It's gotten to the point where few people are still able to ignore technology. The iPhone used to be a rare public siting that evoked much jealousy - now it's 90% of peoples family camera while out at the museum. I should preface this article with the fact that I love apple products. I used to see them only as the computer choice of the 90's yuppie generation, they were really expensive, really difficult to use (only because Gates got to most of us first), and, oh I don't know, did I mention yuppies yet? Well this isn't really the case anymore. While apple products are still incredibly expensive (in comparison to other tech companies), they are a perfect example of 'you get what you pay for'. I avoided the iPhone craze for many years before caving and getting one a little over a year ago; I don't remember how to function without it now, this thing literally holds all the information to my life. Anyways, the main reason I am writing this post, is to talk about the iPad. I imagine using the iPad to be like using my iPhone - just... bigger. I am going to link to some cool apps I have come across built specifically for doing behavioral work on the go.

The reason apple products are so much more preferred to other products out there is mostly due to the intuitiveness of the products themselves (it also doesn't hurt that everything is made out of aluminum and glass). If you haven't seen a video yet of a kid using the iPad on youtube you should check it out. It is also amazing to see people with significant disabilities communicating with their parents and staff using the iPad after years of not having the ability to do so.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad and even the Dropbox website! With the Dropbox app, you can take everything that matters to you on the go.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/signnow-sign-fill-pdf-word/id489262811?mt=8
Sign documents anywhere or get anyone’s signature for free.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/psytimer-stopwatch/id355312032?mt=8

The PsyTimer Stopwatch combines a stopwatch with an alarm clock. Thus, it may time an interval and warn when a pre-set time limit is reached at the same time.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/behaviortrackerpro/id319708933?mt=8
Behavior Tracker Pro is an iPhone, iTouch and iPad application that allows Behavior analysts, therapists, aides, teachers or parents to track behaviors and graph them. With the app you can record video of behaviors or interventions to later review with parents, teachers or therapists. (Must have iPhone with video camera). Upload your data to our secure Team Portal for advanced online charting, team collaboration, video messaging, document management and more!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/first-then-visual-schedule/id355527801
First-Then visual schedule is designed to provide positive behavioral support for those with communication needs. This application provides an affordable and convenient audio-visual prompting tool for use on the iPhone or iPad. The portability and ease of use of the of the iPhone and iPad make it perfect for use at school, home or in the community. Visual schedules also help individuals transition to other activities quicker and more efficiently.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skill-tracker-pro/id398058644
Skill Tracker Pro automates ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis) instruction for children with Autism. For iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and from the makers of Behavior Tracker Pro! STP allows unlimited clients and observers, optional video capture and charting/export of all data. STP has a built in library with hundreds of skills and targets that can be assigned to the clients’ curriculum. During cold probe data collection, skills and targets are automatically randomized, or the user can choose which target to probe, one at a time.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-data-pro/id349426906
Description: A multi-mode data collection App made to assist professionals and students in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), special education, school psychology, and clinical psychology, as well as researchers conducting observational studies. ABC Data Pro is an unobtrusive data collection tool for behavior and/or event counting, partial interval recording, full interval recording and ABC (FBA) recording.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/proloquo2go/id308368164
Proloque2Go is the most well-known of all the assistive communications apps on the iPad. It is also one of the priciest. Still the $689 you spend ($500 for iPad and $189 for Proloque2go) is far cheaper than dedicated AAC devices. Proloque2Go is a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for autistic children who have difficulty speaking. Easy to set up and use it provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices, high resolution up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7,000 items and is fully expandable. The app is very easy for individuals with special needs to navigate through the menus. It has a beautiful graphic display and great voice quality. Proloque2Go is definitely a better bet on an iPad than an iPhone or iPad