iCommunicate
App Information:
Name of app: iCommunicate for iPad
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Cost: $49.99
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Target audience: Children who have problems with communication (non-verbal, autistic, apraxic or any other disability that inhibits communication).
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Where to get it: Available in the app store (company- Grembe Inc.) The app also requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Description:
This app enables better communication and allows students who have not yet developed communication skills or are not able to effectively communicate let others know what is on their mind and to have a “voice”. This app is useful to help students with learning disabilities and acts as a speech learning utility. It allows children to feel comfortable to communicate by allowing them to create pictures, storyboards, visual schedules and routines and has the option to record custom audio in any language. This app has a large target audience as it can be used with diverse students with varying levels of needs. This app is able to help students with different learning styles as it contains a visual component along with audio prompting. This app mainly has two options: pictures and storyboards. By clicking pictures, the associated sound is played. Using the edit mode, students can change pictures using the camera roll or insert their own from the internet and can record new audios. This can also aid with daily routine and getting students accustomed to the flow of the day/week, which provides both pictures and audio cues.
Classroom integration:
The benefits of this app is that it comes with 10, 000 symblstix pictures which help with text to speech and allows to read communicative boards and activities online. Teaches have the option to insert Google images to make their own story boards and prompts to help students with different lessons and tasks. This helps with differentiating instruction and allowing students to use different strategies and techniques to help them learn and to communicate better. Students gain a sense of confidence that allows them to better take risks, engage in conversations and discussions. This app also allows students to build vocabulary and fluency in the English language. Students can also make connections to their first language by translating words and using picture cues to make sense of instructions and in communicating verbally. Another interesting feature is that you can change the options so that you can chose to enable or disable the edit mode and configure options on the app as you see fit for each student. A positive aspect of this app is that it is said to reduce stress and anxiety.
Review:
Based on some reviews I read, there seems to be a lot of positive reactions to this app, especially from parents. I am sure as an educator, this app will be of great help in the classroom to allow students to effectively communicate and to let the teacher and peers know what they want, need and desire to share. I found it really interesting that this app allows anyone to record their voice, so students can become accustomed to familiar voices that they hear on a daily basis. Many reviews stated that they loved the fact that the story boards really help with routines and allows children to know what comes next so that they are better prepared for transitions. Students also start to echo the words that they start to hear and become more comfortable speaking without the app overtime. This app is also user-friendly and very easy to navigate according to the reviews. The app might be a bit pricey depending on the budget of the school, but can be a great tool to have and can be purchased in smaller quantities (but in comparison to other apps-the price is reasonable and the quality is higher). This app is also only available on the iPad/iPhone. This app also does not allow you to save pictures in categories.
Take a look at this video tutorial on how to use iCommunicate!
Make iCommunicate customizable to your needs!
References:
Grembe Apps-Building apps that make a difference: iCommunciate Testimonials. Retrieved July 22, 2016 from http://www.grembe.com/icommunicate
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Johnson, J. (2010). iCommunicate Intro and Demo. Retrieved July 23, 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FkSNMLVlmk
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Schectman, T. (2011). 7 Assistive communication apps in the ipad app store: Augmentative and alternative communication. Retrieved July 22, 2016 from http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2011/02/07/7-assistive-communication-apps-in-the-ipad-app-store/
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Sistach, F. (2010). Review: icommunicate. iAutism. Retrieved July 22, 2016 from http://www.iautism.info/en/2010/10/30/review-icommunicate/.