Converting and Transferring Videos for Academic Content on your iPad

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

One of the iPad’s that I manage is dedicated to a student who is integrated into a 3rd grade classroom. His iPad has apps that support his IEP goals which include math, social, language and early literacy skills along with his visual schedule for daily use. He is also integrated into the classroom for social studies and science. His classroom teacher thoughtfully provides me with classroom newsletter letting me know the subjects that are coming up to assist with getting activities or content that will support his specific learning.  Although there is a plethora of apps, finding one that is specific to a curriculum is not always easy or available. Our school uses the Einstein Science Kits which are hands on activities, however, sometimes the content needs modification or the student needs additional activities to maintain attention and still get content appropriate to the subject. So where could you get content for a student with preference for a visual mode suitable for the iPad?

Resources for educational video content:

The good news is our school also subscribes to Discovery Education, is a rich source of academic content for all grade levels and extensive listing of topics. I like using this resources due to it’s high quality of videos, wide variety of topics, a searchable data base by topic and grade level, and availability at our school. Finding content and down loading it would be the first steps of getting subject content, then converting it to a compatible video format for use on the iPad and transferring it to the iDevice. Although some content could be streamed on the device on demand, I don’t like to rely on video on demand with the school’s Wi-Fi from prior experience. Downloading the video to the device saves some headaches. Discovery Education is one source of video as is subscribing to TeacherTube which also has some good video content. WatchKnowLearn.org is another resource for searching educational videos however you may need other tools for downloading YouTube videos. I have found good science and social studies content of interest and ability level for the student from these resources.

So what software converts to a format compatible with the iPad ?

Once you have your video downloaded on your computer, you will need a video converter to change the video to an MPeg4 format that is compatible with iPad (unless it is already compatible). Here is a list of just a few free video converters that are very easy to use. I am by no means an expert at video conversion (matter of fact I am really a novice at this) but was able to easily use these converters successfully with no need to consult a manual!

Free converters:

http://www.aleesoft.com/free-ipad-video-converter.html – This free video conversion software is easy to use and has allowed me successful conversion everytime. Convert the software and make sure you save the video where you can retrieve it.

http://softziz.com/2010/06/winfx-video-converter-winff-1-2/ – Dan Herlihy , guru AT expert, recommended this video converter in a newsletter. Although I have not used this converter I would assume it is similar to the others I have used – which has typically been pretty straight forward in their use.

Transferring compatible video to your iPad:

Import a movie by opening iTunes, choose the Movies listing under Library (top left side menu) by clicking on it to select

Then go to the top menu to File,  choose Add File to Library

Then you will be directed to search your hard drive for the video clip, then choose Open.

If the video is not in the correct file format it won’t  imported in. Once imported you can sync to your iPad. The video will be on your device in the Video app, ready to play anytime.

I have found good videos on TeacherTube, very appropriate for my student as well as content on animals, life cycles and history that I converted that the student is playing several times out of interest.  Although this takes some time to do, searching for appropriate content and ability level apps takes me a significant amount of time. Converting new video resource, not currently used by the teacher can help the student be a provider of content and also help other students engage with the student in the new content. With the use of an Apple VGA Adapter with an iPad2, the video can be connected to an over head projector for projection for all of the students to see. What a great way for a special needs student to contribute to the class!

Although you could make books or stories related to curriculum content and student ability for use on the iPad, you could also take videos of experiments performed with the iPad2 and the camera and video tools. What a tremendous resource an iPad is in the classroom!

Any other suggestions on sources for video or other content modifications for special needs students using your iDevice?

Carol

Posted in Computer Utilities, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Photo, Uncategorized, Video Conversion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

KinderTown App

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Looking for an educational apps for students with skills in the 3-6 year old level?

KinderTown is an app to help you search for the best educational apps for 3-6 year olds. It provides a searchable data base of apps that provide “substantial educational value” as reviewed by parents, teachers and kids!

Here are some screen shots of the search tools for the iPad (the iPod version has a similar search tool):

Additional information on cost, rating, subject is provided by clicking on app titles from your search results:


What a helpful, free app for preschool, early childhood and teachers of special needs students. Although the categoires are standard educational skill areas, I found apps related to OT practice including a tanagram app, letter formation apps (Alpha Writer and Pocket Phonics) connect the dots, Spot the Dot that would be appropriate for visual motor and visual perceptual skill development for young children.

KinderTown just launched on November 11, 2011 so I expect they will be adding many more apps to their data base, both old and new!

Free and compatible with iPhone/iPod and iPad, I believe this is a worthwhile app to help with the search of appropriate free and pay for apps.  Try it out and pass the word on to the teachers of young children that you service for an easier method of searching for apps that would support their students needs!

Happy app searching!!

Posted in App Reviews, Apps for OT's, Early Childhood, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Occupational Therapy, Special education | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Shredder App from Sosh

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Thanks to Nancy Barth, for her comment on the Sosh – The Shredder app which can be purchased as a single app to help with the management of stress, anxiety and negative thinking!  Check out her post: http://nancybarthtutoring.com/?p=3027

Here’s Sosh’s The Shredder app

Check out the video on how it works:

Sosh: Shred and Eliminate Unwanted Thoughts from Sōsh™/Dr. Mark Bowers on Vimeo.

I can think of many students who would benefit from this concept! The Shredder is compatible for iPhone/iPod and iPad for $.99.

Carol

 

Posted in App Reviews, Apps for OT's, Apps for Special Needs, Autism, Emotions, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Occupational Therapy, Self-regulation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sosh App for Individuals with Aspergers

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Have you seen the Sosh app? If you work with high functioning individuals with Aspergers you’ll want to check it out!

Developed by Dr. Mark Bowers, the Sosh app is based on the Sosh framework which focuses on 5R’s of social skills development:

  • Relate (Connect with others)
  • Regulate (Manage behaviors)
  • Reason (Think it through)
  • Relax (Reduce stress)
  • Recognize (Understand feeling)

The Sosh is not just an app, it is a framework developed by Dr. Bowers over a 10 year period. The five components of the framework are included in the Sosh app with interactive activities that can be customized for a student using a iPad, iPod or iPhone.

As an OT working with adolescents with autism, many of the sensory or self regulation strategies we have used with students with autism  are included in the Sosh app. You will recognize a number of sensory supports or strategies you may have used or are working on with your students to develop their self-regulation skills such as a voice meter, deep breathing, music to calm as well as others. Used on a mobile device as an iPod/iPhone or iPad, these tools can be readily available to students anywhere.  Of course the activities provide wonderful visual, auditory presentation, well suited to students with Aspergers.

Here are a few videos of some of the R’s of the app that focus on the sensory or self-regulation strategies that OT’s often are involved in with individuals autism:

Block Out Sensory Difficulties

Deep Breathing to Relax

Voice Meter to Regulate Speech

There are many more components to the Sosh app. Check out this link more short  Sosh videos .

This is a great app for high functioning students to work on self-regulation,  social skills in a manner that fosters independent application of such strategies. This app can also be a great teacher tool to use with other for students who require feedback on behaviors such as voice loudness, calming techniques or reducing perseverative behaviors (check out the shredder tool– it is great!) to name just a few.  Sosh costs $39.99 which is relatively expensive as apps go but it provides many tools, strategies and features not covered in this review. Sosh Lite allows you to down load the full app for 7 days to trial.

If you are working with adolescence students and adults who need supports for social skill and self regulation development, I suggest you check this app out! It has a lot to offer!

Carol

Posted in App Reviews, Apps for OT's, Autism, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Occupational Therapy, Self-regulation, Sensory Apps, Sensory Apps for ASD, Special education, Special Education Teacher | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Story Telling Apps for the iPod and iPad

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Interested in making e-books for your students? Do you have photos of students, events or images pertaining to curricular science, social studies content that could be included in a book for your special needs student?

Digital story telling/e-book creating apps are a wonderful way to create books pertaining to school events, students, curriculum topics and vocabulary that supports your students classroom or functional life skills curriculum?

With photos readily available or taken on the iPad2, iPod 4th Gen or retrieved from sources on the Internet (and are public under the creative commons license) that would support student vocabulary and concept development, story telling apps are an easy way to create or adapt curriculum materials for special needs students. Here are some new story telling apps as well as those that have been around awhile that will allow you to easily create stories and books that read aloud. Features I look for in story telling or book creating apps include audio and text capabilities that read the book aloud and provide text for our emergent readers and visual learners. Here are some choices as well as links below to several great reviews from others on story telling apps:

Ebook Creator is a low cost ($3.99) app for iPod/iPad/iPhone that imports pictures from you Photo Album as well as taking a photo within the app when creating an ebook. Easy to use this story telling app provides a recording feature to vocally narrate your story as well as the ability to type text in the story. Background music can also be played in the back ground if desired.

One eBook Creator feature I like is the ability to share or email the book. Sharing allows you to make the story book on your own device and send it you your students or parents. Many of my students have visual schedules or their communication boards on their dedicated devices making their iPad an essential part of their day and limiting the ability to modify or add to their device during the school day. Emailing such stories allows those who support from other locations the convenience of making those changes or additions from a distance!

SonicPics ($2.99) for iPod/iPad/iPhone (a lite version is also available) which turns your pictures into a video. This app also allows you to share the video story you create with others and provides audio recording and inserting text in a slide/photo.

Two other inexpensive and easy to use story telling apps previously reviewed ( from February 2011 AT 4 Education Blog) are:

Storyrobe

Storyrobe StoryRobe app is a quick and easy to use to story making tool allowing you to use existing photos or images from your Photos folder. I allow you to record a story line but  does have text tools to write the words on the pictures in the story. Simple and easy to use, you can have a photo story slide show going in no time. If you have a caption app, you can edit your photos with a text caption on the pictures for use in StoryRobe. It is an easy to use app allowing you to create an e-book in no time at all.

A 3 minute Storyrobe tutorial is included in the Tutorial link below. $.99, it is compatible with iPad, iPod and iPhone.

Story Kit

Story Kit  StoryKit app provides the tools to create a story book you can digitally narrate as well as type text to create a book using images in your Photos album. Story Kit also provides a simple drawing tool that can be used to draw a picture while creating the story. Story Kit is free and for iPad, iPod and iPhone.

Find a 6 minute tutorial on the link below that will get you started being a digital storytelling author!

Tutorial Link:

https://sites.google.com/site/digitalstorytellingwiththeipad/app-tutorials

More Storytelling Resources:

Karen Janowski, on her outstanding EdTech Solutions Blog, recently reviewed storytelling apps. Visit her blog for a review on above apps as well as for purchase storytelling apps for iPad and iPod Touch devices.  Check them out at http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com/ .

Here is another great resource on story telling apps,  comic strip apps as well more serious book publishing apps that is well worth visiting:

http://storykeepers.wikispaces.com/iPad+StoryTelling+APPS

So many ways to use the pictures you have gathered on your kids or create content on curriculum topics for your students. What an accessible way to create content for your students! Make science or social studies books, tell stories and share them with your class and families.

Another story telling app to consider is Pictello. I have not used this app due to the price ($18.99) but was developed by the makers of Proloquo2go and should be worth checking into!

Happy story telling!!

Carol

Posted in App Reviews, Apps for OT's, Apps for Special Needs, Autism, eBook Creating, iPad, iPod, Story Telling | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

SQUEEGiT Trial

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Thank you Neutronics and Cleaner Gear for sending me a sample of your SQUEEGiT squeegee and cleaner!

I have been sharing the SQUEEGiT with fellow staff members at the schools where I work and I have heard nothing but positivies about this handy squeegee and cleaner! It is small, easy to pack and carry . It cleans well and has a fresh clean scent that makes you feel like you are combating germs!

Thank you Neutronics and Cleaner Gear for allowing me to trial it and share it with coworkers. Great product and worth buying for it good cleaning qualities and portability!

Thank you!

Carol

Posted in Cleaning your iPad/iPod, iPad, iPod, iPod/iPad Accessory | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Apps for Middle and High School Students

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

My position as an OT and an AT coordinator requires me to work with teachers and students from 4K to high school. Although most of the iDevices we currently have are dedicated to younger special needs students or students in multi-categorical classrooms, we will be getting iPads for some of our LD teachers at different grade levels to use. Thus the search begins for appropriate apps for teachers and students at the middle and high school levels. Here are just a few apps that I consider useful for middle and high school  LD students as well as a few other resource lists of apps suited to these grade levels:

Pen Cast Player – Livescribes app that plays Echo/Pulse pen audio and handwritten notes created into a pen cast. Pen casts can be played on the Internet through Livescribe Educational Pen Casts, linked to your web page or in a Pen Cast on your iPad or iPod Touch.

Miriam Webster Dictionary app – On the iPod, iPhone or iPad, the Miriam Webster Dictionary provides Dragon Dictation to record (mic at top to right of the search box) and translate your spoken word into a typed text that is automatically looked up and defined. The word can be spoken aloud using a high quality voice.

By selecting/touching a word in the definition,  the app will open the dictionary to that words definition. Navigation arrows at the top menu bar allows you to move back and forward to words you have looked up. The app allows you to review recent words and collect favorite words. If you touch a word in the definition it will look that word up in the dictionary. Although it does not read the definition a loud to you. Using the Triple -click voice over function allows text to speech of the definition.

This is a great app for individuals with spelling problems allowing them to speak a word for look up in the dictionary!

Dragon Dictation – Voice recognition software on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Speak into your devices and have your speech transcribe via cloud computing to text. The text can be copied, emailed or texted.

Read2Go App – Bookshare’s mobile app for iPod and iPad. Read2Go allows downloading Bookshare books directly to the apps. Read2Go provides text to speech,bookmarking and along with other tools to access the books and textbooks to those who qualify (those with print disability).

Where can you find more apps for middle and high school students for iDevices? Here are a couple of lists of apps for older students worth checking out:

Here is a link to a list of 100 iPad Apps Perfect for Middle School students that I stumbled upon. The apps are categorized by subject area. Many apps are familiar but there are many new apps to peruse to see if they fit you or your students needs.

Another list, 10 Essential iPad apps for High School Students provides a few more productivity, math, reference and history apps worth checking out.

So if you work with older students or their teachers here are some resources to check out!

Carol

Posted in App Reviews, High School, iPad, iPod, Middle School, Occupational Therapy, Voice Recognition | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Kiddie Countdown Activity Timer App

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Looking for a visual timer for young children?

A colleague I work with (thank you Gail for this great find!) found this great free visual timer – Kiddie Countdown Activity Timer Free  – for the  young students she works with.

The Kiddie Countdown Activity Timer counts down using visuals of the stop sign.

It provides a yellow forewarning signal -!- at a time prior to the descending countdown time which is customizable with about 15 sounds to choose from ranging from animal sounds, to horn, applause, bells, school among others.

It ends with a stop sign and a time’s up sound at finish that can be customizable with the same sounds as described above.

A button or X to stop the time’s up sound is provided that can allow the student to engage in the process of being “done” with the current activity.  The warning sound can also be customized using the same choices of sounds as the time’s up.

You can set the countdown time only in minutes with a range from 1 minute to 23 hours and 59 minutes.

There are two different choices in the display settings for the visual timer – Shapes or Sweep. The sweep shows the time lapsing as shown in the outside rim of the picture above. The Shape choice presents circle when time starts, diamond for the warning picture and stop sign for time’s up.

There are other great apps for visual timing, however this provides universal signs for young children along with a forewarning sound and visual Stop at the end that are familiar to them.

Kid friendly with universal signs recognized and used with most young children the Kiddie Countdown Activity Timer app is available for iPod, iPhone, iPad Free or $.99 if you want the ad removed from it.

Thanks Gail – this is a great find!

Carol

Posted in App Reviews, Apps for OT's, Apps for Special Needs, Autism, iPad, iPod, Occupational Therapy, Special education, Special Education Teacher | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

iOS5 Accessibility Tool – Speak Selection

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

Have you used the new Speak Selection accessibility option available in the iOS5 on your updated iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch? Have you done training with any students or clients on its use with their iDevice?

Speak Selection Option

This new feature provides text to speech capabilities on your iDevice that makes access for struggling reader more of a reality. Here is walk through of set up and options of the Accessibility Tool –  Speak Selection assuming you have updated your iDevice to iOS5.

The Speak Selection can be turned on by going into the Settings>General>Accessibility> Speak Selection on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch with iOS5.

(Above two images from WonderHowTo.com Blog’s   ” The 7 Best Secret Features of iOS5“)

In the Speak Selection option you can change the text to speech rate. The above right image shows the Speak tool which will give you the option of Copy or Speak.

When Speak tool is clicked you will then get another option of Copy or Pause. You also are provided with the ability to move the handles of what you want selected and thus how much you want read with this tool. Great flexibility with its use. If you have only one word selected the Define tool becomes an option (below).

I found the text to speech with Speak Selection to be good quality. Changing the rate of speech also will improve the ability to understand spoken text.

Define Tool

When you select the Define tool you will be taken a dictionary definition of the word.

In this dictionary the Copy or Speak tool is not available meaning text to speech is not available. A work around to use text to speech in this dictionary is to turn on the Triple-click Home and the Toggle VoiceOver in your Settings.

The box with words in it as shown above displays what voice over looks like when turned on.  Selecting or clicking on text will provide the iOS systems text to speech output.

Voice Over Triple-click Option

How do you turn on Voice Over Triple – click toggle? Go to  Settings >Accessibility> Physical & Motor> Triple -click Home> Toggle VoiceOver to turn on this option. With some practice this tool gives you text to speech in other places that may not provide the Speak Selection tool.

Where to Find the Speak Selection Tool

This is a wonderful tool that makes text accessible to struggling readers. Although not an expert at all at this, it was rather frustrating reading commentaries on this feature that seemed to indicate that you could use this anywhere on your device. With many, many trials with other apps I found this available in some iOS5 applications, when searching with Safari and using it on text documents stored in the Cloud. Functionally this makes a big difference with what I would expect to be accessible to a user who needed this access.

Here is where I found the Speak Selection available to me on my devices:

  1. In Apple iOS5 apps
    1. Mail app
    2. Notes app
    3. Messages app
    4. Safari app
  2. When in web-based documents (such as Google doc or other tools that has text based documents stored on the web)
    1. Gmail
    2. Google Docs but not documents such as Google Forms or PDF file.
    3. Google Reader text
    4. Google Calendar text (not buttons – those will be read with Voice Over however)
    5. Dropbox documents that are text based not PDF files
  3. When searching using Safari (Apple app)

This is not an inclusive list, but my trials with the Speak Selection tool found it available in iOS5 tools and also when in Web or Cloud based documents. I did not find this available in iBooks (can someone prove me wrong with this – seems strange) nor in my productivity software such as Docs2Go,  QuickOffice or PDF readers. When I consider how to make documents accessible for our students or adult clients when using an iDevice, what apps you choose to use or where you store it may mean all the difference with being able to use the Speak Selection (text to speech) features. I am already thinking about how I can use resources as Google to store text documents for students use to allow them access with the Speak Selection tool. Certainly there are other options such as apps that you paste text into or talking readers to consider. Web based tools such as Texthelp’s Mobile Apps may also provide general access to a text to speech tool in more environments.

Thoughts on Speak Selection / Text to Speech Features in iDevices

This iOS5 feature is a wonderful new tool for accessibility. I has taken me a while to really use the Voice Over Triple-click effectively and begin get the hang of the Speak Selection tool. It will take more and practice and experimenting to implement this tool fully with apps and in web based tools but it is an exciting new accessibility feature.

Your comments or experience are welcome if you have more insight on the usability of this new accessibility feature!

More to come soon on the functionality of other iOS5 accessibility features!

Carol

Posted in Accessibility, Apps for OT's, Apps for Special Needs, iOS, iPad, iPod, Occupational Therapy, Special education, Text to Speech | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

More iPad Stylus Choices

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Carol Leynse Harpold, MS, OTR/L, SCLV, ATP, CATIS

More iPad stylus choices?? I thought I had done a thorough job of researching styluses – well I guess not! Research on note taking apps featured a video about  the “best iPad stylus ever” and peaked my attention – always in search of the just right solution(s) !

Stylus-R-Us – This company has an extensive list of stylus that differ from most of the stylus previously reviewed. Their most popular stylus is a fine tipped telescoping stylus – the Terminator with different size shafts.

When comparing the previously reviewed stylus it is apparent that the Terminator has a small, more refined tip that could make writing more refined. This stylus looks like what I was searching for in a sylus but with a much higher price tag than the typical brands available. When you read the reviews and watch the videos the price might just be worth it if doing lot of drawing or handwriting on a tablet.Having just come from a conference where I used my iPad to take notes with a stylus I could I love to have had one of their stylus to handwrite. The price however is a bit beyond my budget!

Stylus-R-Us features their telescoping stylus as most popular of their stylus. They also have a listing of over 30 different pen like styluses listed. Their website offers videos of the use of their products. What appears to me to be impressive is the ability to use the stylus like a typical pencil or pen with it slanted rather than holding it straight up and down for good contact to occur.  Check out the video on its use:

Searching their website I was excited to see that they  have a link displaying uses for Physically Handicapped . Stylus-R-Us telescoping stylus extends 17″ and is very light weight is  shown being used by a student with a significant physical handicap. It appears as though due to its lightweight quality it can allow individuals with muscular weakness the ability to access to a capacitative touch screen given supports and positioning. Although they indicate that they do not have a mouthpiece at this time is appears as though that is a work in progress! Here is one of their videos of the application of this stylus:

Visit Stylus-R-Us showroom and you will find a wide variety of pen style styluses. I am not sure this is the average type of stylus you would put in the hands of your preschooler, but for a special or specific access need, accuracy or professional application this appears to me to be another resource to find a specialized stylus and perhaps a company that would help with customization!

More resources available for access for individuals with disabilities. Certainly this is another resource to put in your access tool kit. I would also like to put the Terminator stylus in my own personal tool kit!!!

Carol

Posted in Accessibility, iPad, iPod, iPod/iPad Accessory, Physical Disability Tool, Stylus | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment