Apps for English Language Learners

There are many educational tools for English Language Learners (ELL). The tools focus on reading, writing, and articulation. The iPad offers many of these tools to assist students improve their ability to learn English in a non-threatening manner.Furthermore, for easy of use the iPad App Store offers a separate section dedicated specifically to this area with categories for reading, vocabulary and grammar, speaking and listening, and dictionaries. Some of these apps are useful to all emergent learners. For example, one of the apps for reading is Bob Books. This app is great for all children learning to reading.The voice memo function is another great way to get students to hear something and then record themselves to hear how they sound speaking English.

However, I really like the dictionary apps. Of course these apps rely on the students ability to speak well in their native language. They offer a more compact way of looking up and translating sayings. I remember learning Spanish and having to carry around a large “pocket” dictionary I had to use to translate single words from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. Honestly, I have no clue whose pockets those fit into and their ridiculously small writing was frustrating. These apps offer so much more. I downloaded iTranslate for free. You can type in a phrase in one language and it will produce the translation and it will also speak the translation. I had fun playing around with it while visiting my mother-in-law. My wife and her mother both moved to the United States over 25 years ago from Poland. My mother-in-law does still speak Polish to her relatives and it was fun to use this app to say some things in Polish. My wife learned through immersion in the language. She was thrown to the wolves and expected to learn the language with no support. It was quite traumatizing and difficult for her. She was able to overcome this obstacle but would have benefited greatly from additional support like an app that could translate for her. She was given the strategy to look up unknown words in the dictionary only to be frustrated by words in the definition she did no know. An app like iTranslate would have been very useful for her to ease into learning English, rather than the sink or swim mentality she experienced. Furthermore, while it is useful to hear the phrase spoken I do question the ability of these apps to translate different dialects into English.

Again with all apps and all learners it is best to know your students specific needs and strengths and go from there to choose an app. The same app may not work for 2 different students working on the same skill. You are the best judge of apps and should be deciding which apps work best for the outcome you are looking for.

Apps for Students With Emotional Behavioral Disorders

This week’s topic was Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD). This umbrella category of disorders covers a wide range of disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Biploar Disorder, etc. This is an area where I have some experience as many of the students I have had over the years have been diagnosed as having EBD. There are a range of effective apps used to assist students with EBD. There are all of the “academic” apps that allow users to navigate through a variety of subjects at their own pace. Again these should be selected on an individual basis in order to meet the student’s needs. There are also suggestions for social stories, similar to ones for students with Autism. However, in our readings this week and in my additional research I found the overarching theme of motivation being a key use of technology for students with EBD, which has been different than the previous weeks. A lot has been said about creating a system of reinforcement for students where they can earn time on the iPad. The iPad is a highly motivating item for which students can use to keep them focused during work time in order to enjoy this reinforcement. That got me thinking about the iPad and its use in during leisure activities. 

The iPad also offers students with limited social skills or desire for social interaction an option for leisure activities. I have a student in my current classroom that has difficulty finding productive things to do with his down time. He does not engage in activities with his peers and reluctantly participates in a game of Uno only when asked to by staff. He often does not make it through an entire game before getting bored and quitting. He does at times like listening to music but again that is often short lived. This student has an IEP goal to select and remain engaged in a leisure activity for a certain amount of time.  I have been thinking even before this assignment that our newly purchased iPads would be an interesting way to see if can remain engaged in an activity. The iPad offers several different leisure type activities such as angry birds and other games. The iPad also allows him to listen to music. He can switch between activities on his own but remain engaged in the overall leisure activity of time on the iPad, ultimately allowing him to meet an IEP objective that has been difficult for him thus far this year. The key is to find those apps that he will find engaging and entertaining. They may have to be rotated in and out so that he does not become saturated with the same choices and loose interest quickly. I am excited to start this little project and hope that we can make progress in helping this student achieve his IEP goals.  

Funding

This week’s topic was funding. One of the hottest issues right now is funding for the iPad as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device. Medicare will cover the cost of an AAC device in order for the individual to communicate their needs such as hunger, thirst, pain, or medical emergencies. Medicare will not cover the purchase of iPads as AAC devices, since it is not a dedicated AAC device. Medicare covers the cost of Dynavox’s products such as the Maestro which is designed as an AAC device. At first glance this seems to make a lot of sense, iPads were not designed to be AAC devices and while there are many AAC apps out there, there are a lot of other apps out there which have nothing to do with communication which is what Medicare is designed to fund. Dynavox’s products were designed to provide voice output for individuals. They offer large speakers to be heard in loud settings, such as a classroom, and they are durable, both features the iPad cannot claim. The Maestro also has Wifi which allows the user to connect to the internet. However, theses dedicated AAC devices come with hefty price tags. The Maestro is over $7,000 compared to $500 for the iPad. The iPad is still considerably cheaper after you add the price of a good AAC app or two and a durable case such as the Otterbox Defender Series Case. This is where the argument takes a completely different turn. It is hard to say that there is no case where the iPad is a better option than the Maestro.

I have had very limited experiences with AAC devices with my own students. I had a student whose speech was almost completely unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners and at times difficult to familiar listeners. He became frustrated when he was misunderstood and led to aggressive/destructive behaviors. We had the opportunity to trial a Dynavox V. I say trial because that is as far as it went. He had it for 4 weeks and really did not work out well. He would have been a student I would have tried the iPad with, he was always into the cool tech gadgets. He had mp3 players and video games and would have loved the iPad. I am not certain that he would have been able to communicate more effectively with the iPad but it would have been worth a try to see.

Again, I am going to be noncommittal here and say that this is something that should be determined on an individual basis. The iPad, while not a dedicated AAC device, does have a lot to offer and is worth giving a fair chance compared to Dynavox’s product line. Considering the price of the options is also fiscally responsible. However, at the end of the day the decision to fund should be based on which device will allow the individual to communicate effectively with others regardless of manufacturer and price.