Communication apps for students who are deaf or hard of hearing

As we know students who are deaf or hard of hearing communicate in a variety of ways: verbally, use of sign language (cued speech, ASL, manual), lip reading, and writing. Below are some apps that can be used on the iPad to help students develop or maintain their communication skills in and out of the classroom. 

App name	Website	Description	Cost
IP - Relay	http://itunes.apple.com/app/ip-relay/id351385414?ign-mpt=uo%3D6&mt=8	IP-Relay allows individuals to use their device to call people who are able to hear. It acts like an instant message system.  The individual who is deaf or hard of hearing type out their message and IP relay operator speaks the message to the individual who is hearing. Then relays what the individual who could hear says to the individual who is deaf through text.	Free
Dragon Dictation	http://itunes.apple.com/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?ign-mpt=uo%3D6&mt=8	Dragon dictation allows users to speak directly into the microphone, the words that they spoke appear in text on the screen.	Free
Face Time	Pre-downloaded on device	FaceTime is a phone calling app that features video and works through a Wi-Fi internet connection. It is very similar to Skype as it uses video to relay messages. FaceTime is ideal for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing because a user can easily observe facial expressions, gesture, and communicate using American Sign Language or lip reading.	Pre-downloaded on device
Signing time Lite ASL	http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/signing-time-lite-asl-sign/id306355760?mt=8	The lite version includes six flash cards and three shortened music videos.	Free but full version is $2.99
ABA Flash Cards & Games - Emotions	http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aba-flash-cards-games-emotions/id446105144?mt=8	Identifying, understanding, and responding appropriately to emotions.	Free **All ABA apps are free during the month of April!!**
Baby sign and sing	http://www.babysignandlearn.com/baby-sign-and-learn-asl-for-iphone-and-ipad	Learn sign language to a children's song. Great for young learners.	Free but you can buy additional songs
PCS Sign language flash cards	http://www.mayer-johnson.com/pcs-sign-language-flash-cards/	Learn signs, picture representations, and text all in the same app!	Free
ASL Dictionary for iPad	http://www.asl-dictionary.com/	A great reference for signs and phrases	$6.49
My Smarty hands	http://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id366804871?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4	Learn and practice 300 ASL signs	Lite - free full is $4.99
SparkleFish	http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sparklefish/id432462341?mt=8&ls=1	This app allows users to record word in their voice. It is similar to madlibs and comes with four free stories.	Free
Splingo's Language Universe	http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/splingos-language-universe/id457526530?mt=8&ls=J	Helps students learn and practice listening skills	$2.99
Learn American Sign Language	http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-american-sign-language/id435624458?mt=8	Learn American Sign Language is a simple and fun way to learn signing, covering such useful topics as Greetings, Emergency Situations and more.	$2.99

iPad adaptations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing

First thing is first, lets look at some ways to make our iPad more user friendly for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The iPad has many adaptations that can be made to make it easier for students who are deaf and hard of hearing to access the device. 

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Face Time

FaceTime is a phone calling app that features video and works through Wi-Fi internet connection. It is very similar to Skype as it uses video to relay messages. FaceTime is ideal for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing because a user can easily observe facial expressions, gesture, and communicate using American Sign Language or lip reading.  FaceTime can also be used to make and receive video relay and text relay calls. Below is a tutorial on how to set up face time on your iPad.

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Volume adjustments

Users are able to adjust the volume  on an iPad. To do so follow the steps below:

1. Touch settings icon on Home screen
2. Click general settings tap sounds
3. Drag the slider bar to the right to increase the volume and to left to lower it 
4. Touch home button to close settings
5. 

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Notes

Notes is an app that comes standard on your iPad. It can be used to type and record notes in class. Create new notes, review notes previously created, search for notes, save notes, delete them, and email them! Teachers can use this app to document instructions or directs for students to complete. Click create new note and the on screen keyboard will pop up. Compose your note and save it! The video posted below is an app tutorial. 

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Closed Captioning - The iPad  supports the playback of open captions, closed captions, and subtitling. The captions appear onscreen, just like on TV. 

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Visual Alerts

Some apps such as mail, app store, and skype on the iPad have visual alerts for the user. Visual alerts are also appear with time, date, wi-fi function, and battery life.

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Mono Audio

To improve your listening experience when using headphones, turn on Mono Audio. When Mono Audio is turned on, iPad plays all sounds in both ears.

1. Click on the Settings icon
2. Navigate to  General settings
   Click Accessibility.
3. Click the Mono Audio On/Off button to turn on the feature.
   
   Mono Audio is turned on.
4.  Touch on  the Home button to close Settings.

5 fun back to school interactives

Looking for some fun back to school activities for your students to play online? Well look no further below are five fun back to school interactives to use in your classroom!

Emily Elizabeth goes to school - Interact with Emily Elizabeth and Clifford about her day at school. 

Back to school printables - Several back to school printables including mini soduko

Back to school interactive pages - Interactive back to school coloring pages

Back to school wordsearch - Interactive back to school word search, words go across and down only; uses basic vocabulary.

Back to school crossword - back to school crossword puzzle. 

To find more back to school activities click here! 

Lovely labor day activities

Hi everyone happy labor day! Below are some fun and educational labor day activities to play with your students on the computer or print them out. Be sure to view this BrainPop video about the topic: http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/freemovies/cesarchavez/

Labor Day coloring pages - Some labor day interactive coloring pages. 

Community helpers - Community helpers see and hear what they do

American Symbols game Simply match the symbol to the correct description.

Enchanted learning printables - Crafts include a labor collage, building a town out of recycled materials including paper towel rolls and tissue boxes, printable activity books, puzzles, vocabulary worksheets, alphabet games, and coloring pages brought to you by Enchanted learning.

Labor day word jumble Try to guess the word. Then click in the applet to show the answer. After showing the answer, click again for another randomly-chosen word with scrambled letters.

Labor day word search interactive Each word on the list is hidden in the pool of letters. To circle a discovered word, mouse-click on one end of the word and mouse-drag to the other end of the word. Words may be hidden horizontally, vertically, diagonally, forward, or backward