms of Use Here

So you all know that I am visually impaired, one fact that makes me LOVE these two apps!  I am also a recreational runner (which you may not have known :), a second reason why I LOVE these two apps!  But the most important reason why I LOVE these apps is that they provide alternative access to music for children with visual impairment and blindness by turning the touchscreen of mobile devices (e.g., iPhone, iPod, iPad) into an "eyes free" control panel.   Originally designed for those who need to control their iTunes playlist while at the gym or pounding the pavement, these two apps are a handy tool for kids who love to enjoy their favorite songs on their iDevices but struggle to access (visually and/or motorically) the touch screen to change tracks and manage other controls.     

FluxTunes

Flux Tunes controls music  playback on all iDevices with customizable gestures executed anywhere on the touchscreen.  For example, a user could set the following functions in Flux Tunes to change how music on the device is accessed:
- Tap to pause/restart
- Slide left and right to change tracks
- Slide up and down to adjust volume
- Slide two fingers left or right to change playlists
- Slide two fingers up to play music from your whole library

Check out FluxTunes in action in this video demo.

Clipart images by Mealonheadz Illustrating
Read Terms of Use Her

FlickTunes Music Player

Flick Tunes offers the same, customizable gesture options seen in Flux Tunes, with additional focus on the clarity and contrast of the visual display for those users who have residual sight, but need less clutter and a larger, bolder display. With Flick Tunes, you can choose your own font, orientation, gestures, default playlist and more! Flick Tunes offers 15 gestures, 40+ actions, and more than 25 settings.

Check out FlickTunes in action in this video demo.

Have you tried these apps?  Tell us what you think!

App List for Kids with Visual Impairment

Here are some great Apps to use with children who have visual impairments.  I will keep adding to this list as I discover new Apps that work well with these kids. :)  Please feel free to recommend other Apps in the comments below and I will add them to this list.  This list is for iPad but many of these Apps are also in Android Form.  You can find them in the Amazon AppStore for Android.


A Few Great Apps for Cause-Effect/Early Play

The apps below work nicely for children with visual impairments because they are visually simplistic and easy to interact with. Many of these apps not only facilitate early, case-effect play, but could also be paired with language modeling to teach many basic concepts and language skills.

Peekaboo Lady Bird Baby Touch


Baby Tap


Tap Bubbles


Bubbles for Toddlers


Hatch! Plus


Balloonmaker


Tap n See Zoo by Little Bear Sees
Created specifically for Children with CVI


Baby’s Musical Hands


Baby Symbolizer


Baby Screen


Bright Start Baby


Baby Finger


Balloonimals



Apps That Encourage Vocalizing/Speech
The apps below are voice activated so they are a great way to encourage vocalizing and speech from young kids with visual impairments.  When activated, the apps move or repeat what you say in a funny way.

Bla Bla Bla

Talking Carl

Talking Carla

 Talking Tom Cat

Talking Baby Hippo

Building Basic Concepts
The apps below are simple apps that also encourage basic concept knowledge because they present numbers, colors, and other concepts.

123 Telephone


Play Phone HD


Peek-a-Boo Barn


Interactive Alphabet


Toca Robot Lab


Music and Songs
The Wheels on the Bus by Duck Duck Moose


The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Duck Duck Moose


Old McDonald by Duck Duck Moose


Drum Kit


Sound Shaker



Music Draw



Flux Tunes

Flux Tunes gives kids sight-free access to music on the iPhone or iPad by turning the whole touchscreen into a fully customizable control pad.  You can change songs and perform other functions with simple touchscreen gestures that do not require you to use your sight.

Art/Drawing

Glow Coloring

Art of Glow

Glow Draw

Neon Draw

Glow Tunes


Kids Doodle Movie


Pretend Play
Toca Hair Salon


Toontastic 

Toca Home


Toca Tea Party


Toca Kitchen


Toca Doctor


ArtMaker

My Play Home

Visual, Motor, & Cognitive Skills

Sparkabilities by Bottle Rocket Apps

Sparkabilities is an App Suite that includes many different "Segments" designed to develop various skills in babies, including visual recognition, tracking, and color theory.  See the website above for a full description of the science behind this app.  

Sparkabilities Babies 1


Sparkabilities Babies 2

Literacy

Interactive books on the iPad are a great way to get your kids interested in reading.  In addition to Apps with interactive books like I Like Books  you can use the Apps below to create your own interactive photo books.

Scene Speak


 Pictello


Scribble Press


Keynote

Little Story Maker

Switch Accessible Apps  (non-AAC)
The following Apps are games that can be played using a Blue Tooth Switch for the iPad.

Games by Inclusive Technology

Inclusive Smarty Pants


Peeping Musicians


Five Sharks Swimming


Auntie Maggie's Recipe


Rad Sounds

 

A Few Great Apps for Pragmatic Language/Social SKills
With these apps, you can integrate video, pictures, and speech to create your own social stories and video modeling tools to teach children about social situations.

Model Me Going Places by Model Me Kids, LLC

Video social story library

Video Scheduler by MDR


Stories2Learn, by MDR

Video/Photo social stories and you can create your own.

My Pictures Talk by Gremble Apps


Put It Away, by Leesueh

This app helps children learn how to clean up after themselves! I think it is a really great concept and the fact that it is customizable and FREE makes it even better! I wish it had sound or music :(

Conversation Builder by Mobile Education Store

This app uses pictures and conversational scripts to help kids learn turn-taking and topic maintenance for conversations. One limitation is that the "correct answers" are somewhat limited and there isn't a text to speech option for the written prompts. I think it is a great start!

What Apps do you recommend?