New weekly blog feature! We can make this up as we go along but my idea is for a weekly mashup of topics. The inspiration for this came from three sources:
1. Someone asked me where my Word of the Week and Photo of the Week had got to.
2. A parent asked for recommendations to help her dyslexic daughter with reading.
3. Lisa Domican shared a favourite blog of hers which has a weekly blather post and her idea in particular was to talk about app recommendations.
So, here’s what we’re going to do – I’ll share my word and photo of the week as well as something I would love to talk about. It could be related to apps, autism, both or neither. In the comments you can carry on the conversation – about the word, the picture, share your app recommendations or ask for some, questions or advice relating to autism or basically any other topic. We can talk about ballet if you like… which is a nice segue into my…
Photo of the week
Dane Shigari has been spending the past 12 years or so photographing ballerinas in primarily urban environments. You can find out more about the Ballerina Project and see more examples of his work here and here. I really liked this one – ballet is such an unnatural, artificial but beautiful art form in so many ways that to see it in the context of real live city streets is quite the contrast – but in this case the dog has this brilliant “what the heck are you doing, lady?” look on its face that really made me laugh.
Word of the week
Malice
What a fantastic word. Immediately reminds me of a brilliant song from my youth but I’ve had it on my mind for a different reason this week, ever since Gingerheaddad and I went to see Lincoln. I haven’t seen a film in a theatre in over a year so that was an event in itself but luckily I also enjoyed the film very much. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie but the Second Inaugural address is alluded to in a way that I found really lame, which is a shame as it’s probably Lincoln’s best speech. Anyway, I can’t think of better words to open this New Year with:
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Yes please.
Apps for dyslexia
A mother asked me about apps that might help her daughter, who is 10 years old and so isn’t going to be motivated by apps for little kids and is really struggling with reading. She has Dyslexia Quest already. I’ve listed my ideas below, please comment if you have any to add.
The Lorax and other Oceanhouse Media apps from Dr. Seuss. These books have themes that appeal to adults and could lead to interesting discussions about issues like environmentalism (in the case of The Lorax), so I think they would work for even a 10 year old. What I really like about them are that text is highlighted as it is read which is such a huge help when someone is struggling with reading.
Voice Dream Reader – read Amy’s review of the app here. I think this would be a perfect way to assist with reading any text.
Word Wizard – It can be used for testing spelling but what I really like about this app is the ability to free-play with letters and hear combinations of them sounded out. I think the interface is engaging without being off-putting for older kids.
Montessori Crosswords – also by L’Escapadou. I’ll let Mum decide if this one is too babyish-looking for her daughter, but I like that it combines pictures and words and that again, it’s play-focused, this time building crosswords.
Abilipad – Not just for reading but also providing support for writing with the ability to design your own keyboards using visual supports, text to speech, word prediction this app has the capacity for providing a huge amount of support. I know parents who have this app in their children’s IEPs so that all home and school work is done via this app.
Looking forward to your comments.
I like Recognise.
Thank you Kathryn, do you mean this one? http://fave.co/TKIjRs
Yes that is it. Letter reflex by the same developer as Dexteria is good too.
Letter Reflex is a fantastic app – it was the first app I gave 5 stars in a Smart Apps for Kids review! Here’s the iTunes link: http://fave.co/TKRPnN
We’ve had a number of teachers indicate that our Simplex Spelling apps work really well for students with Dyslexia. They were created in a way that also supports some of the recent Dyslexia research.
Seconding this recommendation – these apps are particularly good for older children. Here’s an iTunes link to Simplex Spelling Phonics 1: http://fave.co/TKIYlS
There is also Phonics 2 and Phonics Advanced as well as Dolch Sight Words. If you want to try one of the Pyxwise apps before you buy then there is a free Lite version of Simplex Spelling: http://fave.co/UKHxWQ
Comment from Twitter: Apparently Instapaper (iTunes link: http://fave.co/TKK1lO) uses Dyslexie, a typeface optimized for dyslexics so could be a good option for reading online content.
Just as a follow up to why the Simplex Spelling apps are so effective with teaching both spelling and reading skills (especially to students with Dyslexia) is due to their focus on teaching both phonics encoding and decoding skills.
Today’s more popular focus on teaching “reading skills” leads most people to tend to look for “reading” apps and thus spelling type apps often get dismissed or overlooked. Simplex Spelling is different in the approach it takes to spelling as it teaching spelling through a “reverse phonics” (or phonics encoding) approach, while most other spelling apps focus primarily on trying to memorize words for weekly spelling tests, which is far less effective.
The research shows that good readers can’t always spell well, but good spellers are almost invariably also good readers. Spelling is actually the more precise of the two skills and is in many ways the reverse skill to reading (converting sounds to letters, rather than letters to sounds). Teaching spelling through encoding skills can effectively teach both spelling and reading skills.
We have some more information on a few pages of our website along with references to some of the dyslexia research for people that are interested:
http://www.pyxwise.com/sstheory.html
http://www.pyxwise.com/ssphonics1.html
I love this post Deanne! It is personal and inspiring… I started this a while back as well… having a word of the week but shortly fell behind and forgot about it. Your post inspired me to start again so here is mine for this week: re-imagine. As I have spent most of the week looking at the past year and trying to challenge my thinking and concepts that I was driven by. I believe most of us need this from time to time… questioning our direction and re-imagining our future.
Thank you for a great post and Happy New Year!
Re-imagine is a great word to start the New Year off with. Thanks for sharing – I’m so glad this post inspired you to dust off your own word of the week.
Great idea! I love the photo. Tactus Therapy has designed an app called Visual Attention TherAppy. While my idea for the app came from working with patients with brain injury who suffered hemineglect, the design of a cancellation task is also a common task used with children. There is research by Franceschini form 2012 (linked here: http://tactustherapy.com/apps/vat/) that shows a strong relationship between scanning and dyslexia.
Highlights of the 3-year study:
*Poor readers show impaired visual search and spatial cueing when prereaders
*About 60% of poor readers displayed visual-attention deficit when prereaders
*Visual attention in preschoolers specifically predicts future reading acquisition
*Efficient visual-attention is crucial for learning to read independently of phonology
The tasks done in this research were almost identical to the ones we offer in the app (adjustable spacing, symbols, forced left-to-right). The research hasn’t been done yet to show whether a visual attention training program can prevent or even correct dyslexia, but given the strong connection, it may not hurt to test or train in this area when concerned about reading ability. Our app, at $10 with a free lite version, may be a good tool for parents and educators to assess and treat visual attention and left-to-right scanning and speed required to be an efficient reader. No malice here – just some information
Happy New Year!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, Tactus Therapy apps are wonderful – Comprehension TherAppy is still my favourite and is pretty close to being a perfect app in my opinion. As they are typically designed for use with adults, they are wonderful to use with older children who get so easily turned off by “kiddy” apps. I don’t have Visual Attention TherAppy because it doesn’t quite fit the needs of my kids currently so I’m glad that you commented Megan. I would never have thought to use this app with dyslexics but reading your explanation it makes perfect sense. I love that so many of your apps, while designed with a specific purpose in mind, end up having other, “off-label” uses.
Thanks Deanne! We’re also amazed at how many uses our apps have. When you design for an area of brain injury, you’re also targeting brain development and delay. We have an update coming soon for Comprehension TherAppy that adds new features (already listed on the website) – hope we didn’t mess with perfection!
We’ve had great feedback on Visual Attention as kids really like racing against the clock to beat their score. I know our testers got quite competitive – so much so that the next version will probably have a Best Scores leaderboard!
I also wanted to highlight iWordQ as a great app for older students with dyslexia. It helps with writing and reading and is based on some very powerful and expensive software that has been used in assistive technology for years. It comes in localizations for US, Canada, UK, and more. A bit pricier at $25, but well worth it – this will seriously help a lot of people read and write better at all levels.
Throwing up a couple of iTunes links to make things easy:
Visual Attention TherAppy: http://fave.co/UKRt2u
Visual Attention TherAppy Lite (free, to try before you buy): http://fave.co/UKREuJ
iWordQ (U.S. version): http://fave.co/TKYX3w
Excited to hear about the Comprehension TherAppy update
Great idea, Deanne!
Thanks C! Hope you like the word of the week.
In writing this post I did do a search at appymall.com which highlighted the Dyslexia Quest app already mentioned. However, it also threw up in a free app listing some ebooks that have a dyslexia-friendly font:
Neon Tiki Tribe Beach Battle: http://fave.co/TKVmT4
Neon Tiki Tribe Bullies: http://fave.co/UKQ63R
Neon Tiki Tribe Dog Rescue Mission: http://fave.co/UKQbER
I just downloaded Montessori Crosswords:.I am wary of the Apraxia type Apps because I think they should be supervised by a qualified Speech Therapist who knows exactly what phoneme should follow the one your child has mastered. So, I got this to do some “amateur” practice of the different phonemes at the table top while she worked for a few pieces of chocolate.
If you happen to know where I am from originally, and where I now live, then you will know how confusing it must be for Gracie to hear me saying “Ah” for the letter a but her school teachers calling it “UH”
(I’m Australian and we live in Ireland)
The issue is not one of speech but training her mouth to imitate the next sound, so this is a nice mulit-tasking way to practice.
We are always looking for diversions to eating chocolate in our house, and this is going to be a fun way for her to earn access for a while.
xx
I love it – another “off-label” use for an app. I honestly never thought of it before until you mentioned it but the different sounds your kids hear must be a challenge. Same issue here to a lesser extent (I’m British and live in Canada) but I have to confess that I do love hearing my echolalic Oliver pronounce words using my accent.
A reader also commented on my Facebook page suggesting the Treasure Kai story book apps. These are designed for reluctant older readers and the text is highlighted when the ‘read to me’ option is selected. So they would be worth a look:
Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island: http://fave.co/109TMO4
Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold: http://fave.co/TLT2Lu
Played with Montessori words again today with Miss Grace – and I am still impressed. Looking forward to getting an up to date assessment of her Apraxia as I will be using the “single sound” section to practice. Thanks so much for the recommendation
xx
Ok, I love this discussion! In addition to the Apps already mentioned, I would mention a few others that I have collected.
Letter Tracking by Tech Integrity Services: work on tacking issues to lessen eye fatigue and increase comprehension.
Spell Trekking – multi sensory spelling/reading learning, visual stress settings, British accent and expressions (no big deal for us here in Canada). Would like to see multi-user tracking. iPad only.
OpenWeb -a free Dyslexia friendly browser with the OpenDyslexic font and customizable background shading.
DysLite – universal browser that uses a dyslexic friendly font. (OpenDyslexic?)
Visual Tracking – by Section 31 Pty Ltd
Learning to Read with Byron – Visual Constancy Activities for Children. Free and Full versions. Develops visual form constancy.. The ability to recognize letters when presented in different fonts. Kids with visual constancy issues often reverse letters and numbers. Email results to teachers, parents, therapists.
Dyslexia – by Online Studio Productions. Exercises, history/myths and facts/causes/types
Dyslexia – by Nessy (makers of Dyslexia Quest). What is Dyslexia? A good way to introduce dyslexic kids to understand themselves better. Tips for schools.
Ok, those are 8 Dyslexia apps that I have found.. And I use most of them with my 9 year old not-diagnosed-just-yet.