Webinar:
Executive Functions and Apps
Students with executive dysfunction have a deficit in the frontal lobe of the brain. The frontal lobe can be compared to a CEO of a company or the conductor of the band. When there is difficulty in the frontal lobe it causes the person to have difficulty
organising themselves and executing tasks in a timely and organised way. Key
components of executive function involve focus, direction, time management,
prioritising and regulating behaviour. Time management involves planning, prioritising, working
memory, organising your thinking, controlling emotions, sustaining attention.,
adaptability, reacting to change and the ability to store, retrieve and put
things into action. Overall it boils down to regulating the person's ability to think and do.
In a classroom the teacher is often the CEO and is directing the lesson and the class. He or she cues students, mediates, scaffolds and provides students with step by step instruction/direction. It is like they are the surrogate frontal lobe. Students often begin to exhibit difficulty once they are to work independently. Here is where using Apps can to foster independence can set students up for success.
In a classroom the teacher is often the CEO and is directing the lesson and the class. He or she cues students, mediates, scaffolds and provides students with step by step instruction/direction. It is like they are the surrogate frontal lobe. Students often begin to exhibit difficulty once they are to work independently. Here is where using Apps can to foster independence can set students up for success.
The following is a brief overview of the apps that were
introduced in the webinar:
Colorful
aquarium is a good app for calming down. It soothes the user and takes their
mind off of previous problems. You can feed the fish and watch them eat so it is
interactive as well. It could also be used as a reward.
Tools for
Students is an app for planning and prioritizing, as in graphic organizers.
There are 25 templates to initiate and plan ideas. You can use voice to input so
it is great even for those who have trouble writing. It saves automatically and
it can be emailed to teacher. You can summarize, sequence, use KWL chats,
compare and contras all for 99 cents.
Reminders is an app that is free. It has a calendar
and you can do notes and more information such as times and reminders, which
will pop up. It is just a good simple organizer
Take a Chill is
a stress reduction app focusing on adolescence to help students to take a moment
to calm or ground themselves before beginning a task. You need to be able to
read so it would not be good for early readers. It has “stop and take a moment”
component which explains how to stop and regroup to get ready to continue.
It gives you a “Daily Dose” which are strategies to get
through your day. You can take a stress inventory to track your stress and it
gives you an idea of how much stress you have at that moment. It gives you some
options and things you might consider to calm down. It provides stress resources
and links and has a journal to record your feelings.
Let Panic Go is
a good app for panic attacks or heightened stress. It is for students who read
well and have good working memory. You have to read and process at the same
time. This app is $2.99 and would be for higher elementary students to adults.
It has a breathing regulator where you touch the screen when you are exhaling
and it tracks your breaths. It asks you how you are feeling. If you say “good”
it gives you some tips to move on, if not, you can continue. It has a running
commentary which helps you to calm down.
Balloon Pop, Yoga
and other apps help with calming. Specific students can choose which ones
work best for them.
Sound Curtain
is an app that helps to sustain attention. It is acoustic masking. It adjusts
sound output to the sound in the environment. Headphones play and mask with
ambient sound. It helps drown out environmental sound. You can choose between
rain, wind and music to enhance attention, reduce distractibility and
focus.
The Ibook Store offers enhanced books. Such as
Life on Earth. Students who need to be engaged more than a they are with a
regular text or what is on the board or a handout sheet would love Ibooks. Students can interact with pictures in the
text by manipulating them. Companies will also be able to update their books
very easily and send out updates to the text books. You can see the text, hear
it and interact with it. Students will pay attention and be more engaged. This
is an example of universal design for learning UDL.
Timers
traditionally were expensive and lost and would run out of batteries. This app
is 99 cents. It can travel with the student and cannot be broken or lost. It
helps with time management and time tracking. It is great for students with ASD
to help them learn to wait and for anyone to understand time. It looks like a
simple clock with a visual to show remaining time.
Student Life
Organizer is a calendar type of app that can add dates, courses and tasks
for various courses. This would be for Jr or Sr high students.
Each device comes with a built in calendar. It is an on-board app which
looks like a daily planner. It shows day view, week, month and year. It is easy
to use and easy to apply. It is easy to keep yourself organized. You can also
use picture scheduler or Photomind
where you can add pictures to your calendar.
Wait Strip is a
reward app for completion of tasks or target behaviors. It is similar to a penny
chart. You can customize colours etc. When a task or behavior is complete you
tap the circle and when the last one is done you get video and audio feedback.
iReward Chart
is a good app for younger children with
ADHD or ASD for rewards. You can set it to be very specific and you can add
multiple children and include photos of children. You can choose pre-listed
rewards but you can add specific rewards. You can assign a certain number of
stars to get this reward. Student can set up the reward menu. You can check the
balance sheet to see how many were earned and what rewards were taken.
Develop social stories with videos that students can refer
to it on a mobile device. One example is Pictello. You can import video and use
text to speech. It can teach in role playing to prepare students to respond or
to hold back when needed. You can download social stories from the internet and
add in personalized pictures. It can be read out loud to students when it is
ready.
Social Skills
Sampler has free social stories that are in the form of a video modeling
story. They can be used as jump off points so you can talk further about related
scenarios.
Book Creator
and Ibook Creator also allow you to create your
own stories and you can put them on the book shelf for easy future access.
Shredder
(99cents) allows you to write a negative thought and shred it to represent
letting the thought go. It gets the thought out and gets a giggle and a positive
reaction.
Calm Counter
has a social story to start. It shows you how to deal with stress and calm down,
one step at a time. It counts back from 10 with a picture of a mad face getting
calmer as you count down. It would be a great tool to calm down a student who
was getting upset.
Inspiration App
is good for task initiation. It has templates and graphic organizers for many
tasks. It helps initiate an idea as the beginning part of the output. It can be customized in a variety of ways. It is like a
living, flexible graphic organizer that is easy to use and produces a fun yet
professional looking product.
Worksystem is a new, free app which is a text based visual schedule. It breaks down the day into manageable chunks. You can make a visual schedule for any individual. This app would be great for learning centre where you had to produce schedules or task strips for students in many different settings.
Sock Puppets is
an app where you can pick characters and backgrounds. It allows students to role
play. Sock puppets mouths move as the person talks. You can save the shows and
students can work at improving on their flexibility and adaptability. It would
be motivating and fun but is a great way to program.
Games are good for social skills and turn taking. They teach how to be a winner or loser and to wait for your turn. Four in a Row is one of these games. These are just a few of the thousands of apps available but they are a good place to start when using mobile devices in schools.
