Adaptive Technology for Mac's
Have you ever wonder how to limit the number of application at the bottom of your Mac book Pro?
Simple Finder
Using parental controls, the Mac can be set up to provide a greatly simplified experience that may be better for students with cognitive and learning disabilities. Simple Finder reduces the Dock to just three folders. Limit the list of apps a student can open to only the ones you choose, so students can stay focused. Files, folders, and apps are displayed in a single window of neatly arranged icons so everything is easier to find. From Apple
Safari Reader
For some students, navigating the web can be a sensory overload. Safari Reader reduces the visual clutter on a web page by removing distractions. It strips away ads, buttons, and navigation bars, allowing students to focus on just the content they want. And Safari Reader works with Text to Speech and VoiceOver, so students with print disabilities or vision impairments can get auditory feedback.
Guided Access
Guided Access helps students with autism or other attention and sensory challenges stay on task. A teacher or therapist can limit an iOS device to stay on one app by disabling the Home button, and even restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen. So wandering taps and gestures won’t distract from learning.
iPhone or iPad adaptive Techology
Where to find more helpful information
Speak Selection
Hearing a word as it’s being read can help with comprehension for a wide range of learners. Speak Selection can read a student’s email, iMessages, web pages, and ebooks out loud. Double-tap to highlight text in any application, tap Speak, and the device reads the selected text. Students can have words highlighted as they’re being read so they can follow along. And the voice’s dialect and speaking rate can be adjusted to suit students’ needs.
Siri
For some students, typing can be a challenge. Siri, Apple’s built-in personal assistant, can help students do the things they do every day — just by asking. They can say “Remind me to turn in my history paper Friday” or “Text Mom I’m staying after school.” Siri can help students who struggle with organization by scheduling activities and setting reminders. And Siri is integrated with VoiceOver — an advanced screen reader — so blind and low-vision students can ask where the nearest music store is, and hear the answer read out loud.1
Dictation
For students with print disabilities like dyslexia, it may be easier to speak a thought than to type it. With Dictation they can reply to an email, make a note, search the web, or write a report using just their voice. Tap the microphone button and Dictation converts words (and numbers and characters) into text.
iBooks
iBooks Author gives teachers a way to create customized learning materials for iPad to support a wide range of learning needs. Interactive features like 3D images, video, audio, and photo galleries provide multimodal learning opportunities that make iBooks textbooks more engaging to learners. Features like multicolor highlighting, notes, search, study cards, and the glossary help students be better organized and better prepared. Built-in review questions give students an immediate assessment of their knowledge so they understand where to focus more study time. And iBooks supports VoiceOver, Speak Selection, and closed-captioned videos to help all types of learners.
Safari Reader
For some students, navigating the web can be a sensory overload. Safari Reader reduces the visual clutter on a web page by removing distractions. It strips away ads, buttons, and navigation bars, allowing students to focus on just the content they want. And Safari Reader works with Speak Selection and VoiceOver, so students with print disabilities can get auditory feedback.
Working with built in Adaptive Technology on your Mac's OS 10+
Word Completion
Word completion in OS X can help students who have print disabilities or cognitive challenges or are learning English improve their vocabulary and word-building skills. After typing just a few letters, press the Escape key and OS X suggests words. Students can see the list of all the words that start with certain letters so they can pick the right word. This helps highlight correct word usage and can turn spelling into a more positive experience.
Dictionary
Stumbling across unfamiliar words is bound to happen when reading new texts or learning new subjects. With the Dictionary app, students have quick access to definitions and synonyms to help with grammar, spelling, and pronunciation — even if they’re offline.
Text to Speech
We all learn in different ways. Some of us learn better when more than one sense is engaged simultaneously. With Text to Speech, students can have the word or a paragraph read aloud as they’re reading it onscreen. Choose Alex — the voice of Mac — or other male or female voices to do the reading. Students can also adjust the speaking rate and select from over 20 built-in languages.
Dictation
Dictation can help students with disabilities like dyslexia or dysgraphia by letting them speak what they need to write. They can reply to an email, search the web, or even write an entire report using just their voice. Students can navigate to any text field, activate Dictation, and start talking. Dictation converts their words into text.
Summarize
Looking at a densely written page can be overwhelming. To help keep the attention of students who tend to lose focus, Summarize condenses long passages into shorter, more easily digestible segments. Select Summarize in TextEdit or Pages, and a panel pops up that allows the student or teacher to summarize the text to a more manageable length — even all the way down to one sentence — so the student can understand the main concepts.
Add to iTunes as a Spoken Track
Add to iTunes as a Spoken Track converts text to spoken audio and allows students to download tracks to any iOS device. So students who benefit from hearing text rather than reading it can listen to assignments on their own time. And because it’s a service built into the operating system, creating the file takes only three simple steps — so there’s no need for teachers to spend time recording audio.
Photo Booth
Students can use Photo Booth to take snapshots and make short videos, giving them another way to communicate. For instance, students who struggle with personal interaction — like answering a direct question — may find it easier to see their own face on the screen in order to begin communicating. And because Photo Booth is integrated with the built-in FaceTime HD camera, it displays photos and videos the moment they’re captured. Students can record a short video with one click, then share it with a second click. And therapists can use Photo Booth to model speech, motor skills, or other forms of therapy.
Calendar
With Calendar, students can get pop-up reminders so they know when their next band practice is or when their next math assignment is due. Alerts can help busy students keep on track and stay organized.
Dictionary
Stumbling across unfamiliar words is bound to happen when reading new texts or learning new subjects. Students can look up words by using the dictionary integrated in iOS. They’ll have quick access to definitions and commonly used phrases to help with grammar, spelling, and pronunciation — even if they’re offline.
Word Prediction
Word prediction in iOS can help students who have dyslexia or cognitive challenges or are learning English improve their vocabulary and word-building skills. iOS suggests the correct spelling after just a few letters are typed. With Speak Auto-text enabled, students hear a sound effect and the suggested word spoken. They can keep typing to ignore the word, or press the Space bar to have iOS type it. So students can learn new words without struggling to spell them correctly.
