New and Revised iPad App Wheels

By Alan Wilson
CALL Scotland

Call Scotland has updated their iPad Apps for Learners with Dyslexia / Reading and Writing Difficulties wheel and will be launching a new wheel, iPad Apps for Learners with Dyscalculia / Numeracy Difficulties. Both can be downloaded from the Downloads section of our web site.

The Dyslexia Wheel
This is the 6th version of iPad Apps for Learners with Dyslexia / Reading and Writing Difficulties to be produced since it was first launched in October 2013. This is the most popular poster that we have produced in recent years and has now been downloaded over 100,000 times from the CALL web site.

The ‘Wheel of Apps’ is not comprehensive, but attempts to identify relevant, useful apps and to categorise them according to difficulties faced by people with dyslexia. Note that some apps address a range of difficulties. To save space, we have not placed individual apps into multiple categories, but have listed them under a single category that is particularly relevant to the app. Links on the electronic version are ‘clickable’ and will take you to iTunes, where you can find out more about the individual apps.

What’s New?
• Typing Tutors – this is a new section, with four apps: Easy Typing, Fast Typer 2, TapTyping and Typing Tutor Fun.
• Text to Speech – Capti Voice and Speechify have found a place.
• Reading eBooks – EasyReader is new to this section.
• Letter Formation now includes LetterReflex.
• Word Processing – Documents by Readdle has now been included.
• Writing Support – We have added Easy Dyslexia Aid to this section.
• Reminders – Reminder with Voice Reminders has been added.
• Early Learning – Word Wizard for Kids has been added.

What have we removed?
The apps in the sections on Mathematics and Calculators have been transferred to our new iPad Apps for Learners with Dyscalculia / Numeracy Difficulties wheel. Other apps have been removed as they are no longer available, or not compatible with the latest iPad operating system, iOS 11. These include: Dragon Dictation, Fleksy, My Words, NaviDys, Side by Side and WhiteSmoke.

iPad Apps for Learners with Dyscalculia / Numeracy Difficulties
Since we first started our series of app wheel posters for dyslexia we have had regular queries about iPad apps to help learners with numeracy difficulties. Our new poster, iPad Apps for Learners with Dyscalculia / Numeracy Difficulties, is a response to these requests. Like the Dyslexia Wheel, it is by no means comprehensive, but it attempts to identify relevant, useful apps that will help to embed numerical learning and to give opportunities for repeated practice of concepts that cause difficulty. It is aimed at helping to identify apps that may be useful for learners in a Primary School setting, rather than more advanced levels of numeracy and mathematics, though some can be used at many levels.

The categories in the outer rim of the wheel align with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence Benchmarks for Numeracy and Mathematics with the addition of an ‘Other Maths Tools’ category.

We would like to thank our colleagues from the Assistive Technology for Learning Across Scotland (ATLAS) group for their suggestions, and must also thank Mary Delahunty, whose Numeracy Wheel provided a starting point for this poster.

When we were compiling our list of apps, we found that some developers were not planning the major update necessary for compatibility with the iPad’s iOS 11, but were going to focus on multi-platform, web-based activities, which could still be used on an iPad. We therefore decided to include a short list of web sites with relevant online activities in this poster. Click on the title in the electronic copy of the poster to visit these sites – or Google them, if you are using the paper copy.

If you have ideas for other apps for inclusion in future versions of our app wheels, please email CALL.Scotland@ed.ac.uk with your suggestions.