Tech Tip: Using the Clock Timer on your iDevice to Teach "Help"

I'm kinda evil sometimes.  And the other night, I had a 3 am epiphany: Use the Clock Timer to teach the concept of Help.

Many of the students with whom I work are non-verbal and use a picture exchange system to communicate. With any learning experience, repetition is key to learning a new concept.  And help is sometimes a difficult one to teach.  So, you have to set up the opportunity.  With iPads and iPhones pretty prevalent at school and home, this opportunity knocked.  It takes a little finesse, but I tried it with a student with autism with really good results.

First, Create and Set your Passcode, if you haven't already…
Go to General
Then Passcode Lock

Enter an EASY TO REMEMBER passcode and set it to Immediately

Now, can exit out and find your Clock. Go to Timer. Scroll all the way down until you see Stop Playing, and select it.  This will shut off what ever you are doing when the timer goes off instead of playing Waves or Twinkle.

Here is the fun part. Before you hand the iWhatever to the child, set the timer.  I usually just set it for a minute. Then put them into whichever app you chose.

As the child is playing in the app, the timer is going and going.  When the time is done…. it goes to your lock screen. Poof.

I have a picture card of HELP placed near the child and at first had to do some physical prompting.  But eventually, the child will hand me the picture. "Help." When they do, I put in my Passcode.  But before I give it back to them to play,  I quickly set the alarm again.

When the alarm is set for brief amounts of time, there are plenty of opportunities for "Help".  Be sure to keep an eye on the frustration level, you don't want it to get to elevated. This little trick might be a good option for many children who need to learn or generalized the concept of Help.

Tech Tip: Get rid of visual clutter on your iOS device, quick

I have a two-fold tech tip for today. I have shared this with many people, with at least 95% of them enjoying the easier to read screens on their iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

First: Change the background.

I know most people like having the picture of thier kids or puppies or mountains in the background, but the complex visual nature of the picture really does nothing to enhance the apps, folders and fonts.  In fact, I found it really annoying, especially when the iOS 7 platform came out. So...

Step 1. Take a picture of something black. Heck, just place your iPhone or iPad on the table, and take the black picture. Unfortunately, Apple has not added a basic, plain black background as an option, so I just did this.

Step 2: Go to Settings. Then Wallpapers and Backgrounds Tab

 Step 3: Touch the Choose Wallpaper section

Step 4: Select your Camera Roll
Step 5: Select the Black photo and SET YOUR WALLPAPER ONLY.  You can keep your Lock Screen to your favorite picture.

 Voila.  Already looks way more manageable, right?

But wait, there's more.

Did you notice the iOS 7 platform gave you the thinnest font ever? Well….
Go to Settings….

 General…..

 Accessibility…..
and Choose BOLD TEXT

Yes, this will restart your device, but it is super quick so go on and press continue.
When your device comes to life, the type face will be just a little bit thicker, helping (my older) eyes see just a little bit more easily.

Now, doesn't that look much better?

Before

After