This is a quick post in response to some comments and questions about my app wheel, which has been doing some alarmingly extensive rounds on Twitter and the like.
Other groups have been putting together lists of recommended apps formatted in this way. In particular I’m a fan of this wheel of apps for autism developed in Australia, and a dyslexia app wheel created by my colleagues at CALL Scotland. I’ve copied the format here, because it think it is a really intuitive way to organise apps by functional category – i.e. according to what they’re meant to do.
However I also feel that this layout leaves a lot of key information out. For example, there’s no information here about whether these apps are available for Android or Apple users. There’s no indication of the age-range or ability level of the intended users of these apps. And there’s nothing here to tell you about price. All of this information is available in the individual app reviews on this page, though of course no-one can say for sure whether an app will be useful for you personally.
What I can say, is that every app which has made it on to this wheel has been reviewed by me and I can recommend each one. Apps which are merely intended for people with autism are not necessarily featured here. I am not trying to provide a comprehensive summary of available apps, but instead a visual shortcut which brings together the apps I like the best, by function. For this reason, as my collection of app reviews continues to expand, I’ll be updating the wheel at regular intervals.
Recently I’ve received requests for some app recommendations for adults and for Android users. I’ll certainly do my best to explore both of these. There is no doubt that there is less available for both of these groups than there are for Apple-using children, but I am sure some good examples exist. Another issue is my understanding of the needs of these populations. My recent work has mostly been with young kids and their families, and I’m also a parent of two young girls myself, so inevitably I am drawn towards apps for this group more than for adults. Nevertheless, in 2014 I will do my best to re-dress the balance on these pages by providing app reviews for a wider range of potential users. Apologies if this takes a while to get going – I spent some of the Christmas break writing up app reviews and the majority of these are still firmly in the kids and Apple category.
In the meantime, if you want to recommend an app for me to take a look at, or if you’re interested in providing some app reviews for the site from a different perspective, then please leave a comment.
