Whether engaging with loved ones, navigating a tricky situation at work, or recognizing the familiar click of the oven remaining on after a meal, much of our social connectedness, professional performance and personal safety rely on being able to hear.

Yet, hearing-related issues like hearing loss and tinnitus ⁠— or perceiving ringing, hissing, buzzing, rushing or roaring sounds in the ears ⁠— are more common than you might think. Among Canadians aged 19 to 79, a whopping 60 per cent of us live with hearing loss, tinnitus or a combination of both.

“Hearing loss is often something that’s very treatable and preventable, but there are so many people who suffer in isolation and are not able to get the help that they need because of how expensive it can be,” says Heather Ritchie, an audiologist at Neil Squire Hearing Solutions.

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Math can be difficult enough for many of us (this author included), but imagine what it’s like for children with disabilities who ALSO struggle with basic math concepts? Imagine you are trying to learn the fundamentals of math in grade 1, and you cannot fully see the equations that you are being asked to solve. Today, we’re going to look at an app that seeks to solve that very problem, and it does so for free!

Math Melodies is a free app for iPad that uses audio cues to introduce and practice math concepts that are traditionally taught and tested on paper. Users can choose between a ten-chapter story mode, or they can choose between a variety of exercises that cover concepts learned between 1st and 5th grade. Each exercise also gives the option of choosing between base and advanced level lessons.

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In case you aren’t aware, our AT Help Desk posts a variety of informative resources for teachers, students, and persons with disabilities underneath of the “Resources” section of the AT Help Desk website.

This week we wanted to quickly throw a spotlight on our “One-Pagers” section. One-pagers are short, informational documents that provide step by step instructions to a variety of digital tasks related to assistive technology.

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Members of our team from across Canada are at ATIA 2023 in Orlando, Florida connecting with assistive technology professionals and learning lots!

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On today’s episode of “We Have Solutions,” we’re joined by Occupational Therapist Alain Desir. Tune in as we explore all things OT, including case studies, tips for good ergonomics, success stories, and more.

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We’ve looked at quite a few reading apps in the past, and most of the apps that we’ve looked at provide users with an impressive suite of useful reading options from highlighting text to reading it out loud. And while those apps are incredibly useful, especially for learners who already understand how to read, they’re not usually designed to dive too far into the fundamentals of writing. The app that we are looking at today is designed for learners who are just starting to read, and don’t yet require the additional features that we’ve mentioned above.

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AAC apps and devices tend to be highly specialized and expensive pieces of hardware, which is probably why we haven’t spent that much time talking about them. These devices also tend to be recommended by speech language pathologists, so we would always recommend first meeting with a member of the New Brunswick Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists if you or someone you know might benefit from this type of technology.

However, the app that we are looking at today is a fraction of the cost of a typical piece of AAC hardware, and rather than having to buy a new piece of standalone technology, TD Snap harnesses the power of iOS to transform an iPad into an AAC device. This also means that persons with disabilities have even more customization and accessibility options due to iOS’s built-in features. Thanks to those built-in accessibility features, the app can be accessed via touch, voice commands, eye gaze, and switch.

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Word processing apps have evolved dramatically since the advent of the internet. In the early days of computing, word processing apps were expensive, tedious, and often required extensive training to use. Then, Microsoft Word streamlined the genre and made it more accessible and easier to use. Then, with the popularity of smartphones came a flood of mobile-based word processing and grammar apps designed to help users write while on the go.

Today we are going to look at one of the most popular (certainly the most widely known) app in that category, Grammarly. The app is free, but there is also a premium version with even more features. We’re going to take a closer look at those features today and do a bit of comparing between the two versions of the app.

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For individuals with fine motor or other handwriting-related challenges, completing worksheets in a timely manner may seem like an insurmountable struggle. Of course, we know that there are Optical Character Recognition (OCR) apps such as Prizmo Go or Office Lens that are designed to capture and digitize text, but those apps are more suited for capturing large chunks of text from a textbook or document with the purpose of having it read aloud.

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On this episode we are joined once again by Nakia Singh. We explore some interesting new assistive technology apps and devices including a solar powered keyboard, a distraction-free browser, a wearable metronome and more. We also explore a new case study involving an individual dealing with speech loss at an advanced age.

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