Using iPads to communicate
For three years, Openstorytellers have been exploring the growing role of mobile technology as a tool for communication, and especially how they are used by young people with complex communication needs. Thanks to the Rayne Foundation’s funding, we have been able to investigate using iPads as our primary tool.
By using these iPads, we looked into whether technology really helped young people with high support needs, most notably whether they could help them remember and share their stories. Not just this, but whether iPads helped young people with relationship building, friendship and empathy. During our investigations, we also used iPads to help give young people a voice in decision-making and civic participation.
We found that in many cases young people were increasingly confident using the iPads and often used them without help, and we also found that the tablets could help them concentrate. In some cases, we found that this technology has become a vital tool for communication and realised that they were good tools for ‘story gathering’, and for building memory and sequencing skills.
After continuing our research, we concluded that we weren’t sure that iPads help with peer interaction and informal communication, but we did see that young people enjoyed sharing their finished stories and showing off to their friends!
We now use iPads in all our day services at Openstorytellers and we have chosen them as the tool of choice for our group members and management committee.
Our mission: ‘user led’ content
At Openstorytellers, our learning-disabled group members use iPads for written and visual communication – photos, films, emails, blogs, internet access, for research, and updating social media. Because Openstorytellers work with narrative in all its forms, we use our iPads to record and sequence stories, events and ideas.
We like to use apps where you can be in control and create user led content. We’re not that interested in apps that are simply games or where the content is not personalised.
(You can get some good apps created specifically as communication tools – for example, MyChoicePad; ProLoQuoToGo.)
We prefer to work with open template-type apps that ask the user to create, choose and order the content.
iPads for professionals working in social care and special education
Over three years, we’ve seen the potential benefits of iPad and tablet use change, especially for people who have communication support needs. As general user confidence and familiarity has risen, so too has the use of this technology. Most people feel confident with an iPad now because they are so similar to the smartphone, meaning that skills learned on your mobile can be transferred to your tablet.
Although there are many pros to using iPads, we are aware of the cons – they can be isolating, mostly because they don’t invite peer interaction. However we do see that iPads are good for group focus, quiet work, and especially for those learners who are easily distracted.
Being so easy to use makes self-directed learning easier. In a school setting, we asked students to work in pairs to make profiles and film interviews of one another. Simple exercises such as making personal profiles is a good tool for personalisation.
On the plus side, our research showed us that as mobile technologies become more mainstream, adults in supporting roles find it more natural to use iPads actively and creatively.
We worked with the Speech and Language Therapy team in Three Ways School and as a result, they say that iPads are in daily use across the school. ‘As a team we are increasingly using iPads as an augmentative communication tool during structured one to one therapy work, group work and for individual pupils’ use. The instant access to symbols, photos, pictures etc. is highly motivating for some pupils.’
Within our charity and day services, we offer a person-centred, inclusive environment where equal access is available to all. Technologies such as the iPad help to make this possible, allowing our groups to express themselves and learn new skills.
We will continue to advocate for ‘user-led’ content as the primary indicator of ‘good’ technology. The benefits to the self-confidence of the user, and the subsequent increase in standards and expectations, moves towards the breaking down of attitudinal barriers of access and inclusion.
iPads and personal narrative
We use apps to help us gather and share personal stories. We don’t believe that stories are static as they can grow and change, and we tend to tell them differently depending on who is listening.
Apps allow us to work with a story – this is part of the repetition, or ‘practice’ process, something we all do when we’ve got a new story to share. Using the iPad can help the story take shape and gain substance, becoming a story that is easier to remember and tell.
Sometimes, we can use these stories to pre-empt significant events such as a visit to hospital or transition to a new school.
The most useful apps let us play and get creative with the story. We’re not necessarily setting out to make a polished ‘digital story’ but rather to have fun and gain confidence in the way we share our thoughts. And with all the different apps available, it’s exciting to see our stories told in so many different ways.
These apps can be memory triggers and a way of storing stories. They can help us share a story when there’s someone new who wants to hear it.
We do think that there is nothing quite so good as people telling stories together, so although the iPad is a useful and fantastic tool, don’t let it take over too much! Use it as a tool to record, recall, develop stories and event to develop important skills such as choosing, sequencing and remembering.
By using all the different apps available, you can build a digital archive of stories that will work as a story scrapbook on your tablet. If you concentrate on user-led content, this archive can serve as a person centred, communication passport that belongs to the individual and is fun to use.
Apps we recommend
Our Story – £Free
What it does
Our Story lets you make a ‘storyboard’ of your own photos, words and sounds. These get displayed on the screen and then you can ‘drag and drop’ them in a sequence to make a story to watch.
Skills you use and learn
- Thinking about your story
- Choosing subjects to photograph
- Thinking about text, typing words if you can
- Recording sounds and voices
- Sequencing
Pros and cons
- Allows for 100% user-led content
- Is most useful for ‘big’ stories but does not encourage the teller to develop the story beyond the finishing point.
- Was developed as an aid to developing literacy skills./li>
My story – £Free
What it does
This app helps you put together the pages of your own talking ‘story book.’ You can add text, sound, and decorate and personalise your photos. You can export (‘publish’) the finished books to iBooks.
Skills you use and learn.
- Ordering your story
- Choosing subjects to photograph
- Thinking about text, typing words if you can
- Recording sounds and voices
- Good for literacy skills
Pros and cons
- This app lets you develop a story line
- Allows user-led content
- Looks ‘smart’ when exported to iBooks (free)
- Fun to use but needs some sustained concentration
Puppet Pals HD. – £Free
What it does
You can create your own characters and backdrops. This means you can take photographs of the people you want in the story, and ‘cut them out’ with your fingertip to create puppets. You can also chose and photograph your backdrops.
You then manipulate the characters whilst recording the soundtrack, to produce your own film.
Skills you use and learn.
- Thinking about what makes a good story.
- Dramatizing your story to make it interesting for other people
- Choosing people and places, and photographing them
- Knowing when to stop, and what to leave out
- Creating and manipulating characters
Pros and cons
- Our favourite app! Creates great animations
- Quick, easy, fun.
- Allows 100% user-led content.
- Easy to save and export in a useable format.
- Is easy enough to use without too much help.
Instaframe – £Free
What it does
This app has templates of ‘frames’, each with a different theme. It has a comic book feel so is good fun. You can have several pictures on one page, and print by exporting to your photo album. You can add text, colour, and emoticons too.
Skills you use and learn.
- Getting to the heart of a story
- Matching text (captions) and images
- Choosing appropriate text
Pros and cons
- Fun, quick, easy
- Allows user-led content
- Great app for teenagers
- Only produces single frames, so doesn’t allow for story development: good as a memory trigger – scrapbook.
Puppet – £Free
(Also known as ‘shadow puppet’ – the weblink is get-puppet.co)
What it does.
This very simple app allows you to upload your own photos and sequence them into a story, which then plays back as a video of still images. You can import sound or music, overlay text or draw on the screen.
Skills you use and learn.
- Choosing (sound, photos, symbols)
- Ordering and sequencing
- Matching photos and recorded sound
Pros and Cons.
- Interactive for the user
- Easy to share via your camera roll, or embed.
- The end product is clear, easy to use, and looks modern and professional.
- Once the story is ‘finished’ then you don’t have an option to re-order.
Comic Life – £3.99
What it does.
This is a simple version of the comic strip software available for computers. It’s fun because you can easily make your own short ‘graphic novel’ with styles and speech bubbles.
Skills you use and learn.
- Choosing your own images.
- Choosing styles
- Thinking in terms of dialogue – who said what.
- Options of ‘speech’ and ‘thought’ can be interesting – they may not always be the same!
Pros and Cons.
- Very ‘age appropriate’ for younger adults.
- It’s easy to make something that looks good – it has a professional look.
- Really easy to use export options, including print.
- Fairly easy to navigate.
- Easy to enjoy your finished comic on the screen.
- If you’re used to the computer version it can seem a bit short on functions
Doodlebooth – £Free
What it does.
With Doodlebooth you can make ‘one page profiles’ of yourself or others. Add layers of ‘doodles’ from a range a great templates, speech bubbles, captions, frames and stickers. The result is fun, with a Manga styling, and easy to export.
Skills you use and learn.
- Choosing your own images.
- Choosing which information to use in the layers
- Thinking what you really want to say about yourself and your image
- Could be used to start off a one-page profile
Pros and Cons.
- Interactive for the user, plenty of clear options
- Easy to export and print
- The end product is colourful, fun, and modern