Apps that focus on a single function or action make it easier for him to understand games and have a good time playing them. Apps with simple but powerful interfaces: Tappy Tunes (tap your way through popular songs), ShapeBuilder (simple puzzles). If you insist on an involved introduction to your app, make sure it can be bypassed with one click. A complicated, many-step introduction may confuse him and prevent him from accessing the apps’ function or content. Fewer steps equal a higher rate of engagement and usefulness for kids like Leo. Good examples: iWriteWords (handwriting, numbers, spelling) and FirstWordsDeluxe (spelling). Leo has the most success with activities that do not penalize users for wrong answers, instead only letting users put items in the right spaces or which contain prompts that encourage users to succeed. Examples of fun apps that are great for Leo but have general kid appeal: Faces iMake (goofy, beautifully designed collage maker), iEarnedThat (animated, puzzle-based reward charts). Leo likes to have fun! And so do his two neurotypical sisters, both of whom hop on his iPad the moment he puts it down. Factoring in Leo’s “kid” status before his “autism” or “special needs” label.When I choose an app, here are the factors I weigh: I don’t just evaluate apps with the eyes of an autism parent - I also look at them from the perspective of a former software producer for Electronic Arts and The Learning Company who has no patience with software that isn’t well-planned or doesn’t at least have marked potential. I am always on the prowl for good apps for my son Leo, who is nine years old, has autism - and has found his iPad to be an absolutely transformative tool for apps both special-needs-specific and not. Her writings and interviews can be found at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MacWorld, Redbook, and Parents Magazine. She is a co-founder and senior editor at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism, and a driving force behind the new book by the same name. Shannon Des Roches writes about parenting, autism, iPads and geekery at and. This How To article was originally posted on the Moms with Apps blog and is reprinted here with permission.
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