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" Apple has long touted its device's assistive technology as a powerful tool for the educational development of physically and mentally disabled children. The iPad's touch screen makes it easier to manipulate than more traditional educational tools. For children with autism, "the iPad is not a toy, but a tool that works best when there is a 'team effort' between parents and therapists encouraging its proper use," said Marc Reisner, co-founder of Reach for the APPs. "Our goal is to provide schools with iPads so they can reach every child on the autistic spectrum." Reach for the APPs built their site with an initial donation from Managed Digital. Now, they're seeking out donations of money and/or iPads from both individuals and corporations to propel the program forward. According to reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1-in-88 children have some form of autism, up 78 percent from just a decade ago. The demand for augmentative communications devices is growing. But the schools can't meet the demand, so the children are losing valuable time during critical developmental years. Lois Brady, a speech language pathologist and assistive technology specialist, said apps can help develop fine-motor skills, which will in turn make functions like writing and manipulating small objects easier for the students. "I have spent years working with the most challenging students that are considered profoundly disabled," she said. "And I have seen some small miracles when I introduce the iPad into our therapy, as the children have made huge gains in attention, focus, communication, language and literacy skills." Some experts also say that the iPad can lessen symptoms of autistic disorders, helping children deal with life's sensory overload. Brady will be contributing content to the Reach for the APPs website to inform therapists about the latest-and-greatest apps for children all over the autistim spectrum. Apps must be tailor

"One question I seem to get a lot about the iPad is what apps do I recommend that are free. I am hearing from a lot of teachers that they have no way to add paid apps and thus are stuck trying to find free apps. My experience is that many free apps stink. They have many adds, require in app purchases to be useful, or are just junk. I tend to stay away from most free apps. So what are you to do if the district controls adding paid apps? My suggestion is to build relationships with the decision makers. Don't just ask for a bunch of apps, instead provide documentation and purpose for a few apps you would like to have. I know this process takes time and effort but if you can show the purpose and learning you have a much better chance. If you need lesson ideas I suggest checking out my Pinterest page, and three of my favorite Pinterest pages: iPadsammy, TechChef4u, and Sue Gorman. Look for apps and lesson ideas there and modify them to fit your standards and kids. If I was starting from scratch this is the $10 iPad app setup I would push for in my kindergarten classroom. (I will be posting a $20 setup later)"

"Build a fort! A treehouse! A fort on top of a treehouse surrounded by a moat filled with molten lava! Children are endlessly fascinated by what we adults considered mundane and their imagination truly knows no limits. Children are the best builders in the world and can use any building material in order to create the most vivid worlds. And now, there are building apps for kids so they can hone their building skills in a virtual world. Building games are a great outlet for kids who enjoy doing solitary, creative work and then wish to test their concepts in practice. Unlike a shooting or a racing game, a 3D building game rewards patience, planning and thinking ahead. Through a building game, a child gains confidence, achieves a sense of accomplishment and develops in itself a sense of pride through the development and application of its own ideas, plans and thoughts."

"When it comes to building math mastery, it's easy to find app focused on math fluency; app stores are overflowing with them. But teachers looking for tools that build conceptual understanding are often left wanting. These tools can be tough to find. But not anymore. Below are 10 apps I use with my students. These apps let students practice number concepts such as one-to-one correspondence, regrouping, and even multiplication and division in developmentally appropriate ways. Many times these are more effective than physical manipulatives. Digital manipulatives can be broken apart, put back together and moved around in ways that are not possible with bags full of Base 10 Blocks and counters.  The "aha" moments captured with these apps make lasting impressions on a child's mind, building a strong mathematical basis.  Even better, teachers who have access to only one device can take advantage of these apps by using an Apple TV or reflecting software."

"Weebly, a popular website creation service, has offered an iPhone app for a couple of years. This morning I learned that they now offer a free iPad app too. Weebly's free iPad app allows you to create a new website from scratch. After creating your website with the app you will be able to manage nearly all aspects of your site from your iPad. The drag-and-drop website building process that made Weebly popular as a browser-based tool is found in the new iPad app. Select a site component from the menu of options and drag it into the editor to build your site one component at a time. Watch the video embedded below for a short overview of Weebly's free iPad app. "

"MIT App Inventor provides the fastest way to build apps for Android phones and tablets. Even with no prior experience, you can learn to build apps within hours. Here, you'll learn from USF Professor David Wolber, who has been teaching beginners programming with App Inventor since its inception in 2009. With step-by-step video screencasts, Wolber starts with the basics then leads you through the development of successively more complex apps, teaching you programming concepts as you go."

"App Inventor is a free, cloud-based service that you access using a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). With these beginner-friendly tutorials, you will learn the basics of programming apps for Android devices. You will need:      * A Mac or Windows computer (see system requirements)      * A free Google account (Gmail or school email tied to Google      * An Android mobile device (phone or tablet). If you don't have a mobile device, you can still use App        Inventor with the on-screen Emulator To see your app on your phone as you build:      * Follow the instructions to connect your phone to App Inventor on your computer      * If you hit any snags, we're here to help! Teachers: Get support and tips for preparing for App Inventor hour of code with your students."

"This is the seventh post is a series of posts covering educational iPad apps to use with elementary students. We are trying to build a repository of good apps elementary students and teachers can easily  access and use in their learning and instruction. To learn more about the previous posts we have published so far check out this section. Today's collection features a number of useful apps to use with young learners when teaching social studies. These apps, which we curated from iTunes App Collections, cover 3 main themes: Geography, History and World Cultures."

"Easy app creation, outside of the land of Ruby and Python, has become a huge phenomenon in the last year. And the latest company to join the fold,AppArchitect, is launching straight from our Disrupt NY stage. AppArchitect lets you build custom iPhone and iPad apps using a simple drag-and-drop interface. That's right - you need zero coding experience to build your own iPhone app. It's a brand new world."

"Technology is changing not only the instructional methods we use to teach our students, but it is changing the classroom and learning experience. Digital learning communities - virtual spaces where students can collaborate, assist in each other's learning, and build relationships - are integral to 21st century learning. With it being January and a time for New Year's Resolution, we thought these apps might be something to try out in the new year! To support teachers, this month's Roundup is a compilation of App Ed Review's favorite learning communities apps that support students asking and answering questions, collaborating on work in real time, and creating their own lessons."

"This presentation will look at how easy it is for a district or school to enhance communication with their community through the development of a mobile app, without having to hire a mobile device programmer or a company to develop an app. Participants with their own device will spend part of the session starting to build their own app and should leave the session feeling comfortable in their ability to finish their app after ISTE."

"In some ways you can think of Ooomf as a kind of "Pinterest for apps." Users can build catalog of apps that follow a particular theme, and share catalogs with other users. Founder Mikael Cho says if you "identify as a creative, or a traveling nomad, or a hustling innovator, and we have different apps in each category, but the entire idea is to be a part of the whole life cycle of an app, from idea to creation.""

"Sifting through the app stores trying to find the cream of the crop isn't easy, so we've done it for you! Though plenty of other awesome apps are out there, kids should play these at least once. From art to coding, preschool skill building to problem solving, and social-emotional learning to endless runners, dive in with this list of 50 standout apps across all age groups. Check out our Essential Apps Guide for even more titles, or find a curated list that fits your kid's specific interests."

"Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services2 rocket_science Rocket Science 101 is a free iPad app offered by NASA. The app is designed to help students understand how rockets work and understand the differences between the four types of rockets most frequently used by NASA. In Rocket Science 101 students can build all four rockets in a jigsaw-like activity then virtually launch their rockets. When the rockets are launched students see the timing of each stage of the launch from surface to orbit."

"If you ask a student, "'Do you want to learn how to program in HTML, PHP or Android?' They'll run away," says Lapinski. "But when we say, 'Do you want to solve a problem you're passionate about, one that's relevant to you?' You reach them. Apps are the new Rock 'n' Roll." It's similar to Dean Kamen's FIRST program, which hooks kids on engineering with robotics instead for mobile apps. The resulting 50-70 hour course includes 5 steps: Identify the problem; market research; solutions through business models, technical ability and marketing models; product design; and build and test."

"TinyTap is a fantastic free iPad app and Android app for building fun and interactive review games. With the app you can create games based on pictures, diagrams, videos, and icons. The latest update to the app enables you to include a challenge mode in your games."

"Created by Microsoft's Research group, TouchDevelop is a touch-friendly app creation environment that allows students to build apps using their phone, tablet or desktop machine. The environment has been designed with a detailed focus on providing a safe and enjoyable space for students to learn coding basics, progress their skills and publish their very own apps to run on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux."

"Affordable do-it-yourself alternatives give all companies - even those with minimal tech expertise - a way to create their own apps. Even the code-illiterate can build passable apps using these four new platforms."

"After posting about iPad apps that teachers can use to create diagrams and charts, we went back into our archive and browsed through the posts we have previously published before looking for apps to use to create mind maps and to brainstorm ideas. We found some but were too old to feature now so we tried to look for new ones and we were surprised to find some really interesting ones. We have compiled a list below that contains some of the best mindmapping and brainstorming apps you could ever find online. We based our selection on the evaluation criteria we shared with you before. The best educational mindmapping tools can help you do a wide range of activities in your class. You can ask students to use them to brainstorm a topic with each one contributing an idea, they keep building up on them till they finally get a finished map of the main ideas about that topic.These tools can help your students develop creative ways of learning and enhance their critical thinking skills. Have a look at the list below and if you have suggestions, share them with us in the comment form below."

"ArtSet was an impressive app that I was introduced to last week. I was presenting at a conference and one of the organisers asked if a number of the presenters could go through a workflow to illustrate how a series of apps might be able to be used to deepen student learning. The idea was the the product of one app would become the input for the next. The story of The Lion and the Mouse was suggested as an idea. Each presenter was given three minutes only. There was a cross section of both primary and secondary teachers in the group."