One of the perks of being in Austin (aka “Silicon Hills”) is that we have tons of technological resources. Sometimes those resources are intuitive tech savvy parents. Recently, one of our parents designed two iPhone apps that are a big hit with his daughter, who has sensory processing disorder. Below are descriptions of each app, and he’s provided demo videos of each at the following website:
http://web.me.com/coddington/Top/Software.html
LetterTrace (free app)
LetterTrace is a program to help children learn to write who have coordination problems. You can change size of the trace such that just a touch will cause the letter to be drawn, or you need to actually trace the letter to complete it. It’s automatically detected when a character is complete, at which time the character name is heard, and the next character is drawn.
It does the alphabet or numbers from 1 to 99. It does it in both English and Spanish. You can display the letters in upper or lower case. There are two modes, letter trace mode and doodle mode. In doodle mode, you can just draw, albeit with a limited set of colors.
You can search for the app on your iPhone or click below:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id353930588
fingerCount (.99 cents):
FingerCount is a game for small children to learn numbers and letters in both English and Spanish.
On the surface, fingerCount is eye and ear candy that allows your child to move characters around on the iPhone/iPod, providing visual and audio feedback which encourages extended play.
On a deeper level, fingerCount is a learning tool that teaches children their numbers while at the same time using the multi-touch iPhone interface to integrate concepts of quantity. It can also be used by anyone to learn Spanish or English by teaching numbers and the alphabet in a fun way.
In addition, fingerCount aids in hand-eye coordination and spatial relationships.
Finally, you can use flexible nature of fingerCount to create games with your child to support creativity and encourage interaction with those around them.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id326119476
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I love that LetterTrace has so many options so kids of all abilities can play and learn! There may not be an app for everything, but it looks like there’s an app for everyone! Way to go!
Just another example of how creative our parents are and a great reminder to us therapists to tap into their ingenuity more often. Are you a parent with a great idea or discovery? It doesn’t have to be something as complex as creating an iPhone app, but we’d love to hear about therapeutic games or equipment you’ve “invented” so we can share them with other parents. Please comment if you do!
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