Apps to help independence and living skills
There’s a greater range of technology out there than ever before to help people with disability lead independent lives and that includes apps to help our kids and young adults learn the skills they need to live as independently as possible and venture out in the world. Download buttons at the ready!*
Living Safely provides self- directed learning sessions for 27 important safety skills topics such as bathroom safety, mealtimes, sun safety, the internet, safety around pets, keeping safe while out walking and much more. This is a simple, cognitively accessible learning tool built to be used by individuals with autism, learning or other developmental disabilities at their own pace.
True independence can be challenging if someone struggles to read but there are many apps to help fill this skills gap. Speechify Text To Speech is a mobile and desktop app that allows people with dyslexia, ADHD, low vision, concussions, and other reading difficulties to have any text read out to them using a computer generated text to speech voice.
Everyday Skills provides self- directed learning sessions for 40 important skills necessary for living independently and accessing the community. Community skills, personal skills and transition and transport skills are all covered.
I GET… COOKING VOCABULARY AND CREATE RECIPE PHOTO SEQUENCE BOOKS
This app provides photo books for individuals that need support in understanding things relative to the kitchen, including cooking and making recipes. The vocabulary photo books included are; “Cooking Supplies”, “Cooking Actions” and “Kitchen Appliances” which offer endless teaching opportunities. In addition, a sample recipe book portrays the steps of making a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a blank recipe book is included to create your own recipes.
Money Up was designed by teachers and therapists as a way for people to practice working out how much money they have, if they have enough to purchase the items they need and how much money to give a cashier, all without requiring them to count change. The app’s goal is to help children, teens and adults to acquire or maintain a life skill they need in order to foster independence.
In addition to teaching the ‘Dollar Up’ technique, seven games provide the user with practice using it in the following situations:
• Identifying notes and coins
• How much to pay when shown a price total • How much to pay when told a price total
• Checking how much money they have
• Working out how much money to hand over • Paying for items
• Calculating if they have enough money to pay for items
Model Me Going PlacesTM is a great visual teaching tool for helping your child learn to navigate challenging locations in the community including the hairdresser, mall, doctor, restaurant and grocery store. Each location contains a photo slideshow of children modelling appropriate behaviour.
*All the apps listed are available on iTunes
