iPads apps for children with SEN

The iPad is cropping up in lessons everywhere, but perhaps its greatest potential is in helping children with SEN to open up new lines of communication, says Cherryl Drabble...

Highfurlong is a special school in the North West of England catering for children with additional needs. Like many schools, some of our children are physically disabled, some have challenging behaviours, some have profound and multiple learning difficulties, and others are very delicate – requiring much care and attention.

It is the children in this latter group who need the most stimulation. They are difficult to engage in the learning process and tough to keep on task – but it is immensely rewarding when learning is taking place. As a teacher, the most important gifts I can give to these very poorly children are a sense of inclusion, as much independence as they can achieve and a voice – if it is needed.

Every child wants to join the conversation and be a part of the lesson and there are many inventions designed to help with this. Two years ago, our school decided to invest in iPads as, after much research, we deemed this to be the best high-tech tool available for our learners.

The iPad’s most obvious advantage is its portability, enabling it to go to and from school and on educational visits. But it also has two built-in cameras: the back-facing camera takes pictures, which can be used to give parents an overview of their child’s day, while the front-facing camera is for video calls. This is a wonderful invention for special children. One of our very delicate girls was extremely poorly and had been in hospital for some weeks. At school she had won an award for endeavour and was going to miss her big moment at the prize-giving assembly. We called her using FaceTime (the iPad’s video call app), so she could see her award being presented – and so we could see her delight at winning. Absolutely marvellous.

Public speaking

There are a truly amazing array of apps available designed with special learners in mind – too many to mention in detail. However, I have a particular favourite in Proloquo2go that, whilst expensive, is worth the money.

Proloquo2go is an alternative and augmentative communication system for children without a voice. It converts text into speech and has a vast library of pictures that can be selected to illustrate the text. Photographs may also be imported from the iPad’s own camera roll, allowing the user to personalise messages. We use this program for daily timetables, choice of food, news and general communication. The spoken voice is loud enough to enable the child to take part in an assembly – possibly for the first time – and opens up many previously denied opportunities to a non-communicating child.

We used this program recently during a special assembly for the headteacher, who is leaving. There is a child in my class who would not normally have been able to participate, but was itching to give his views on the outgoing head. The iPad was swiftly programmed using pictures the child had taken of our headteacher and text describing his fondest memories of working with him. With a custom made key guard in position, the boy was all set to take centre stage and give his own tribute.

Watching the young boy delicately isolate one finger and operate his iPad to give his speech was a sight to behold. It was the first time he had ever been able to join in with his peers and give his own valid opinion. Quite a tearjerking moment for all concerned.

It’s your choice

A further example of the success of iPads and Proloquo2go came when we used it with a 12-yearold child who operates around P5 level. This boy is able to use a touch screen, but would not be parted from his computer, which he used to watch clips of trains on YouTube. To make progress, he needed to move on from the PC and his obsession with trains and learn to use the more versatile iPad.

When we first gave him his iPad he refused to play with any other app except Talking Tom (which imitates noises from around the room). It’s a lovely program, but has little educational value – though it did encourage the child to engage with the iPad and improve his touch screen skills.

It was the ideal scenario for introducing Proloquo2go, especially as this boy has limited communication and can generally only be understood by those who know him well. We used the app to put together a page displaying a number of cells, each containing a word and a corresponding picture. Pressing a cell would result in the word being read out loud in the voice of an appropriate child.

This thrilled our boy who continually pressed the screen to hear the voice. We added his name, age and objects he found of interest – such as McDonald’s and crisps – to the cells, which inspired him to leave Talking Tom behind and show us the things he favoured. A few months down the line, with lots of encouragement and support, he can now introduce himself to people, tell them his age and that he likes McDonald’s.

His next steps for learning are to master a new page with a choice of activities. The idea is that he will choose an activity, participate in it for a given time and then receive a reward. The activities will be educational and the reward will be of his own choosing – I am certain one of these will be watching trains on Youtube. We will see!

Educational visits for this boy will now be a fantastic experience. He will have a choice of food with pictures and words and will be able to approach the counter and order his own food by pressing each cell. For the first time he will be communicating on a level with his peers.

The more I explore the iPad, the more I realise how valuable it is for special learners. My class have gained so much since we began tentatively using it two years ago. Success is there for all to see and the children enjoy their technology.