Texas Association of Psychological Associates
Representing All Masters-Degreed Psychology Professionals in Texas

Technology

We invite contributions to this page!

Technology is changing so fast and has so many diverse applications that it is hard to know what is available.

If you come across an app or technology that might be useful to others, please email us a link!


Smartpen
Livescribe's Echo "smartpen" can record and organize what a student writes as well as what is said and may be particularly useful as an educational tool for students with special needs.  The device can help students with note-taking and allow teachers to target different learning styles.  Some teachers are already allowing students with special needs to turn in assignments using "pencasts" they create with the device.
The Echo smartpen ranges in price from the 2GB version for $129.95 to the 8GB version for $199.95.  See www.livescribe.com for more information.


VI Fit Helps Children Who Are Visually Impaired Become More Active through Video Games

VI Tennis and VI Bowling are the first of several games being made available by the University of Nevada- Reno.  The games are adaptations of Nintendo Wii Sports exercise games that have been modified so they can be played without visual feedback.

To play the VI Fit games, a user needs a Wii remote and a Windows PC with bluetooth support or a USB bluetooth dongle.  The games can be downloaded using instructions at www.vifit.org.


Ebooks

The University of Chicago Press offers books in psychology in ebook form, as well as in print.  Ebooks may be purchased or may be downloaded for 30 days for as little as $5.00.

They offer one free ebook a month. 


New iPhone Apps

•  Proloquo2Go  is helping children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and Lou Gehrig's Disease, ALS, or even stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak.  It lets a person touch icons that voice basic comments or questions.  One of its developers is Penn State doctoral student Samuel Sennott.  It costs $149.99 and can be used on an iPhone or iPod Touch.  www.proloquo2go.com/

•  Sign4Me  is a Signed English translator that was developed by ASL experts, so is an accurate resource for making the correct signs of certain words.  Sign4Me does a good job of demonstrating the formation of individual signs by utilizing a 3D signing avatar that can be viewed from any angle, at any speed.   See http://signing app.com for a demonstration video  It costs $9.99 and is available through iTunes.    www.appcraver.com/sign4me/



ConvenienceWare

•  Ghost Reader converts documents, text from news sites and emails to audiobooks to listen to on an iPod or iPhone.  It is available in a variety of languages and costs $39.95.  www.convenienceware.com/ghostreader.php


•  Wireless Page to TV Magnifier scans written materials aqnd sends them wirelessly to your TV in real time.  It magnifies up to 28X for easy viewing.  It uses a 655 x 488 pixel handheld scanner.
$149.95.   For details see www.hammacher.com/Product/78428?promo=search



AssistiveWare  provides accessibility solutions for the Mac OS X www.assistiveware.com/index.php




T.A.P.A.
P.O. Box 601374
Dallas, TX 75360

txapa@att.net
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