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Friday, April 15, 2011

10 Ways I Used My iPad/iPhone This Week

As a busy mom and pediatric speech language pathologist, I can't imagine my life without my iPhone and iPad.  They make life easier for me in so many ways every day.  Here are just a few ways I put them to good use this week:

1.  iPhone "Clock" feature:  as a countdown timer that buzzes after 1 minute, to see how many perfectly enunciated /r/ loaded sentences a 5th grader could produce.  He loves trying to "beat" his own time in this type game.
2.  iPhone "Notes" feature:  to jot down 2 exciting blog post topics that popped into my head so I don't forget them immediately.    I also keep a shopping list in the notes section.
3.  iPhone "Maps" feature:  to find a shortcut from a daycare to a client's home when there was yucky traffic.
4.  iPhone Camera:  to record a "movie" that a student wrote about Michelle Garcia Winner's social skills superhero, "Superflex"
5.  iPad with Google Forms:  to record individual student data from a reading comprehension collaborative group.  The cool thing is that this Google form just asks me a few multiple choice questions and then uploads my responses into a spreadsheet that keeps track of the student's performance on each goal for each date.  This process is so exciting for organizing my therapy data that it deserves its own blog post.  (Let me just jot that idea into my iPhone notes section.  Done.)
6.  iPad Toy Story Book App:  to motivate a 3rd grader with autism to identify narrative structure elements and write them into a graphic organizer in complete sentences with punctuation and temporal markers.  Kids will write anything for me if I make it engaging enough.
7.  iPhone as a calculator:  several times each day to calculate accuracy percentages for my speech therapy clients during therapy.
8.  iPad Math Pop App:  to encourage two students with social skills goals to work together to solve problems and to take turns quickly and automatically.
9.  iPad Zoola Lite App:  as quick photo references of a variety of animals for a lesson in using "descriptors"/adjectives in writing
10.  iPad Cupcake Matching app:  as a reinforcer for a student for 2 minutes at the end of a productive therapy session

The funny thing is, that I think I only used my iPhone as a "phone" maybe 4 times this whole week!  Hah! 

I really don't know how I got along before touch screen technology.  It can be daunting at first, but ultimately, it makes me happy to master new technology. 


How has technology made your life easier?

5 comments:

  1. I use google forms to record my semi-daily walking distance/time. Google forms are a miracle!

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  2. You're right! Google docs in general are a miracle, but the millions of possible uses for Google forms are exciting!

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  3. Have you tried the "percentally" app - you can tally for different students on different goals all at the same time on one screen. Then the calculations are done for you!

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  4. My school district purchased 12 iPAD 2's to use. Unfortunately, we are a BIG district and have over 30 SLP's. I have the iPAD until mid January and then I have to turn it back in for another SLP to use. :( I have used it so much for therapy purposes that I don't know what I will do without it!! I think I will have to purchase one on my own. Well at least I can count it as a tax write off. If anyone is using the iPAD for therapy purposes I'd love to hear what app. has been the most useful/beneficial.

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  5. Oh, I know! It's hard to give up the iPad once you realize how wonderful, quick, and convenient it is to use it! I love Sean Sweeney's reviews of various iPad apps for SLPs. You can find him at www.speechtechie.com. Enjoy!

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