As a brother of a mentally challenged sister, I completely understand the different obstacles that come with daily life. It takes a lot of patience to deal with people of her nature. The biggest things are: constant reiteration of the do's and don'ts in life.
My sister hasn't been in school for a long time, and has different issues that upset her...i.e., writing her name, her ABC's, and counting past 10. Most of us take these simple things for granted, but i don't. I relish in the fact that I know how to put my shoes on the right feet, tie my shoes, write my name, and able to do simple hand-eye coordination tasks.
I am a gadget freak! When it comes to technology, I have to have it all! When the iPad was released, I couldn't wait to get my hands on one! Just a little over a month ago, I indulged and bought one. I was on cloud 9! Browsing through all of the killer apps that was available on the iPad had in the app store...I didn't know what to do with myself.
One day I was watching Netflix on my iPad, and that's where my interest was sparked about the educational possibilities of teaching people with mental challenges began. My sister asked if she could watch Dora the Explorer on it. Now mind you, she is a Dora the Explorer aficionado! She can (and will) watch Dora all day and night long if she could. After observing her watch her favorite show, I decided to teach her how to press "pause" and "play." She felt like a "big girl" watching her favorite show on my iPad. Angela, my sister, had learned quite a few things off of Dora. For example, my other sister (Jennifer) and I like to speak in Spanish around our family...mainly because no one understands Spanish in our family! Well, one day Angela was having a rough day with emotional outburst, and then Jennifer said "Let's giver her some medicine to calm her down" in Spanish. Angela, looked at us and said, "I don't need medicine to calm down!" Jennifer and I looked at each other with the biggest stunned looks on our faces. Angela had learned to speak and understand more than just the basic words in Spanish. (BTW, thank you Dora! We now have to learn to used a different language! lol).
Angela's retort in the translation of our Spanish had my brain moving a thousand miles an hour. Using Netflix was just a beginning point, in my mind, of where Angela could learn better eye-hand coordination and other basic skill sets. After scrounging around the App store, I found some amazing apps that would be extremely beneficial for almost all people with mental retardation!
1. Netflix: Netflix uses simple controls of pressing pause and play. When the person has learned these 2 basic steps, take him/her to the next level of making the screen bigger and smaller, and then finally to the level of picking their own show(s) and pressing the PLAY icon. This App is FREE!
2. Intro to Letters, by Montessorium: What a great little app this is! You have the whole alphabet in front of you! You can press the different letters to trace with your fingers or with an iPad stylus (I HIGHLY recommend the stylus. It allows the person to feel like they are using a pen/pencil). You all get to press a button to hear the letter pronounced! Another great advantage. The purchase prices is $4.99, but definitely well worth it! Here are the rest of the details from the App store site:
Intro to Letters includes a special recording area for iPad and iPhone users, where your child can listen to their own voice, as they practice to enunciate and name the letters of the alphabet.
Intro to Letters also offers two modes for learning letter shapes, names and sounds. "Random" mode harnesses the proven Montessori approach to learning language — isolating small groups of letters or phonograms, allowing your child to focus on them and trace them into memory. Want to target a specific letter? Flip over to "Practice" mode, where your child can choose which letters to focus on.
4. Dora the Explorer Chrimstas Adventure: Nickelodeon is doing a phenomenal job at designing interactive story books! From using fine motor skills, to visual and verbal interactions. Nick gets 5 stars from me! I'm actually in the process of showing my sister on how to use it, and then leave her off on her own. The iPad book app was $4.99, and I haven't regretted buying it yet! This app actually brings the characters to life, and allows the participants to get lost in it! Word of caution: The pupils will learn Spanish, so be cautious of what you say! LOL!
5. Fruit Ninja: Believe it or not, I highly recommend this app! It helps with a lot of hand coordination! It has lots of bright colors and movement! Mentally challenged people need to see lots of different colors to spark their synaptic nerves and excite their eyes. The price is $2.99, and you'll definitely love it!
6. My Coloring Book Free: Yes! It's FREE! It comes with 37 different pictures to color in! It works on the premise of the the "paint bucket" tool found in a lot of design programs. They pick the color and the spot they want to fill in with the color. Another great hand-eye coordination app. The best part is that they can actually save the pictures, you can print it if you want, and you can re-use the same picture over and over and over again.
7. Baby Flash Cards: It's FREE, too! It shows an extremely adolescent picture with the associated word. It will even pronounce the word for you with the coinciding picture! It contains a bank of over 200 words and pictures! Not too bad for something free!
8. Read Me Stories: It's also free, but it has a lot of different in app purchases for stories! Which does make it great. You can choose which story books you want to buy. The books are done in a matter of where a 5 to 7 year old should be able to read, but the best part about it is that it actually "reads' the story for the person using the app, while following along. You get a new free book daily, and the person gets to learn a lot. It features no words in each story, and to properly say the word while reading the word. Plus, if you really like the book...there is an in-app button to buy from Amazon.com.
Well, these are my top picks for now! The biggest part in the beginning process is to have a lot of patience in showing these amazing people on how to use the apps, including the basics of launching and closing an app. Don't lose faith! Don't lose patience! It will be a difficult task on your part, but with true diligence you will see a great difference in their learning capacity. You will have to do a lot of moderation at first, but you will see how you can start letting them go on their own one step at a time. Of course, you might see yourself indulging in these apps!
I hope you enjoyed this blog. If you have any other apps that you would like to recommend, please post a comment and share! Many kind thanks in reading and sharing!
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