The use of new technologies has experienced a considerable increase in recent years within the framework of psychology and psychopedagogy. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been applied in different fields (experimental, clinical, educational, social psychology, psychological evaluation, etc.) with the aim of promoting, monitoring, and improving people’s quality of life, and helping health and education professionals in achieving this task.
Techniques such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and Internet-based telepsychology are having great applicability for clinical psychology. However, others, perhaps more accessible to everyone, can greatly improve the daily lives of many people; we are talking about applications for mobile phones and tablets (Apps).
New technologies are a perfect ally for treating specific learning difficulties (SLD) and communication difficulties in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other pathologies. Through different Apps, we can help develop and improve learning for students with dyslexia or attention deficit disorder in an enjoyable and fun way, or provide a family with effective communication tools for their child with ASD.
The use of tablets in a therapeutic work session breaks certain barriers of resistance to treatment on the part of the patient, as it is a very attractive tool for the little ones, who are already accustomed to their presence at home or at school. They know how to use them and it offers them security.
Thanks to the development of many entrepreneurial therapists, there are currently many outstanding mobile applications. Some of them are:
Dyseggxia
Through fun games, it will help children with dyslexia overcome reading and writing problems (in Spanish). The exercises have been scientifically designed by analyzing real errors of Spanish-speaking children.
Visual Attention Therapy Lite
Designed to improve reading, concept recognition, concentration, memory, and reading speed. This application is ideal for patients with brain injuries and dyslexia, and allows the difficulty level to be adapted to each person’s needs.
Picaa
This application, conceived as a support tool in classrooms, improves the basic competencies of children with autism spectrum disorders and Down syndrome. It includes activities in mathematics, language, environmental knowledge, autonomy, and social skills for children and young people with cognitive, visual, or auditory disabilities.
Alex learns to sort
It is very useful for helping students with attention deficit pathologies. It is designed to work on children’s attention and concentration, developing logic through the classification of objects by categories. It also works on fine motor skills. It allows adapting the level to the child’s age and their manual dexterity.
ADHD trainer
Improves the cognitive functions of children aged 4 to 12 with ADHD. It works on attention, memory, calculation, reasoning, and visuomotor coordination with the TCT method, designed by Dr. Kazuhiro Tajima, an expert psychiatrist in ADHD. Training is daily and only 10 minutes long.
Alphabetics
Uses the multisensory method for learning phonemes. It offers games that include hearing, sight, tactile features, and pronunciation. It is useful for improving dyslexia as children listen, pronounce, and identify letters. It also provides reports on patient progress useful for the therapist.
Picto Connection
Application aimed at children and adults who cannot communicate effectively. Through a neuropsychological analysis developed based on a series of questions, which can be answered by parents or the therapist, the program automatically generates different pictograms depending on the pathology (autism, cerebral palsy, stroke…).
We invite you to comment on this article with any Apps you consider relevant for working on specific learning difficulties.