NEW Workshop Opportunity presented by Sue Drouin M.S., CCC-SLP

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iCreate- How to create custom digital content for your iPad (Experienced Users) 
In this hands-on workshop, participants will create and edit images, make collages, create written materials, annotate readings, record, edit audio and video, create screencasts, digital stories, content specific flashcards, and vocabulary games. In addition they will also learn how to use iPad as digital notebook, as a studying tool and to stay organized. Workshop will be taught using mostly Free apps. Participants will be emailed a list of free apps to download prior to the workshop. Resources for BYOC (Build Your Own Content) apps, lists of Paid apps and teaching with your iPad will be provided. If you are interested in taking your iPad to the next level, this is the workshop for you.

This full day workshop is being offered on 12/07/12 by The Seacoast Professional Development center in Exeter, NH. www.spdc.org, click event to view details

Disabilities Etiquette for kids

 Great reminder for many adult too. This is a book that is now this short video. Please share

Click here to view on You Tube

Cool Therapist Helper App- FREE

TxTools is Here! Download Our Very First (and FREE) App for iPhone, iPad

Click n' Talk Talking Photo Album APP FREE

Click n' Talk for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Was $3.00 ONE of my absolute Favorite talking photo album apps (with text) for beginning communicators, to use as easy Home to School photo sharing, for detailing directions, sequence activities and more. Users only need to POINT to make it speak and point to the arrows to turn the pages. No Swiping or accidental hits with this app. I use this app all the time and encourage others to get it. This app allows use to lock out editing options!!! One tip, photos can not be rearranged once placed in album so order thoughtfully. Your first image is always the cover, it can't be changed later either. You won't be disappopinted with the usefulness of this taking photo app!

An 8 step guide to insurance coverage for autism

An 8 step guide to insurance coverage for autism | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blog

Good informtaion about insurance coverage in general and specifically for autism

Ok So I'm an APPaholic- Apps Workshop on 11/9/12

Apps Apps and More Apps for Special Education

Friday November 9, 2012
9:00 AM until 2:00 PM

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In this workshop, experienced iPad users will explore over 60 applications for student’s with special needs from PreK-to 5th grade in all curriculum areas. Special emphasis will be on expressive language apps and apps that can be personalized for individual needs using your own images and voice recordings. Participants will learn how to customize individual apps and strategies for organizing, recording, and sharing students work. This is an exciting workshop that highlights the best of the best apps for specialized learning. The cost for this workshop is $100 and checks or PO's can be made payable to ERCSD-SPDC. A light breakfast and lunch will be served.

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Location: 30 Linden Street, Exeter, NH

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Click here to go to the Seacoast Professional Development Center calendar.  

INTERESTING Wheel of APPs for ASD developed by Mark Coppin

Final List Best Viewed on line

10 Benefits of Chores For Your Child With Special Needs | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blog

10 Benefits of Chores For Your Child With Special Needs | Friendship Circle -- Special Needs Blog

Halloween Therapy Activity Shared

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Students just loved seeing photos of therapy pets Lily & Surprise dressed in various Halloween Costumes, a total of 9 in all! Discussed were the dog’s expressions and why they might be feeling as they appeared. Also discussed were the similarities and differences in the pairs of costumes. Students then were given a direction to gather at least 3 stuffies, one small, one medium and one large and select who would wear what costume. Sizing the costumes to the stuffies and actually getting dog costumes on to the stuffies, the velcro & straps were challenges and an excellent fine motor activity. Photos & videos were taken of students with their stuffies using the free app-Blurb Mobile. Here students described what they did /what their character was wearing, and why they chose that costume/what they liked about it and how they think their character feels wearing it. Kids also shared what makes that stuffie special to them.

The Blurb app is so easy to use. We added voice recordings to still pictures and giggled at the short video clips. We were able to instantly create a "movie" of this activity and email out to parents and teachers to be viewed on any device or pc. A group photo (shown above) was also emailed for printing so students could instantly have an image to share and a talk about at school that day. This summer a similar activity was done around the topic of Water Safety and students dressed their stuffies in of one 3 dog’s life jackets! It is amazing the rich language used by students during dynamic activities like these. Skills addressed include expressive language (use of adjectives, past tense verbs, pronouns he/she, asking for help) language concepts (sequencing, comparing sizes), social skills (interpreting facial expressions, relating to similar situations, emotions), and fine motor (fastening clothing). I have found that my students recall this type of activity and are still talking about it weeks later :-)

This costume activity will be extended this week using three other apps Sentence Maker, LittleSpeller Four Letter Words both by the developer Grasshopper apps and Jigzo. Using the individual photos taken for each student and the pet photos, I can create customized spelling and sentence building activities. Both of these apps easily let me import my own library of photos. In Sentence Maker, I can import an image and record a sentence. The student then matches the sentence to the word tiles. In Little Speller, they match individual letters. Both apps allow tremendous variability in the difficulty level from maximum cues to no hints at all. Kids love seeing their own creations come alive in apps like this. Some students even record their own voices to be used in the app. As a related and simple activity that presents another opportunity to talk about the images, Jigzo is a Free simple puzzle-making app. I import the image, choose the puzzle difficulty and voila, a puzzle is instantly made. Additionally, students could send out postcards of their Halloween characters using the free apps PhotoCard Lite (allows you to add a voice recording as well as text) or Easy Cards. 

One of Sue's All Time Favorite Communication Apps Has Been Updated!!!

Scene Speak - Good Karma Apps - Exceptional Apps for Exceptional People.
This app was exceptional when it first came out but recently it was updated to include key features making it the best early augmentative communication tool out there. Scene Speak is a visual scene  app. Using a visual scene/screenshot of a room, whole activity or setting, users activate speaking and linking hot spots on the scene to communicate. The context of the scene decreases the cognitive load for the user and prompts more effective, early communication. For more information on Visual Scene Displays for AAC, see  Visual Scenes

Scene Speak is the ONLY app out there that easily lets me add voice to Boardmaker communication boards. Yes! My years of communication boards & visuals now speak! I'm using this app as an augmentative communication app with linking pages, as a talking photo album, to create interactive stories, as a way to share School to Home and Home to School events and activities, to capture students work, to add verbal directions & explanations to images, worksheets, to give directions, as a virtual recipe book and more! Did I mention it's only $9.99??? GREAT Value; I use this app everyday!
Please take time to view the awesome videos and tutorials. A manual is also available for printing.