Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional School Ipad Apps For Dysgraphia

Okay I know there are a few similar threads on this topic... but for the sake of organization I am starting this one. Hope that is okay and not too much of an annoyance.

Okay, so can people list what are good Ipad apps for doing math on an the IPad at school. They have Ipads at DS's school, in his class, but it seems like they do not know how to use them to their full potential to benefit a student with dysgraphia (all they do math-wise on them is "math bingo" in the kids "free time"). He does not have an Ipad at home so he/I don't have any first hand experience to advise the school. What can I suggest the school try to help. Thanks in advance!

DD's issues go beyond dysgraphia so this may be overkill but here goes:

DD suggests CoWriter (allows you to make a word bank and will predict what child is writing), Spelling City and Notability. Her machines are also programmed so any written language (website, email, text, etc) can be highlighted and spoken aloud to her.

They are also working with her on typing (Mavis Beacon) and dictation but the computer is better for these than the iPad. She also uses Siri for voice commands on the iPad but its not too good at recognizing her voice.

She now prefers actual worksheets for math and can't remember what apps they were using earlier in the year.

Here is the original app list her teacher sent me last fall. The AT consultant suggested a few changes but I don't have the final list or her school iPad here. I think this list was generated because the apps were free or very inexpensive. There may be other/better choices available that you would need to pay for. We sent an iTunes card in so they could load anything they wanted to try.


-Tap Typing
-Easy Writer Lite
-Number Pieces Basic
-IXL Math Practice
-Amazing Coin
-Telling Time- Fun learn to tell time game
-Prezi for ipad
-Typing Fingers
-Bitsboard

Hope this helps some.

Thanks Pemberely. I think I need to look specifically for math apps. Any specifically for math? I remember reading about one called "math paper?" Any others?

One that's not mentioned: my child's dysgraphia is mild and he is only in RTI wi out an IEP. But, he also did lots of letter flipping and mirror writing as well as words climbing up and down pages and floating away from the red line. Something that really helped him was "letter reflex". He is cross dominant (left eyed, right handed) and letter reflex is a game which helps them become physically cognizant of which direction a letter points to. Hope this makes sense and is helpful.

Panther math paper. Looks quite flexible and promising.

Irena, are you looking for apps to write math out or are you looking for math practice apps? There are tons of those practice apps! For writing out elementary school math (add/subtract/multiply/divide, carry etc), Panther Math Paper is the "best" app I've seen (quick qualification here - I haven't looked at many... otoh... I haven't found many to look at... but by the time our ds had an iPad he was in algebra so I never really looked into elementary-level needs.

DS has an app called "Equation Editor" (I think - he's at school at the moment so I can't check) that he can use to put together equations with notation, but Panther Math Paper will do this also. DS also has looked at a few graphing apps, but he prefers to graph and do most of his math work by hand, in spite of his dysgraphia.

Does every student in your ds' class use the class iPads, or are they only for students who need them for accommodations? What type of things do they use the iPads for?

FWIW, my ds uses Pages and Keynote for word processing and presentations (but he's in middle school). He used to use Co:Writer on his laptop but doesn't like the Co:Writer app on the iPad because it's not accessible inside other apps like it is on the laptop. He's mostly happy with the iPad word prediction. He also prefers the built-in iPad voice-to-text to Dragon on the iPad. He prefers a blue-tooth keyboard to the touch-screen keyboard.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I will say that, for ds, as an older student, it's not the variety or cool-high-tech whatever of apps that provides ds with what he needs for accommodations - he uses a small set of fairly "normal" apps that folks without disabilities also use - it's the accessibility to be able to use his iPad all the time that is key.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Yay - Polarbear. Was hoping you'd chime in


I'm looking for apps to to write math out! Even though DS's class seems to do "worksheets" mostly, I am wondering if DS could do a least some similar-type work on the Ipad as opposed to worksheets.


Every student ...but I think they "share" them with another class so i think it's only certain days of the week.


Ha! This is what I keep wondering! DS says "Math Bingo" and reading sometimes. I'd like to start using them to actually accommodate my son in a meaningful way. I am suspecting the school really doesn't know how to do that and I don't think they are as interested or as motivated as I am in finding out; so, that's why I want to be able to say "look here try these."

Thank you. I do like the look of that Panther Math Paper. I am going to suggest they use that. I'll even give them $20 to pay for it if necessary (is that how much it is?)

Irena,

It sounds like you need to think about putting this in place through your ds' 504 plan or IEP, rather than just suggesting or buying apps for the class to use. Thinking beyond just apps, what was really important for our ds (even in elementary school) were four key things:

1) being able to have access to his AT across subjects, not just when a cart of tablets was in the classroom available to the full class.

2) being expected to use his AT rather than having it be optional - this included having it written into his IEP accommodations. The accommodations were never software specific, but stated that he could use word processing for all subjects and for any written assignment longer than 2-3 sentences.

3) being able to take the AT device (used to be a laptop, now an iPad) back and forth from school to home.

4) having access to his specialized AT software (apps) over school holidays and summer vacation. This was important when he was younger because he was learning how to use typing, word-prediction etc and we practiced over the summer - not tiger-mom practice, but easy-going getting him used to using AT practice. Now that he's older, he needs to use it every now and then over the holidays and summer. Realistically, his AT is always going to be a part of his life, so taking it out of the loop of just being a "school" device helped ds get used to the idea of relying on it.

Note - reason "number 4" isn't quite as key as the other 3, but it helped us make the decision to purchase the device and software/apps ourselves, rather than rely on ds' school to provide them. It was also helpful to us to own the device and be able to load whatever we wanted to on it so that we could try new software etc when we felt it was needed, rather than go through lengthy negotiations with school staff followed by lengthy AT evals, each of which had to be done one at a time. But I digress! Sorry about that

Re the math - Panther Math Paper is the best app I've seen for what you're looking for - and it's $20. I am not sure how app purchases for schools work - are they able to make one $20 purchase and share it with all the school iPads?

polarbear

Very good points Polarbear. Thank you! We have an iep meeting at the end of this week regarding DS's attention and I know the school psych has input on how his dysgraphia is affecting his attention so I can at least start to explore this at this meeting. I think we are going to have to get the ball rolling what you suggest in termso getting this in the IEp officially at least in time to be set up for next year.

DS's writing in math slows him down (not inordinately but enough) but even more concerning are the reversals and the flipping of signs etc. I think something like what math paper purports to do could be a real help for DS. Also with the act of writing really out of the picture (he literally has said to me he "gets tired from having to think about which way the numbers go every time) I think he could focus better and go even further. Thank you again for your help and advice!

Not to buy trouble for you (ha!) but something to warn you about - one of the things my ds has (and still) struggles with the most in math is copying mistakes - he'll switch things like + and - signs when copying from one line to the next or switch numbers - write "24" instead of "42" for instance... and then everything he does as he finishes up a math calculation will be wrong. His neuropsych's advice was to start getting him in the habit of checking his work each and every time - which we've done. Problem is he then sometimes gets problems wrong that were correct the first time around.. for the very same reason! I'm sure it happens on standardized testing too. Neither ds or I have any kind of good solution for it. Would love to know if anyone else has any ideas!

polarbear