We have made our apps easy to use for children with cerebral palsy, and other disabilities that affect motor control and ability to communicate, including brain injury, Angelman syndrome and Down syndrome.
We aim to break down learning into manageable steps, with uncluttered apps that you can easily adapt as a child develops.
We have made our apps easy to use for children with cerebral palsy, and other disabilities that affect motor control and ability to communicate, including brain injury, Angelman syndrome and Down syndrome.
Our apps can support children with:
Develop sight vocabulary, encourage speech and improve fine motor skills. Choose automatic scanning with 1 switch, or manual scanning with 2.
Easily create social stories with your own text, photos and audio. Turn pages using one switch, option to use second switch to play sound.
Activities to develop and test memory and matching skills. Supports automatic scanning with 1 switch, and manual scanning with 2.
The iPad has built in support for switches. However, this is optimised for adults, and can be too difficult for children to master. Some apps for children with disabilities, including most of ours, have dedicated switch support, to empower children to use this assistive technology. In the video below we show you how to use Special Words with Bluetooth switches.
Not all of the features in our apps are switch-enabled. An adult who can use a touch screen witll need to operate the iPad to adjust settings and add personalised content.
"By using the iPad she is helping her coordination. Her cerebral palsy makes writing difficult, but the iPad is more accessible as she does not have to be precise. This also helps with her confidence in her own abilities, as the apps tasks are within her limitations"
Ms Hills, Teaching Assistant
"I had two of my students working with Special Words, the results were just amazing. It was a self motivating task in which they not only learned pictures and words but to control fine and gross motor skills in order to manipulate the iPad.”
Frances, Teacher