Back to School: 5 Resources to Start the Year Right

August 26, 2015

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The AngelSense community shares 5 of the most useful apps and resources for making the most of back to school time. 

 

 CLICK HERE to learn how AngelSense can help improve your child’s safety and well-being.

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Back to school preparation is always an exciting time. But it certainly brings its challenges. Changes of routine, new friends, new caregivers… it can be stressful for everyone involved. There are endless services trying to make your children’s transition a bit smoother, so we’ve tried to pool together a few that our community have recommended.

Of particular note, lots of our families are using new apps to get their children excited for the school year, so we have mentioned a few of our favorite apps and augmentative

communication systems (AAC) to the list. (These apps are available in the iPad app store as well as in the Google Play store.)

Here are our community’s top 5 apps and resources.

Alexicom AAC for Android: A versatile AAC solution 

Alexicomm Tech

Help your child speak their mind and create sentences.

This free app gives parents and caregivers the ability to create customized pages with ease and versatility. With a large directory of vocabulary words available and loaded into the pages, simply install the app and your child is ready to start communicating. There are several different apps and page sets for those beginning to communicate all the way to older adults and more literate communicators.

Alexicom Tech provides parents an affordable way to communicate using intuitive symbols, organization, and editing tools while giving the student a way to express themselves at school so teachers can gage how much the child understands.

Alexicom Tech has created the only school communication app with much of the needed vocabulary to help students communicate what they have learned in school. With topics such as Language Arts/Reading and Math students can now express what they know instead of being tested on their receptive skills.

Autism iHelp  – Younger children start here

 

For youngsters who seem more comfortable with pictures than words and sentences, this solution seems to be a hit. It’s very easy to get started and easy for children to progress themselves.

 

Of course, this vocabulary teaching aid is specifically designed for those children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This app utilizes actual photographs since children with Autism respond better to photographs instead of illustrations. This free app acts as an enrichment activity to help your child develop their expressive language skills.

Avaz – AAC App for Autism

Avaz application is a full featured AAC solution. But while it carries a price, it provides its families great resources and support. They offer training videos and even webinars to make sure you and your child are using the application to the fullest.

Let Me Talk: Free AAC Talker

 

 

This is free and worth a try. The creators have given their heart and soul to make this solution easy and accessible. LetMeTalk is donation-financed. Featuring over 9,000 images, you can customize your experience using the in-app camera. With no mobile contract needed to run the app it can be used virtually anywhere.

Special Needs Essentials – A great site for finding special products to ease your child’s transition

 

On this website, you can find just about anything you need to have this school year running smoothly. From pencil grips to chewy tubes to educational tools, this site is a valuable resource for parents and therapists alike. It has hard to find objects and the basics, so if you are scratching your head, or just up late worrying, take a look around and see some of the creative products that might make day 1 a bit easier for your loved one.

How do you prepare your special needs child for school?