Special+Needs+Apps+in+Education

 It became clear to me on my practicum this year that technology is starting to play an important role in the classroom. Every classroom at the school I went to had an interactive white board that aided both the teacher and the students and most importantly it really benefitted the students with additional needs. My mother is a special needs teacher and recently came home raving about iPads and the technology they provide for students with learning difficulties, so I went and had a look at what I could find. Apple has created a variety of applications for iPods, iPhones and iPads that cater for children with additional needs in education. Some of the applications include a communication app that assists children with speaking difficulties to communicate and a rewards system that encourages good behaviour for children with ADHD and other behavioural issues. These applications and many more can be found on the apple website in the apple in special education section or by following this link. [] The website below lists a variety of application links that outlines what the app does, who it is for and how you can purchase it as well. []

Because the applications cater for a wide range of special needs I think it is a useful resource to identify, and because there are so many different applications for the one disability teachers and parents can search many until they find the one that works best for the student. This also means that the this resource can be used with students of all ages, itis just a matter of finding an application that is age approriate for the individul. The applications have been created so that they are less of a learning or assistance tool and more of a game so the students are much less reluctant to use them as well.

To explain how it can be used to help students I picked one of the apps to look at- iReward. iReward is an application that uses positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviour. This application has been found to help children with Autism, developmental delays, ADHA and anxiety disorders. The teacher chooses the behaviour that they are trying to reinforce, a reward and the number of times the behaviour needs to be repeated before the reward is earned. Each time the behaviour is repeated the student may tap on the screen and reward themselves with a star. On the flip side starts may be taken away for misbehaving. When the certain number of starts is reached that student receives their reward. Research has found that positive reinforcement particularly when used with young children to be very effective in encouraging behaviour, making this app very useful to teachers trying to encourage certain behaviour. I also think that the difference between this app and say a paper chart is that the app indicates what the student is working towards and gives motivational reminders to help stay on track. A chart can also become a bit boring whereas most of the apple apps are regularly updated and can be played with so that the student does not become bored with it. I would use this app if I had a student in my classroom with behavioural issues as an interactive way of monitoring behaviour.

References:

Apple, (2011) viewed 20th July 2011, []

Ashley. M (n.d) viewed 20th July 2011, []