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Favorite Cause and Effect Switch Apps
Do you have a student with limited mobility? Adaptive Switches are learning tools that enable these students to interact with a device.
As a Teacher of the Visually Impaired working with students ages 5-14 that are multiply impaired in a school with an adapted curriculum, I really appreciate the versatility that the Super Switch created by RJ Cooper brings to students. The Super Switch can help students with limited motor abilities access literacy, math and social study apps to support State Common Core Curriculum Standards.
Over the last several months, I have been investigating my favorite apps for basic cause and effect and switch skill development that can be used with RJ Cooper’s Yellow Super Switch.
Below are a list of my favorite cause and effect apps with links to where you can download them in either the Google Play or iOS App Store: Mobile Cell Phone App by Inclusive Technologies Available for Google Play and iOS App Store The Mobile Cell Phone is appropriate for any student with a good amount of functional vision who has limited mobility. I also like the app because it presents real life cause and effect social issues i.e. What DOES happen if it starts to pour down rain and I am at the park. Who DO I call? This app presents applicable way for special education teachers, resource room teachers or Teachers of the Visually Impaired to begin asking students (to whom this is question is appropriate) who they can contact when they face real life situations such as the girl in the app faces. 
Rad Sounds App by RJ Cooper Available in iOS App Store Rad sounds is another great app for student who little to no use of their functional vision or a student who is totally visual. The app is accessible to any child with mobility issues or where switch use is appropriate. This is a great app for a child just learning to use a switch or for a child who is season and proficient in their switch use. I really like Rad Sounds because the app makes it possible for you to embed your own music into the program. One thing I love to do is embed some of my student’s favorite music into the app music library so we can use their favorite music to motivate new switch skill development.
Bumper Cars by Inclusive Technologies Available on Google Play and iOS App Store This app is appropriate for any child who has light perception only or has full use of their functional vision. I really like to use two switches when using this app so my students in wheelchairs can benefit from the adaptive social opportunities with their peers who are also in the wheelchairs. My students really like to see who can hit their switch 10 times and bump the other student’s bumper car 10 times to win. It’s also a great app for the teachers I consult with who are using adaptive curriculum to teach basic math skills or rote counting. To add a kinesthetic quality to my lessons with my students, I actually like to physically move their wheelchairs a lightly “nudge” the other student’s wheelchair after they hit their switch. It just creates an active learning component to the lesson when that is appropriate.
Big Trucks by InclusiveTLC Available on Google Play and iOS App Store This is one of my favorite apps for children with visual impairments that face mobility challenges. Big Trucks is ideal for students with little to no vision since one of the app features is that offer several auditory cues and reinforcers for students who are not visual but learning cause and effect skills by hearing.
Catch the Cow by Computer Trade Products Catch the Cow is idea for a child with quite a bit functional vision that has higher level switch skills. This app teacher students to learn how to activate an app with visual scanning. The teacher or therapist using this app can customize settings for users depending on visual/motor processing times.
By Julie Johnson
