Friday 31 October 2014

Assistive Technology Teaching Program for a Dyslexic student- The Fantasy Novel.

I want to share a program I developed for a particular student which i think would be useful for other teachers and parents of students with dyslexia.

When i met this student he was eleven years old and was well spoken and intelligent, despite this he was reading at a level a few years below and this was consistent in his schooling. He had a diagnoses of dyslexia so i was able to get a few sessions from my employer to work a program with him last year.

This student had very little experience with technology and a love of the fantasy genre. I developed this program to teach him literacy support AT skills like speech-to-text, text-to-speech- but also to tap into his loves. This program culminates in my student using speech to text and word prediction to create an electronic fantasy book which is completely accessible and electronic and able to be read by his peers and other children with print disabilities.  The student also used the Lord of the Rings MMORPG computer game to research fantasy concepts and enjoy reading in a gaming context.

This program contains the software and hardware as well as all the steps of each session to build competence and work towards the final success of the student. I hope the information here is of use to other teachers and parents of dyslexic students and i'd love nothing more than to discuss aspects of the program with you or troubleshoot!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UkKJWCR_bhsloNiydb48ic37c4zANZBFq0BX1izwLYA/edit?usp=sharing

Amazing, Accessible games for blind users!


Having a vision impairment can be an impediment to gaming, many of my students who use their vision to game have come up with lots of modifications and strategies to game effectively. But this post is not for that. This post is to compile the best games that my students are playing that either utilise only audio or have graphics that are not essential to the gameplay. In other words, games that are not designed to be seen, but rather to be heard.

It's a better age then ever before for a Blind gamer- there are technologies such as binaural processing which allow a true-3d audio experience with headphones and clever gamemakers can utilise these technologies to make truly Awesome Game experiences, screenreading technology has also play a factor in making old text-based games from the 70's and 80's accessible experiences for the blind. These older style of games traditionally relied upon superior writing and text-based adventure principles which makes them ideal for blind-gaming! So Onto the games!

Papa Sangre 1 & 2

Homepage: http://www.papasangre.com/

price: $2.49

The Papa Sangre games are out on the itunes app store for IOS devices. If you've never heard of them, you should go and buy one of them right now, as in my experience these games are at the pinnacle of incorporating binaural sound engineering and clever game-making.  These games are scary and contain supernatural themes- but the content is not mature and my adolescent students love these sound-based scary interactive adventures!

King of Dragon Pass




All the elements in this screenshot are navigable by braille or speech! WOW!
(price:6.99) (Itunes Link)
edit: Available now for android and other platforms! Here is the game's homepage!

I love this game. As a child, this game helped me develop my literacy as a text-based adventure many moons ago and i love introducing it to my students now because it's extremely deep and engaging fantasy and provides amazing educational opportunities that are totally hidden in the game.

 I can trick my students into developing their braille literacy by linking it to a braille display, I can enhance my students screenreader navigation skills as the game is full of sliders, nobs and spreadsheets- so you have to learn how to navigate these to play the game effectively, and the game is full of strange fantasy words as well as real ones that my students have to explore by character to learn which helps develop their phonemic awareness too. |

Despite the games complexity however, it plays like a turn-based choose your own adventure- with you passing the time and being presented with options- a lot of the depth of the game can be unlocked as you play rather then being needed to be mastered immediately.

 It's principally a civilization or tribe management game with deep strategy and customization. You are essentially a war chieftain (male or female) in a deep and engaging fantasy world with a compelling metanarrative that also allows you to roleplay your chieftan to represent the character you want to be. You must allocate resources, decide which Gods to worship, which other clans to ally with and which to war with. There are countless hours in this game and all the while you will be exposed to moral questions, economy management and must deal with the consequences of your decision in short and long term events.




It was fantastic to see this old favourite revived in the modern age and it's still as useful as every for reluctant learners to sink their teeth into and engage in a deep fantasy experience.

Audio Defence Zombie Arena

Price: $4.99
Itunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audio-defence-zombie-arena/id804041240?mt=8

Amazing Amazing. Who would have thought you could have a playable, action packed and entertaining shoot-em-up game without visuals? This is as close as you get to a sound-based FPS, it's brand new and based on the very latest binaural sound engineering. Just a brilliant tech demonstration, a fun and frantic game and something i can get my butt well and truly kicked by my blind students with. I'm trying not to sound like a corporate shill as this is by the same company that makes Papa Sangre- i promise i'm not- Just buy this and you'll see that it is objectively astounding technology and damn fun.

Not sure it's very educational though- there is some math involved if you want to effectively smack-talk other players about their score I suppose!











My ABBYY Finereader Tutorial

My ABBYY Finereader Tutorial

Hi there. I enjoy using Omnipage to create clearprint for my students with special needs because of the power and customisation of the software. However i have found that ABBYY finereader offers my colleagues a more user friendly process and tends to get the results we need faster. So, i've developed a training module and procedure for Finereader that I hope assists you in creating clearprint for your students.

Edit: At this moment the sound on my video is poorly encoded- you'll need to turn your speakers up and then twice my system sound will beep and it will annoy you. I"m sorry. I'm reincoding and will upload a better version. If you want to motivate me to do this faster make a post!

Module Document is here 
Video is here

CO-Writer, simple and powerful word processor for students with print disabilities.



price: $21.99
Application homepage: http://donjohnston.com/cowriter/#.VFQu6vmUcZk




This is one of my favourite literacy support apps for the creation of text and for reading. It has all of those highly desirable literacy support features and yet, it runs beautifully and has a really simple interface that is perfectly usable for even my most distractable students (once they've given the speech to text a run for its money by making it talk nonsense for a while, of course!)

There is a version for both american and british english (otherwise known as english) and the main difference is in the artificial voice and the spellchecker, both are of high quality.

At more than 20 dollars, this is not the sort of app one just buys to have a look at. So i've saved you the trouble and will give you a run down on how it works. I personally use the British English version as an Australian teacher.

The Title Screen


When you open the app you'll get a list of all the texts you have created or imported into CO-Writer these could be PDFS, copied text or created text. There are options here to rename and export writing to everything from facebook to email to iMessage- most of the time you will be resuming a text by clicking on it or pressing the new item button in the top right.















The Working interface

After you've created a new text or resumed a text from the title screen you'll come to a screen with your work, a keyboard with predictive text. The word prediction is customisable. You can use speech with the Siri key or word prediction to assist you in the construction of your passage.  Each word you type is spoken as you type or select it. Using this multisensory approach i've seen students comfortably create passages that they struggle with on pen and paper relatively quickly and it's very empowering for them and for me!


Phonetic Spellchecker and Word Prediction.

The spellchecker in CoWriter is geared towards mispellers- not mistypers like your average spellchecker. This means suggestions for corrections are based on the sounds or phonemes used rather then by assuming you know how to spell and have just missed a character!  You'll also notice in my screenshot that the word predictor has suggested a commonly used email address in my results- this is because Co-Writer's suggestions infer from your own writing style after a while!
Here is a little article which explains why COWRITERS word prediction and spellchecking algorithm is so sophisticated compared to more conventional types.

It guessed i was trying to spell "Knowledge" by looking at my phonemes- even though i missed the K- clever clever!

Speech to Text

Speech to text on CO-Writer BE can be configured for a male or female voice and both of these voices are very clear and easy to listen too. The rate of speech is adjustable. My only complaint is that the moving highlights- like the word prediction feature are NOT adjustable- my kids with low vision or glare issues are out of luck on this app for colour customisation. Boo!

Still great though if the blue highlights and words are easy for you or your student!




Customisation options

In no particular order- here are my favourite customisation options;

*Font size- up to Size N22. 
* Customisable fonts- Including San Serif fonts such as Tahoma!
* Pick between male and female voice
* Pick whether words or sentences are read out upon completion- or both!
* Speech rate

Topic dictionaries

Writing a paper and using scientific terms? Tell that to your word predictor and make life easy! The topic dictionaries span across KLA's- as well as being able to adjust for early,primary, secondary and tertiary language levels- a teacher or user can easily customise the word prediction so that the student will recieve suggestions appropriate to their topic- or just keep the settings on default and Co-Writer will just infer from the students writing style automatically.



Verdict

There are plenty of literacy enhancement softwares, and the IOS updates continue to enhance the basic apple experience with word prediction. However few softwares work as well as this and have such a simplicity of interface combined with such powerful options. Most importantly- the thing doesn't stutter when you import large documents- it is in actuality- highly usable and convenience for its purpose.

I have trialled many softwares with my students and amongst students who do not have vision concerns- this app is typically the favourite, it has everything a student needs to use voice, audio or word prediction to assist them in creating and reading content and supplies it in an intuitive manner, it also interfaces well with other applications so one can use it as a daily tool for everything from sms's to shopping lists to essays. Recommended for young and old!




Tuesday 28 October 2014

Soulver- a great math app for students who can't show their working!




Price: $2.49
Itunes Link:

Soulver is the love child of a word processor and a calculator. It allows our students to input calculations which it lists in an accessible and exportable format. Many blind and dyslexic students find paper a difficult medium for recording and breaking down their thoughts. Soulver is a natural tool for these kids as has calculator functions but breaks down the math students are doing in their heads and represents it as a clear list on paper- ready to be printed or emailed to the teacher for assessment and marking. 



Click me for a video that's more impressive then this screenshot!

Oh and Soulver is completely compatible with VoiceOver so the math can be translated into audio or even braille- and if you want a multisensory learning experience with audio and visual queues- you got it by enabling speak selection! 

WOO!





Monday 27 October 2014

Meet one of my Tech Savvy Vision Impaired Students!

I want to introduce you to one of my students who has a severe vision impairment. To the right is a video which showcases the technology he uses in the classroom.

Technology on display are
1) A VNC connection to the smartboard so Chris can use zoom to view

2)  My student uses JAWS for Windows to navigate a word document using audio.

3) I have set up my students school email to work with microsoft outlook so that he can use jaws to easily send and recieve emails to the teacher.

4) My student also uses a digital braille display paired with an ipad to read an ebook. He can also use this digital braille display with Jaws for windows to read and write in braille if he chooses and the teacher of course will always be dealing with print! You can see in the video that i'm able to use the digital print copy display on the students ipad to see exactly what my student is reading at any time- this means even a non-braille literate teacher can assist in braille correction!

 Hooray!

The procedures for all of these adjustments are on my blog!

Saturday 18 October 2014

Apps and Software for Students with Learning Difficulties

Apps and Software for Students with Learning Difficulties

The following Software has been suggested for testing to use with students with Learning Difficulties. Where the application has been specifically used or assessed by an myself, details of this assessment will be featured on the right. The following Categories for apps have been suggested; Organisation Software to assist students with learning difficulties organise dates and tasks. Note-taking and Mindmapping software to assist students creating and organising their ideas, Literacy Assistance Software to improve a student's access to Text and finally Study Aids to assist students in working with digital documents and to learn particular concepts and outcomes. 

  Organisational Software  Description   Resources and Reviews

istudies pro logo 
istudies Pro
price: $3.00
IOS


This is an organisational app that helps students organise their tasks.


Next Thing
price:
IOS
Next Thing is a task manager and scheduling aid that's comparable to a “digital sticky note.”

Drop Box
Dropbox
price:
iTunes link for Dropbox
Weblink for dropbox
IOS
PC/MAC
This popular file-sharing software is a great organizational tool for keeping all of your files accessible no matter where you are! It interfaces well with multiple files including PDF, Pictures- even Zipped files!
Dropbox is currently used by many students in Catholic schools to assist with organisation and file management on their ipads. We have found this app to be powerful, simple and accessible. 

mSecure

Msecure
price: $10-20
IOS
PC/MAC

This password manager and protector keeps track of student accounts and passwords and keeps them secure and organised.

Evernote

   http://evernote.com

   Price: Free



Conventional Paper Diaries, calendars and workbooks are by their nature difficult to access for students who experience difficulties accessing print- as such most students with print disabilities will benefit from the use of a notes program such as Evernote which will allow them to use a shared cloud computing diary and workbook for each subject accessible from any computer, phone, iPod or tablet.  These digital workbooks can have pictures, movies and text embedded and you can use text-to-speech and find features to access the them easily.

For a five dollar a month subscription students have unlimited storage for their evernote accounts- this will be useful for students who fill their accounts up quickly!

 iOs Calendar, Reminders and        Notes

   Price: Free and inbuilt with IOS device
Although Evernote is highly recommended for students, an alternative for those who do not have internet access regularly is to use the standard IOS Calendar, Reminders and Notes as a digital diary and workbook.
I use this with my blind and dyslexic students- integration with Siri is fantastic! 


Note Taking and mindmapping Software DescriptionResources and Reviews
 Kidspiration / Inspiration http://www.inspiration.com/
Price- $80-90

Kidspiration and Inspiration are great tools for creating and interpreting and re-representing mindmaps- the former is aimed for use by primary school aged kids and the latter is designed to be used by Adults and Adolescents. Typically dyslexic people have trouble organising their ideas in a way that can be represented to others, this software aims to give dyslexic students a platform to easily organise and represent information and assists them to create structured text around this information.


InClass app picture
InClass
price: Free

This is another organisational app designed to help students keep track of their courses through more efficient note-taking. Combining video notes, audio notes and photo notes.

 
iThoughts
price
iThoughts is a mindmapping app to help students organise their thoughts. 

Corkulous
price: 


Corkulous™ idea board is the incredible new way to collect, organize, and share your ideas. See the demo video: http://www.corkulous.com/
 
 popplet
Popplet
price: $4.99
Popplet is a platform for your ideas. Popplet's super simple interface allows you to move at the speed of your thoughts. With Popplet you can capture your ideas, sort them visually, and collaborate with others in realtime. Quickly and easily! 


 Literacy Assistance Software Description Resources and Reviews


Read and Write GoldPrice $699
http://www.texthelp.com

 Mac/PC
ireadwrite for IOS (6.99)
read and write for Google Docs($30)

Texthelp offers a powerful suite of literacy apps for students with print disabilities. Features such as natural voices, moving highlights, collectable highlights and a range of dictionary, screenshot readers all characterise Texthelp's softwares for various platforms. The most fully fledged software is the package for the PC followed closely by the MAC package with the Google Docs and IOS packages typically containing less features. 
Read and Write Gold review here

iReadWrite for IOS review here

Read and Write for Google Docs review here

Various video tutorials and information on Read and Write Gold can be found here and also here.


 Dragon Naturally Speaking
 
Price $200

For Mac/PC
+ Also Dragon Dictation for IOS ($6.99)

 

Using speech to text can be a very useful way to create text, however efficacious use of text to speech does not come immediately and students will need to be explicitly taught how to use dragon dictation as well as given the time necessary to train their application to their particular voice. It is also less appropriate for students who have difficulty speaking clearly.

Dragon Dictation is Nuance's Dictation software for the iPad and it performs very well in optimal conditions. Unfortunately, unlike the computer-based version, Dragon Dictation processes the speech online rather than on the device itself so will not be usable without an unrestricted internet connection. As of the writing of this article- Dragon Dictation is known to be unusable within our CEO schools due to proxy restrictions. 

Nuance Dragon YouTube Videos

Dragon Naturally Speaking User Guide
 Voiceover on iOS with browser/ibooks

www.apple.com

Price: free with iPad, the ibooks vary  in price

 
Students with print disabilities should set up and learn to use voiceover on their ipads so they are able to utilise the Apple's excellent text-to-speech engine when accessing print on the iPad, particularly when accessing ebooks or the internet.

Students can use the inbuilt dictionary on the iPad to listen to unfamiliar or difficult words and to listen to the definitions when they are unsure of the word meaning. 
 Apple voiceover tutorial

General information on using Apple technology to assist students with print disabilities, which includes this strategy
 Natural Reader
http://www.naturalreaders.com

Price- $50
 Whilst Read & Write Gold is the deluxe comprehensive tool for kids with print disabilities, if you are just looking for cheap human sounding text-to-speech engine that will read text on a PC in Word, on the internet and virtually all other applications that use digital text then this is the one!
Natural Reader Tutorial
 Inbuilt MAC/OS features
www.apple.com

Free with MAC O/S.


If your student is using a MAC there are a range of inbuilt features that will assist them such as speech, predictive text, sending text toiTunes as a spoken track to be played on an iPad etc.


Apple - Speech - Literacy

How to send text to iTunes as a spoken track. 


Study Aids Description Resources and Reviews
 goodreader
GoodReader
price: $4.99

 GoodReader has been praised for its annotating capabilities and quick pace when managing large PDF and TXT files, manuals and books. Its multi-tab option makes it easy to switch back and forth between documents when studying. GoodReader has a lot of buttons and is very powerful, it is more useful for older students who will not be phased by large menus filled with various buttons and features. 

Flashcards Deluxe
Flashcards Deluxe
price: $4.00
iPad
Flashcards Deluxe is an easy to use, yet powerful flashcard app which you can use to study just about anything you want, features up to five sided flashcards for learning.
 typo-hd
iAnnotate PDF
price:
iPad
 iAnnotate PDF is another PDF Annotator, but with a simpler User Interface then GoodReader- more suitable for younger users and those who would like a simpler more streamlined app. 
 PowerPoint / Keynote

http://cimbura.com.s147689.gridserver.com/tech/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Keynote_vs_PowerPoint1.png

 Students with problems accessing print are often not well served by conventional palm-cards or speech notes, instead teaching a student with literacy issues how to make and use a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation utilising pictures and keywords to jog their memory and keep the flow of their speech logically structured is very handy.
 

Vision Australia Library now serving all print disabilities- including dyslexia!

Vision Australia Library now serving all print disabilities- including dyslexia!


Vision Australia. Blindness and low vision services - logo    ............ Now open to all print disabilities! 
Questions   Answers  Links

What is the Vision Australia Library?   

Vision Australia's library is features an ever-growing collection of over 40,000 accessible titles and 350 daily newspaper archives for Australians with a print disability.

About the Vision Australia library
Who can join and borrow from Vision Australia's library?   
Anyone with a print disability- including dysgraphia or dyslexia can now join Vision Australia's library and take advantage of their services, Special Education coordinators can refer their students to the library and assist with the application process.
What is a print disability?
Can school's borrow and manage borrowed books on student's behalf?
Yes, as long as a consent form is filled out by parents the school library can manage the students books and be act as a delivery and book management source for the student- making it much easier to get an accessible copy of a school novel or other resources from the library. 
Link to Vision Australia's library information page
How do our students join the library?
The link to the right will take you to the appropriate online forms to fill out. Special Needs teachers are able to fill out and submit these on students behalf and act as referrer. 
Vision Australia Membership form

What formats of books are available for students?   
Ebooks, Audiobooks, Daisy Books, Large Print and Braille.
Collection Guidelines (Word, 164KB)
Is there an online catalogue that i can search to locate accessible books?
Yes!
search the Catalogue as a guest


Any further questions can be answered by calling the Vision Australia library staff on 1300 84 74 66

AT skill teaching resources

Vision - AT skill teaching resources


  Topic  Resources

Operating System Tutorials

Windows 7 without a mouse  (For blind users)
Accessible Touch Typing Resources     
TypeAbility- blind
accessible
Talking
Typing Tutor - blind and low vision accessible
Talking Typing Teacher - blind and low vision accessible
Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor - low vision
Nessy Fingers - low vision
Dance Mat Typing (BBC) - low vision
Type to Learn - low vision
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - low vision 
Desktop Publishing software
Microsoft Word 2010 without a mouse. (For blind users)
iPad
Apple's Tutorial for Zoom and Voiceover
JAWS
Freedom scientific Jaws training pageThird party training moduleAnother in-depth training module
Braille Display
FOCUS 40 Braille display commands for iPadCommon braille commands for iPadFocus 40 with MAC/OS tutorial
   Voiceover 
   Other             Resources for assistive technology guides and assessment

Teaching Math to students with a profound vision impairment

Teaching Math to students with a profound vision impairment

This post contains resources particularly useful to math teachers of students with a profound visual impairment- such that they use screenreaders or braille. As math is a somewhat abstract subject that is largely taught and learned visually- Math teachers and ISTV's often need to make more substantive changes to their resources and teaching styles to accommodate students who are blind- the inconsistency in braille math codes further complicates the process as American Technological resources that facilitate print-to-braille and braille-to-print solutions are unable to be used by Australian students who use a different braille code.

  Resource  Description

Textbook: Mathematics Made Easy for Children with a Visual Impairment


This textbook is a Math teacher's one stop shop for strategies for teaching math to visually impaired people. It is comprehensive and of excellent quality and is the result of an international effort primarily between American schools for the blind and Asian schools such as the Nippon Foundation. The only drawback for Australian teachers is that the Braille Code it uses is the Robust Nemeth code rather than Universal English Braille which is typically what Australian students with visual impairment use for Math. However, this is still a sterling resource.



Many of our students with low vision have success using Unicode characters for equations- unicode is a computer math code that has symbols that can be understood by both a screenreader (with some tweaking) and by a sighted math teacher- giving students and their math teacher a common language for mathematics, there are many unicode characters, this is just a cheat sheet with the more common operators to get started.  Teachers can use these codes in Word Documents to present math to students, and students can solve and represent their answers to the teacher using unicode.  Unicode typically is accomplished by holding down the ALT key and typing a 3 or 4 letter code- once students have the ALT code memorised they can quickly represent math. 

My Math Flash Cards App
cost: free

A common struggle when teaching math to VI students is supplying accessible revision questions that students with a Vision Impairment are able to complete in a similiar timeframe as their peers, this accessible flash card app enables teachers to set sets of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction questions.

Mathemagics- Mental Math Tricks (0.99)

Mathamagics is a great tool for teaching certain skill-sets within the discipline of mathematics and is completely accessible for blind students. Students can challenge each other with a level playing field, learn tricks and techniques such as multiplying by up to 19, evenly divide, square numbers and casting out. 

Soulver
- the notepad calculator

Soulver provides a 'thinking' space for students to represent their math and solve problems, complete with an accessible calculator and accessible workspace, this is a fantastic tool for a math student to organise their thoughts and completely accessible to blind students, absolutely fantastic for Algebra, percents, fractions etc. 

Formulas
 (1.99)    

Formulas allows VI students to expore the math of shapes and graphs, solving quadratic equations as well as other fformulas such as surface, area, volume etc. 

Vision - Accessible Apps for VIPS

Vision - Accessible Apps for VIPS

Note: this list is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive - I will only list apps here that I, colleagues or students have had experience using successfully . Here are some links to works by other teachers who have attempted to compile apps suitable for working with children who are blind or have low vision to supplement this document. All apps work with both voiceover and zoom unless explicitly stated otherwise.

  Apps / Lists  

Other lists 

Why reinvent the wheel? Teacher's and educational consulting companies have put up lists that work for them with VIP kids- this is the place for them
Spectronics List
Free apps for students with visual or hearing impairmentsappadvice.com's list of apps for visually impaired people
Calculator (iOS)
iTunes Link

price: free, $4 for upgrade to scientific calculatorSuitable for Blind and Low Vision

Turns iPad into accessible calculator with colour grouped buttons, large print, talking with voiceover, the price of an accessible calculator is around $400 making this app and the iPad a highly cost effective purchase.
Reminders and Calendar (iOS)

Price: FreeSuitable for Blind and Low Vision
Apple’s standard applications, Reminders and Calendar are accessible apps for the blind and allow our students to have an accessible diary + calendar for setting homework tasks and putting important dates with the calendar. You can also sync the students calendar with your school calendar depending on the software you are running your calendar with.
How to sync with google calendar
How to quickly add reminders to your calendar using voiceover
iBooks (iOS)

Price: Free
iTunes LinkSuitable for Blind and Low Vision

Any book purchased on iBooks or epub loaded into ibooks from itunes can become a talking, large print or even a Braille book with a braille display, making this app the preferred app for giving our students access to books.
Guide for customising ibooks for print disabilities (relevant to low vision) 



Evernote (iOS)
iTunes link
Price: Free, premium account available

Evernote is an accessible app that allows you to have a multimedia diary that is available across virtually any Operating system and as a web client. Evernote is extremely powerful, featuring a calendar, inbuilt OCR of images, time,date and location stamping.

Accessible manual to get the most out of evernote!

Ariadne GPS (iOS)


iTunes link
Price $6.99

“In a world that relies on visual clues to navigate, exploring a city or taking a solo walk is no longer a challenge for the visually impaired. Ariadne GPS is a new app that brilliantly meets the needs of the blind in an easy to use interface. Talking maps allow you to explore the world around you by moving your finger around the map. While exploring, crossing a street is signaled by vibration. It has a favorites feature and can be used to announce stops on the bus or train. Rotating maps keep you centered, with territory behind the user on the bottom of the screen and what is ahead on the top portion. Available in multiple languages, Ariadne GPS works anywhere Google Maps are available. This is a must-have application for the visually impaired "For a detailed tutorial and rundown, visit the app website at http://www.ariadnegps.eu/features-detail/



Voice Brief (iOS)

 iTunes link
Price: $2.99

 “Voice Brief is a great utility for anyone, but for  
  the vision impaired it is particularly useful. With
  the touch of a button Voice Brief reads your
  email, Twitter feed, weather, stock prices, RSS
  and Facebook feeds. This time saving app is
  fully configurable and works flawlessly. The
  voices are natural and clear. Are you interested
  but hesitant to spend the $3.99 on VoiceBrief?
  Then we have great news! There is a free lite
  version so give it a try at no risk.”

 

List Recorder (iOS)
iTunes link
Price:  free light version or 7.99 to buy

  “This feature-rich application allows users to record and organize lists using audio or text. List Recorder is designed to integrate with VoiceOver as well as Braille displays. Replay, sort, delete or email recordings with ease using custom gestures such as tilt and tap. The recording quality is excellent and the app has options such as a level meter, optional stereo and your choice of recording formats. The light version, which limits the user to 10 seconds per recording, is a great way to test List Recorder. If you like it, you have the option of buying the full version for $7.99 as an in-app purchase. 

 


 oMoby
 iTunes link
(Free!)
 Omoby is a free app that allows you to take photos of items and checks the photo with an internet database and tells you what item you are looking at within 5 seconds to a minute-  i have extensively tested this app with various items and it’s a very accurate and useful app.

Vizwiz

(Free) iTunes link

VizWiz works similiarly to oMoby except that it allows you to attach a specific audio question to the photo you are taking such as “what SPF is this sunscreen?” “do my pants match my shirt?” “How much salt does this product contain” “which of these items is cheaper”.  The photo and the sound recording of your question are then sent to an internet database as well as volunteers- you can also link the app to a twitter or facebook account and recieve an answer very quickly.


 Awareness! The headphone app
iTunes link
Pricee 6.99
 
Blind people who rely on their hearing for awareness and navigation risk losing themselves to the digital world when they wear their headphones- this app will feed audio through the iphone’s microphone from the environment so you will be able to hear sounds from the environment as well as the sounds from voiceover, music, or your app.