Over at the Uncommon Sense blog, there's a great new review from Dana about one of the keyguards by LaseredPics. Their daughter Maya uses the app Speak For Yourself on an iPad with an iAdapter case, and this is the second LaseredPics keyguard she's tried.

Dana records this key guard really makes a huge positive difference to Maya's AAC use:

This keyguard was an instant game-changer. [...] With the keyguard in place, she has to reach for a word very deliberately. Accidental hits were all but instantly eliminated. As you can see in the video below, there was a bit of a learning curve as she figured out the hand-eye coordination needed to get her finger into the targeted hole, but it didn't take long at all (we've had the keyguard for 5 days now and are seeing very few misalignments).

The video's very clear and there are some great pictures of the keyguard. Dana also offers some hints and tips about what to ask for when you're ordering a key guard - #1 is make sure the "slide to open" area is open so you can turn the device on!

Most "standard" computer games get harder because they get faster, relying on the player's reflexes and coordination keeping up. For example, in Tetris the blocks appear and drop faster and faster as your level increases:

Untimed games or time-independent games are those where you aren't penalised if you play a game very slowly, have bad reflexes, or don't posses the hand-eye coordination to time your movements accurately. Games like this are "turn-based" where any game actions only occur in response to the player's actions, and don't have any other timers or time-related limitations. One of my favourite time-independent games, Drop7, is another block-dropping game but each block only "falls" once you tell the game where to put it. Drop7 increases the difficulty by changing the mix of blocks which are dropped and by adding a layer of hidden (grey) blocks at the bottom of the screen after a number of moves:

Time independent games share all of these things:

• Game pieces aren't animated in a way that changes where you need to hit them, so taking extra time to initiate a move doesn't cause your target to shift.
• There is no timer limiting the amount of time you can take to play each move or the time taken for the overall game.
• Being fast or slow doesn't change the number of points awarded for each move or for an overall game.
• The app doesn't "reset", losing your position in the game, if the device is turned off.

If you aren't sure if a game fits all these requirements, a good way to check yourself is to open the game and choose exactly where you'll tap the screen to make a move ... then put the device down for 5 minutes before coming back and tapping the screen exactly where you had previously decided. If there's no disadvantage (or advantage) to your 5-minute pause that's time-independent. If you could do the same pausing routine at any point during the game then the whole game is time-independent.

Why would you want to know if a game is time-dependent or not? There are a large number of disabilities that affect timing, most of which come under these general categories:

• Conditions that affect perception (eg vision impairment, conditions affecting how the brain interprets perceptions, sensitivity to animated movement) which may slow down how fast you understand what the game's state is.
• Conditions that affect thinking or memory (eg brain injury, intellectual impairment, memory impairment) which may slow down your decision about which move to make.
• Conditions that affect movement or reactions in the limbs used to control the iPad (eg cerebral palsy, quadriplegia) which may slow down your ability to make the move you've decided to make.

An extra effect of time-independent games is that collaborative gameplay becomes possible. This could be a parent playing with a child, two friends playing together, a therapist playing with a client, or a partner-assisted play scenario where the player indicates their desires by their own methods and the partner physically touches the game devices for them.

A surprisingly small number of games actually fit the requirements for being fully time-independent, so for this list I'm broadening the definition a little. If the game does have some time-dependent elements but these can be adjusted by the player or aren't essential to regular play then I'll make a note of this in the list:

• A Monster Ate My Homework! (one of my favourites!)
• Aqueduct 101
• Arcs Free
• BeeCellsHD/BeeCells Lite (one of my favourites!)
• Blocks
• Boggle (has an overall timer but player can adjust from 1 to 10 minutes)
• Bookworm
• Brain Games 3 IN 1
• The "Choice Of" series of interactive fiction games
• Doodle Fit
• Drop7 (one of my favourites!)
• Geared HD
• PatternSrch
• Sliderz HD
• Solitaire and Spider Solitaire
• Squramble
• Stone Flood (one of my favourites!)
• TradeNations (this is a simulation game of the "Farmville" or "Sims" type)
• Trism (mostly untimed, it requires quick movement of iPad's angle for best multi-move cascades but you can play perfectly well without these)
• Word Abacus (one of my favourites!)
• Words With Friends (like online Scrabble)

These others are games that people have suggested may be time-independent, but which I haven't tested myself:

• Midnight Mysteries: Salem Witch Trials
• Samantha Swift And The Fountains of Fate
• Psychoban HD

What's your favourite time-independent game?

- Ricky Buchanan

As the Technology Coach for Educational Vision Services, the program in the NYC Department of Education that serves students in our school system with visual impairments, I have been looking for a way to provide students with low-vision access to large print using the iPad. Our students are registered with Bookshare.org but it has been a stumbling block converting the DAISY formatted books into the epub format that can be read on the iPad. While there are numerous options for our students who are auditory or Braille readers, there has been a large disconnect in taking advantage of technology for our students who require large print and alternate contrast for visual reading.

The first thing I noticed is that while the iBooks app is great, it doesn't provide the flexibility in adjusting text size and contrast that is available in the free app Stanza. I tested it with several visually impaired students and determined that Stanza was preferable for reading books on the iPad.

Calibre is a free, cross-platform e-book convertor. While it won't recognize DAISY, it will recognize HTML documents. Firefox can open up the XML file in the DAISY book folder downloaded from Bookshare. Using Firefox, you can convert the XML file to an HTML file that Calibre recognizes and retains most of the book's format, including images in the DAISY book. This is particularly useful for NIMAC sourced textbooks that rely heavily on graphics.

During the Welcome Wizard, I set up Calibre to save files to an eBook folder I created in my Documents folder. While I chose the iPad as my Output Profile, it did not stick and had to be selected again in Calibre's Common Options Preference pane. The Base Font size can be adjusted in the Common Options Preference pane as needed by the intended reader. Calibre takes the HTML file and converts it to an epub file, saving it in a folder sorted by the author.

I wanted to find a way of transferring the epub book to the iPad without having to worry about syncing the iPad each time. Dropbox proved to be perfect for this. A teacher can share a folder with the student and use it to transfer the book to the iPad wirelessly. This is especially helpful the majority of our students are served using the itinerant model and the teacher can get the book on the iPad remotely.

While Dropbox cannot open the epub, it will transfer the book to the Stanza app. Once in Stanza, the text can be adjusted to the reader's preference for size and contrast. The iPad's built in Zoom can provide even further magnification if needed.

I understand this is a bit laborious and I am looking for a method to automate the process. I needed a way that would work on both Macs and Windows as our schools are cross platform. I also wanted to focus on a method using free software as we are a school system and budget is a concern.

What you need

Note that all of these applications and apps are free.

• On your own computer, install these - they will all install correctly on Windows, Mac, and Linux-based computers:
  • Firefox
  • Calibre
  • Dropbox
• Onto the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch where you want the books, install these (links are directly to the App Store):
  • Dropbox
  
  
  • Stanza

After you have unzipped the downloaded book from Bookshare, these are the steps to take on your own computer:

1. Open Firefox. Use the File>Open File command and open up the XML file in the Bookshare book's folder.
2. In Firefox, select File>Save Page As. Navigate to your preferred folder (I created one called eBooks for this purpose), rename the file to the book's title with the extension ".html" and in the Save As drop down box, select Web Page, Complete. Quit Firefox.
3. Open Calibre. Add the HTML file you created in step 2 to your Calibre library. For larger NIMAC books, especially ones with lots of graphics, this can take a long time. You will need to add the author's name as this is not picked up by Calibre.
4. Select the book in the Calibre library list and choose the Convert Book icon. You can adjust the Base Font Size by clicking on the Look & Feel icon in the left pane. Click the OK button to process it.
5. Navigate to the author folder created by Calibre. Open the book folder and find the .epub file created by Calibre. Transfer it into your Dropbox.

The next steps must be taken on the iPad (or iPhone or iPod Touch) where you want the book to be read:

1. Open the Dropbox App on the device. Select the book you transferred in the previous step. After Dropbox attempts to open it on your iPad, you will get a message that Dropbox cannot open the file. This is fine. In the upper right hand corner of the screen, select the "Transfer to" icon. Select Stanza from the list.
2. Stanza will open up and import the book. You can now read it the book in Stanza, adjusting the font, text and background colors to your preference. Images will not be magnified but you can use the iPad's Zoom feature to enlarge them if necessary.

- David H Cohen

There have been a plethora of stories in the mainstream news and in blogs about the iPad and the amazing positive effects it's having for people with various disabilities. Children with autism are the subject of many of these stories, but there are plenty of others who are getting amazing results from their iPads too.

I haven't been able to keep up with all the stories, but here's a round-up of some of them. If you know of more, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post:

The Wall Street Journal itself has written about the iPad for people with disabilities: Using the iPad to Connect: Parents, Therapists Use Apple Tablet to Communicate With Special Needs Kids is a great article and includes quotes from Steve Jobs and also a video showing some use of the iPad:

Making weird cool - Robert Rummel-Hudson talks about why he thinks the iPad is a game-changer for AAC and why it's important to have devices that don't say "I have a disability!" as soon as you walk into a room with one.

Zach's A Mac - Zach is a 3 1/2 year old boy with cerebral palsy who's learning to use an iPad.

The iPad: a Near-Miracle for My Son With Autism - Shannon Des Roches Rosa writes about her son Leo and how the iPad has helped him.

iHelp for Autism by the SF Weekly is a long and well balanced story which explains some of the iPads possibilities as well as its limitations, talking to teachers and other experts as well as parents of kids with autism. This article also includes sections about Leo and Des Roches.

Opinion: Why The iPad Isn??t For Me - Paul has quadriplegia and is an ardent iPod Touch user but for him the iPad would be a step backwards in terms of accessibility. In this article he explains why.

Karen Janowski has written Why I Love the iPad for Education: Initial Observations. Karen is an assistive and educational technology consultant who writes excellently and makes many good points.

The Muscular Dystrophy's Magazine, Quest, has published Barbara Twardowski's The iPad: A Disability Friendly Device? which evaluates the iPad for people with various types of disabilities. It's a balanced look at the pros and cons of the device, and lists ATMac as a website useful for people using an iPad so it must be a good article ;).

From the wonderful Katilea, an adult AAC user, we have several great posts about her new iPad:

• Proloquo2Go and iPad: A Marriage made in Heaven!
• Physical Accessibility on iPad in General, for People with Fine Motor Difficulties
• AAC: Mainstream V Dedicated Devices
• iPad useful for Ataxians?

N0thingbuteverything has written several articles about the iPad as used by her 5 year old son, 'S', who has cerebral palsy:

• Proloquo2go and the iPad Review - a detailed review of Proloquo2Go and the iPad
• Proloquo2go?what I learnt next - More reviewing of Proloquo2Go, as well as a wish list of things she'd like to see in future upgrades.

Kate Ahern from Teaching Learners With Multiple Special Needs has written iPossibilities for Those with Significant Special Needs and their Teams listing many apps suitable for those at the more severe end of the 'special needs' spectrum.

Caleigh's Mum writes about her daughter's use of the iPad with Proloquo2Go for communicating. Caleigh has cerebral palsy and there are several videos of her using the iPad included too:

• Caleigh's Communication Part 4 - iPad
• iPad + Proloquo2Go, 1 Month Update
• Caleigh's Communication - The Review

Heidi has established a whole blog - Junior's Voice - about her son's journey with the iPad as a communications device. He uses the iPad via eyegaze with a helper holding the iPad to "read" the eyegaze and physically touch the screen in the right places.

Finally one of my favourite bloggers, Glenda Watson Hyatt, who has cerebral palsy also got herself an iPad and has been surprised by its usefulness:

• The iPad as an Affordable Communicator: Initial Review
• The iPad as an Affordable Communicator: A Follow-up Review
• Writing Under the Stars: A Follow-Up iPad Review

In personal news, I have just got my own Mac back after it spent two weeks out of action after the video card, so I had only the iPad and my iPod Touch to keep me occupied. I learned a lot about using the iPad which I'm going to show you in future posts. Unfortunately I also got tendonitis in my hands from using them too much, and I have a hernia repair operation scheduled in a week's time, so I'll be at least partially out of action for a few more weeks and ATMac will be slow. Please be patient with me while I work on healing!

Hope you enjoyed the stories above - what other iPad disability-related stories have you seen?

- Ricky Buchanan

Jane Farrall has constructed a great table listing all the important features about all the known assistive/adaptive communication (AAC) applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. She's actively updating the table in response to feedback, this is a great resource for those looking for information about AAC out there.

iPhone/iPad Apps for AAC

by Jane Farrall

As you probably know, there are an increasing number of iPhone/iPod touch/iPad Apps for AAC available on the iTunes store.  So many that I’m having trouble keeping them straight in my own head – so I thought a blog was in order as that would be something for us all to refer to.

I have listed all the AAC Apps I am aware of below – along with some salient features. Keeping in tune with the idea of user ratings encouraged by iTunes, I have also added my own rating column from one to three stars.

I have also put the Apps into three groups – Apps with symbols/pictures only, Apps with symbols/pictures and text-to-speech and Apps with text-to-speech only.

- Ricky Buchanan