Tech Tips to Help Prepare Your Child for Life After High School
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PSN Team 
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After High School Apps
As parents, we spend more than a little time worrying about our children’s futures, and if your child is anywhere between the ages of 10 and 21 years old, you may be asking yourself some of the following questions as they get settled into this school year: What will life look like after they graduate or age out of school? Are they prepared to live as an adult? Will they be pursuing a post high school education or job-training program or will they be going straight into the work world?
The process of helping a child move from childhood to adulthood is difficult for all parents; however, for those of us with children with special educational or medical needs, it can be especially exhausting! As usual, we have gathered some of our favorite apps, as well as a web-based tool, for transition age teens and young adults.
Apps for Your Smartphone or Tablet
Does your student need help organizing their notes and to-do lists? Or maybe they need help producing written materials? What about getting that first job? Do you know how to help them create that first resume or prepare for a job interview?
We have some great mobile app solutions for these issues and more, check out the apps below for detailed information. You might notice that many of these apps are a bit more costly than the free or very low cost apps we usually share. In researching and working with apps of all different kinds over the years, we have found that sometimes apps cost more because they are loaded with ready to use pictures, videos, etc. to help already busy and overwhelmed caregivers easily get started with personalizing the app for their loved one. The apps below definitely fit that description.
Google Keep- Notes and lists
By Google LLC
Google Keep is a free note-taking app that is available on Android and iOS devices. It can be used on cell phones, tablets, PC’s, and Apple Watches. The notes show up all together in block style on your screen, similar to having Post-it notes all over a wall. Choose how you want to look at all your notes or lists, color code your notes, share your notes with contacts, set alarms to notify you or others, add pictures, simple drawings, videos, or audio to your notes.
Price: FREE
VDWrite
By Opus Noma LLC
Voice Dream Writer is a tool created to help people with print disabilities, such as dyslexia and dysgraphia, create written work with more ease and accuracy. It is, however, a great tool for anyone who might not be the best speller or who has trouble remembering which form or words like “to, too” and “two” to use when. With Voice Dream Writer, users can type or dictate (using the device’s microphone) what they want to write and then check their spelling using the built-in dictionary and word search functions.
Price: $9.99
Easy Resume Builder : CV Maker
By Techno Keet Pvt. Ltd.
Easy Resume Builder is a basic resume builder that is great to use with students who are transitioning from high school to the adult world. This app is a great way for teens who are preparing to transition to gain practice writing their resume in a simple format that allows them to practice key components in writing a resume.
Price: FREE
Job Interview Prep- SimuGator
By W&R Holdings LLC
SimuGator interview app is a mainstream simple simulator app used to prepare for job interviews. This app includes three realistic interview simulations and 50+ questions to help anyone become more familiar and comfortable with what might be asked during an actual interview. This app can serve as a great tool for preparing young adults for their first job interview. We have recommended this app as a first step for a teen to practice answering questions with a video avatar, rather than being embarrassed with mom or dad!
Price: $0.99
Computers at Work Lite
By Attainment Company
Computers at Work Lite is an app that is a skills-based program for vocational training for secondary school students and helps individuals prepare for office jobs. The full or paid version of this app is also available as a CD and a license for a web-based app. This easy to use app is a helpful tool with a simple interface that includes two exercises called Order Processing and Data Entry.
Price: FREE, Offers In-App Purchases
Living Safely
By AbleLink Technologies, Inc.
Living Safely is an app designed to help people with intellectual disabilities or autism learn important safety lessons for living independently in the community. It is packed with topics ranging from fire safety at home to work safety to what to do if lost in the community. Each topic has a slide show style format with illustrations with written and audio instructions. This app has a simple, clean user interface with minimal distractions.
Price: $19.99
MeMinder
By CreateAbility Concepts, Inc.
MeMinder is a task management and task analysis app for individuals with TBI, IDD, early onset Alzheimer’s, and any other injury or disability that might impair their memory or daily functioning skills. Task analysis is a useful strategy that breaks down a task into manageable pieces or steps to make it easier to complete.
Price: $399.99
If you are interested in searching for more apps, and creating your own list of apps and sharing them, please go to BridgingApps.org. BridgingApps, a program of Easter Seals Greater Houston, is a community of parents, therapists, doctors and teachers who share information about using mobile devices with people who have special needs.
ABOUT AUTHORS
Amy Fuchs is the Program Coordinator at BridgingApps and a former special education teacher. Amy Barry is the Content Manager and Editor at BridgingApps and mother of five children.
Cristen Reat is co-founder of BridgingApps and a mother who found success when using a mobile device with her younger son who has multiple disabilities. We share a passion for using mobile technology to enhance the lives of people of all ages with disabilities.
Helpful Articles
- Planning for Your Special Child’s Future: It’s Never “Too Early” to Start!
- What Do I Do with My Child Once They Graduate High School?
- Apps for Supporting Independence: The Transition to Adulthood
- Educational Options After High School for Students with Special Needs
- College Programs: Closer Than You Think
- College Bound: A Journey to Independence
- Helping Your Child Be An Independent College Student
- Parents of teenagers with special needs: Prep for college NOW…..3 tips
- Independence and Self-Advocacy
- Maneuvering Your Meal Plan While In College
- Raising a Successful College Graduate
This post originally appeared on our September/October 2021 Magazine
