A blank page can be intimidating to writers at any level — especially beginners with disabilities such as autism, dyslexia, etc. Crick Software’s Clicker guides students through the writing process word by word. They can build a sentence via predictive text, which is a great starting point for getting a writing rhythm going. If […]
Posts with the Down syndrome tag
Busting Myths About Down Syndrome
In the early 1980s, people with Down syndrome (DS) weren’t expected to experience employment or live past the age of 25. Now, let’s fast forward to today and look at Coleman Jones — the nearly 30-year-old vice president of the Howdy Homemade Ice Cream franchise, which includes a location here in Indiana. The company’s first-ever […]
Disability Pride in Every Scoop
As we celebrate summer and Disability Pride Month, few businesses embody both quite like Howdy Homemade Ice Cream in downtown Indianapolis. First, Howdy helps Hoosiers beat the heat with cool treats. More importantly, it brightens the community by building a staff consisting mostly of teens and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “Our goal was […]
Special iApps: 6 Cause and Effect Apps
Beverley and Colin Dean founded Special iApps more than 5 years ago. They founded the nonprofit social enterprise because they couldn’t find any apps to teach their son, William, who has Down syndrome. “We found that most apps had too much going on in the background, weren’t configurable or easily personalized, and didn’t cater for […]
VisuaLearn App
The Educational App Store provides a long, helpful list of apps available for individuals with or without special needs. One app out of the dozens listed is VisuaLearn, an app that “promotes vocabulary development, sight word acquisition and sentence building.” VisuaLearn was initially developed for young learners with Down syndrome, but was found to benefit […]
Autism Resources in Fiction and Technology
I grew up with the Baby-Sitters Club; I loved the books, the films, everything about the series. (I can’t believe it’s already been fifteen years since the “Baby-Sitters Club” held their last meeting!) I haven’t heard about the series for a while, but yesterday I read a headline titled: “‘Baby-Sitters Club’ author Ann M. Martin’s […]