Jihan Zahran, an accredited training expert and training officer at Switch Plus, Apple Premium Reseller in Egypt, said that Apple provided over 20,000 educational iPads, and an entire Special Education application section for special needs children.
Zahran added that special needs children do not have to be limited to just special needs or therapeutic applications. They can benefit from essentially any iPad application designed for their mainstream peers.
Zahran noted, “To keep learning fun for a special needs child, start with educational applications based on TV characters or activities they find entertaining.”
Additionally, she pointed out that a seminar was held on the skills of dealing with persons with special needs on Thursday at the Canadian Cultural Center, Cairo, in cooperation with Switch Plus, Apple’s agent in Egypt and one of Al-Safi Group.
The seminar aimed to introduce the application and iPad programmes to facilitate for children the various materials they need.
For his part, Khaled Fathy, aligner manager of Switch Plus, said that Apple has developed tools to make it easy for you to guide how your students use devices and applications in the classroom, and to provide valuable insight into each student’s progress.
Fathy added that the iPad includes numerous built-in modifications, making it easier for children with a variety of physical needs to reap the benefits a tablet has to offer. Features include Voice Over, which reads the screen out loud, Zoom, which magnifies the screen’s content, and Assistive Touch, which allows you to adapt the touch screen prompts to the user’s unique physical needs.
He pointed out, “As we teach and prepare students for 21st century careers and college, effective integration of technology is an effective pedagogical tool for meeting the needs of diverse learners. Technology tools, like the iPad in the classrooms, are particularly useful in meeting the diverse needs of our students with special needs.”
Technology makes what was once inaccessible for many students, accessible. Since iPads are relatively easy to use and do not have a significant demand on fine motor skills, they are becoming increasingly popular for instructing our students with special needs, he elaborated.
Furthermore, “there are thousands of applications that can be used to develop students’ skills. I am always collecting applications that can be effectively integrated into instruction,” he concluded.
