Occupational therapy apps add a technological element to the exercises many therapists use to strengthen speech, visual perception and motor skills in people suffering from a disability, such as children with learning disorders or stroke victims.
Occupational Therapy Apps for Speech
Tap to Talk: This app allows those with no verbal skills to effectively communicate. In addition to the thousands of pictures that come with this application, users can add their own. The app supports English as well as many other languages. Available for use with both Apple and Android, as well as electronic readers.
MyTalkTools: This was created by a parent whose child was born developmentally disabled. Uses SymbolStix and personal images. Drag and drop capabilities make for simple use. Available for iPod, iPad and the iPhone.
Occupational Therapy Apps for Fine Motor Skills and Visual Perception
iWriteWords: This handy app makes writing fun and its quirky design makes it feel like a game. Individuals learn to write letters and spell words. Made for the iPhone and iPad.
Dexteria: Dexteria is meant to be challenging. Patients learn to improve grip through a series of timed activities. Great for stroke sufferers, as well as amputees forced to use a non-dominant hand. Available with iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
Shelby’s Quest: Follow the story of Shelby through various levels. Created by an occupational therapist, this app not only tests finger isolation, but visual perception, too. Tracks the progress of multiple users. For use with the iPad.
Super Duper Data Tracker: Track patients and students, manage objectives and personalize notes on this convenient app. Includes voice recorder for taking notes. Used with iPod, iPad, iPhone and Android.
Geolocation sharing services like foursquare, MyTown, Loopt, and others have been getting a lot of press lately in marketing circles. Geolocation is still in early adoption stages, but it is growing rapidly among mobile users. Unfortunately, privacy concerns are growing with it. You might think that the eagerness of location sharers to distribute data about their lives to other users and to companies is a sign of ignorance or unconcern, but it is neither. These users are choosing to accept a certain loss of privacy in return for certain benefits. But, they expect certain boundaries to be observed.
Below you can see the results of a study by privacy services TRUSTe and Harris Interactive. The smartphone owners they surveyed stated that they were most concerned about their privacy.
The reason that these users agree to participate in many apps with advertisers is because they still feel as though they understand the agreement and are in control of the situation. In fact, 36% of the survey participants said that they felt in control of their personal information. How do participants assure themselves? By setting strong passwords and by reading privacy policies thoroughly before opting in or signing up, users feel safe.
Even though other surveys show that many mobiledevice users could potentially be interested in opting into advertisements which target their location based on tracking data, three quarters of the population surveyed in this study indicated that tracking by advertisers disturbed them.
White iPhone 4 displayed at a Softbank mobile store in Omotesando, Tokyo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mobile privacy and security issues will only continue to receive more attention and press as mobile location sharing services grow into the mainstream, particularly with the opening of Facebook Places, which is introducing location sharing to more and more users. Just a couple weeks ago, there was a lot of press surrounding a log file that tracks and records the movements of the iPhone it resides on. If a person should acquire the iPhone, he can view all this tracking data unencrypted, and discover the movements of the iPhone (and its user) since the log file was introduced onto the device.
In reality, this problem has been in existence for a long time. In the past, it was revealed that government agencies make regular use of these types of log files in mobile phones to find out where users have been and what they have been doing. These searches are often conducted illegally without a warrant.
When a user signs up for an app and reads the privacy policy, it may include an agreement to be tracked by the company. What it does not include is an agreement to submit to illegal search and seizure by the government. These are the kinds of fears that permeate the consciousness of a mobile user though, and not unreasonably.
What this means is that until these broader legal dilemmas are more resolved, mobile users will be concerned about privacy and security issues; tracking in particular. This doesn’t stop a lot of people from signing up or opting into apps with companies which track movements though.
If you are starting a geolocation campaign, it is crucial that you understand the privacy and security concerns of your patrons and that you take steps to protect their privacy. Make it very clear in your user agreement what your policies are and how you are protecting the security of mobile users. Let them know that you share their concerns.
Mobile users can benefit from geolocation targeted advertising. The tricks is to make sure that they are benefiting from it, will ensuring their data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Spencer Belkofer is a blogger, researcher, and follower of anything related to Internet marketing. He recently founded Lumin, an Alabama-based Internet marketing firm. Lumin has recently included infographic design as one of it’s service offerings.
Technology has proven itself useful in many areas of human healing, including addiction recovery. While they not to be used as a replacement for treatment, several iPhone apps can be a handy means of support for someone right when it is needed most.
Pocket Sponsor The Pocket Sponsor is an iPod application that offers wisdom, inspiration, and hope. Daily support alerts arrive automatically, but the user can also read additional support messages with a simple tap of the screen. The app provides 31 days of unique morning and evening routines that develop emotional stability and calm. These routines involve meditations, positive mantras, and supportive messages that can be used throughout the day. There will be times when the addict cannot reach a sponsor or other trusted support person, but the Pocket Sponsor will be there day and night.
This iPhone app provides three separate features. First, it allows the user to track his or her recovery with journals and charts that document accomplishments, challenges, triggers, and time spent sober. For many users, the ability to document there feelings in a readily available journal provides great motivation. The second feature is “One Day at a Time.” Users can use these daily messages to build unique recovery programs based on which messages speak to their hearts. The final aspect of iPromises is the Geo-Positioning feature. The iPhone’s built in GPS makes finding a nearby meeting easy.
12 Step Programs Ann-e creates several apps designed to help addicts stay connected to others who understand their struggles. An application exists for all 12 step programs, broadening the sphere of support beyond individuals to reach the entire recovery community. The app offers tree types of communication, including anonymous peer-to-peer instant messaging, connecting anonymous users by phone with conference bridges, and facilitating personal meetings between trusted peers.
Guided Mediation Apps There are numerous apps for the iPhone that assist in guided meditations, an important part of maintaining a calm mind during recovery. Apps generally provide various themes such as “Mindfulness” or “Being Happy” with multiple sessions ranging from 2 to 20 minutes. Those in recovery can download a single meditation or acquire a small collection to find those most useful in stress management.
Cognitive Therapy Apps Cognitive therapy helps addicts reprogram their negative thoughts and behaviors to create a more positive mindset going forward. These apps typically include a journal for users to write down negative thoughts and behaviors as they notice them. They can then notice patterns of thought and behavior that can be corrected and improved. The journal is also helpful during therapy sessions, allowing the user to more readily communicate issues with the therapist. Unlike a traditional notebook, the cognitive therapy apps have locks to protect the user’s privacy.
Jessica Bosari writes for TherapistSchools.com, a site that helps students find the right therapy education, whether they seek behavioral, physical or addiction therapy schools.
It’s no surprise, but the Apple iPhone has been one of the most widely used smart phones internationally. The iPhone was first released to the market back June 2007, offered solely to AT&T customers as a combination between a widescreen iPod, cell phone and pocket device. Since the release, over 1 million iPhone’s were sold in just three months time. By June 2008, Apple launched the iPhone 3G and in just three days, over 1 million were purchased. A year later, the iPhone 3Gs was available and within two days, over 1 million were sold to new and existing Apple customers. In June 2010, Apple fans rushed to the scene and over 600,000 iPhone 4’s were pre-ordered while 1 million were sold on the date of release. This year, the iPhone 5 is expecting to hit stores by end of summer and numbers are projected to be more outstanding than the last. Let’s look at the ways that the iPhone has changed the way we communicate.
iPhone Has Changed the Way We Communicate
So what’s the hype about the iPhone?
Dating back to 2006, the way we communicated was vastly different. It seemed that only businesses owners and those in power utilized a cell phone to communicate on the go. Since then, the introduction of smart phones allowed consumers to navigate the web and text message, sending instant alerts to family, friends and co-workers, whether in a public setting, in a classroom or in a meeting. The ability to communicate anywhere at any time was exhilarating.
Changing the Way We Communicate
The iPhone launch meant an infiltration of our daily means of communication. It’s a device that captures our life in the palm of our hand. Consumers have the ability to customize their phone as they customize their life.
Given the capacity of the iPhone, users can opt to add or remove applications of their liking and prioritize them given the difference screen options available. Not only is the device another way to express ones personality and interests, but it serves as a central location that easily fits in your pocket, storing, editing and getting alerts for meetings on calendars, utilizing GPS navigation on the road, making and editing notes, sending and receiving emails, capturing special moments as a video or still photography, checking the weather, making calculations, listening to music, reading books, solving debates by instant web browsing, making online purchases, and the list goes on.
The iPhone Has Changed the Way We Communicate
We are now able to Skype, Facebook, tweet, and check-in to points of interest, all in real-time. Society is no longer still. Things are happening every moment around us and the iPhone allows us to document activities and thoughts along the way. In simple terms, the iPhone makes interacting, engaging, and networking stronger than ever before.
Lorna Horne is a freelance writer who covers a variety of topics in the electronics and gadgets industry. She absolutely loves her Apple iPhone and is always trying to stay on the bleeding edge of mobile technology. Thanks for reading about how the iPhone has changed the way we communicate.
If you love listening to music everywhere and any time – while walking or jogging or on your way for work, you should probably choose a headset that best contents your needs. If you already have the monstrous device of Apple – iPhone, you know that it is not just a device, it is a lot more than the usual mp3 and mp4 players. One of its best functions is the iPhone Accessory media hub. If you want to have a high quality sound you should also take care and buy good headphones. Bad headphones do not only provide a low quality sound, which is irritating when listening to your favorite music, but they can also damage your hearing. So, by buying a good headset, you take care of probably your most important sensory organ.
First, when you go to the music store, you should make sure that your headset is delivering high quality audio sound. Usually, iPhone comes in a package with earphones that are very good too, but in comparison to some high tech earphones, they don’t give you the opportunity to do many other things that you can do with some high technology earphones. So if you are looking for a very good quality sound, you could be sure that the original earphones that come in a package with your iPhone 4 or 3GS will give you a perfect sound.
As the iPhone became so popular, many companies started working on many different accessories for this Smartphone. Some of these accessories are the different earphones especially made for iPhone and they can ensure you perfectly clear sound. Many of the headsets have additional features like a microphone or an iPod control. In addition, if you are driving your car, you can rely on the new technologies that now give you the opportunity not to hold your phone in your hand while chatting, and that can prevent many accidents and fines.
There are many accessories for iPhone on the market that can be used via your iPhones Bluetooth. This Bluetooth gives you the opportunity to use your iPhone in the best way. That is why when people have an iPhone, they never go outdoors without their Bluetooth earphones. This is probably the first accessory that you should buy after having this incredible Smartphone.
So take care of yourself, buy a nice pair of earphones that will provide you the clearest sound, and let them be inseparable part of your Smartphone. But before you go to the nearest shop, read the following review of some of the most reliable headset for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS which has a long battery life and with which you will no longer have to look for your phone’s options to turn the music down or change the song. They all have some buttons that make it so much easier.
If you spend so much time in your car that it feels like a second home, then why not buy some gadgets to make your drive that much easier and fun? There are so many great essential car gadgets out on the market today. Here are four essential car gadgets you really should think about getting.
Everybody forgets to charge their cell phone sometimes. Hopefully, the juice left in the battery will last you the entire day, but sometimes cell phones go dead at the most inopportune times – like right before you need to make an important business call. With a cell phone charger that you can plug into your car, you will never have to worry about being without your phone again.
Auxiliary cable or cassette adapter for iPods
Have access to your entire music collection while driving without the hassle of bringing along your entire CD collection. There are two ways to hook your iPod up to a car. Newer cars will have a place for you to plug in an auxiliary cable. Plug the other end of the cable into the headphone slot on the iPod and voila, everything is connected. However, if you have an older car that only plays cassette tapes, you will need to buy a cassette adapter to connect your iPod to the car. Make sure to create a great playlist that will play automatically while driving – as a driver, you shouldn’t take your attention off the road to pick new songs and mess around with the iPod.
Satellite radio
Sometimes regular radio channels simply aren’t enough. With satellite radio, you have access to tons of additional channels that offer specialized and unique content without annoying commercials. If you are a sports junkie, then satellite radio is perfect for you, with offerings ranging from football and baseball to NASCAR racing and soccer. There are plenty of talk show channels as well as channels playing any type of music your heart desires.
A GPS navigation device
Many people like consulting maps or using MapQuest to figure out where they are headed, but with a GPS navigation device directions become so much simpler. You don’t even have to look at the device – a voice will announce the directions and tell you when to make turns. The device can also adjust to deviations in a route, so if you take a wrong turn it can tell you how to correct your route.
Author Byline:
This article was written by Ryan Embly from the website CarRentalExpress.com – they offer price comparisons on car and van rentals all across North America and Europe.
