Apps for Writing!

There are so many ways that we can support our students who struggle with the writing process. Following are ten apps that just begin to scratch the surface!

Fluid 2

• $0.99
• Compensatory
• Suppports all three areas of the writing process.
• Helps students who have difficulty attending to the task at hand and need re-focusing – vital for the writing process.
• Changes your iPad screen into interactive fluid - providing a calming affect.

Tap Typing

• Free
• Remedial
• Good for support with upper level mechanical skills – speed and accuracy.
• Supports students who require a keyboard for written output by allowing them to become more accurate and confident in their typing.
• Helps students develop both speed and accuracy with typing.
• Provides various levels.

Touch and Write

• $2.99
• Remedial
• Provides support for lower level mechanical – grip using stylus and letter formation skills.
• Helps students needing support learning letter and number formation and high frequency words.  Helps with maintaining attention and engagement as well.
• Students can practise letter formation using their finger or a stylus while being engaged in a fun and personalised learning activity. Students receive awards as they progress.

Toontastic

• Free
• Compensatory
• Good for supporting upper level content skills – writing with a purpose as this program focuses on stages of a story.
• Helps students needing support generating ideas and keeping their ideas organized. Helps with maintaining attention and engagement as well. Good for students who may need to record their idea rather than write. We think this would be great for upper elementary and junior high students.
• Students follow the stages of a story (setting, character, problem, etc.) and create a cartoon. They can choose from a bank of characters/setting, etc. or create their own.
• Students can personalize, write or record ideas, share on iTunes for others to see and choose from various themes.

Evernote

• Free
• Compensatory
• Helps with low level mechanical skills.
• Supports students with low level mechanical skills – unable to write. Evernote is great for junior high and high school students needing compensatory measures.
• Evernote allows students to capture images of various notes (board, copies, etc.) and organizes them in one location. Students can also take notes by typing. It also allows for voice recording for work rather than writing. In the end, all notes/recordings/images are searchable by the student.
• Can share work via email, facebook and twitter and sync notes from any device you use.

Tools4Students

• $0.99
• Compensatory
• Supports upper level content – organizing ideas and using various forms of writing/organizing and lower level mechanical - typing.
• Support for students needing assistance with organization and the physical task of writing.
• Allows students to create a variety of organizational tools without using a pencil! Up to 25 graphic organizers available.  Can create diagrams, brainstorms, maps, presentations and projects just to name a few.
• Allows student to email to self or teacher and return to same organizer more than once.

Amazing Memory Match (Lite)

• Free
• Remedial
• Supports lower mechanical and lower content skills – memory and concentration.
• Supports students who need to develop their working memory in an engaging way.
• In a game format students develop their working memory by completing various levels of a matching game.
• Multiple levels and scenes, easy to use.

Dictionary.com

• $4.99 (for no ads)
• Compensatory
• Supports skills in lower level content – word retrieval.
• Supports students with limited vocabulary skills, knowledge of language and word retrieval skills.
• Dictionary.com will look up words using voice or by typing. It will also read the definition out loud if desired and use the word in a sentence for further understanding.  It also includes a thesaurus.
• Even allows you to save a personalized word list.

Dexteria

• $4.99
• Remedial
• Lower level mechanical – develops readiness for writing.
• Supports students in their development of pencil grip, fine motor (pinch, grab, finger isolation and sequencing, etc.)
• Dexteria is created along with Occupational Therapists and allows kids to develop their fine motor skills in a game like setting by tapping, pinching and grabbing various items.
• Can create reports for parents/teachers on progress.

Abilipad

• $19.99
• Compensatory
• Supports both lower and upper level mechanical skill sets – typing as well as automaticity (word knowledge) depending on usage.
• Supports students who need a keyboard to communicate.
• Abilipad allows for word prediction, customizable keyboard, text to speech and many other features to support communication without handwriting.
• Allows for text to speech.