APPS FOR ORGANIZATION & SELF-MANAGEMENT
Many parents struggle daily trying to motivate their kids to manage their own routines, from getting ready for school in the morning, managing homework and chore time, to managing their free time. Nowadays, technology has made it simple to teach self-management skills and capitalize on your child’s motivation to use a phone or tablet. The following are apps that can help motivate kids, help develop responsibility, help develop organization and help gain some independence.
Remember the Milk (Age 13+) – great for both parents and children. Arrange and organize items on a “to-do” list, create your own headings and tasks for each heading. Each user can interact with other users, assigning tasks, due dates, and a time limit for each task. You can even prioritize each task by need. A great way for the whole family to be involved. Available on the web, computer, phone, tablet, watch, and MicroSoft Outlook.
Kazutime – (3 to 8 years old) Easy to use and animal themed! Uses visual, auditory, tactile, and cognitive cues to help teach and learn the concept of time. Kazu, an adorable Husky puppy, accompanies the children for the duration of their tasks. The app allows children to better anticipate the end of a task, reducing anxiety associated with having to complete sometimes difficult tasks in a given timeframe. Recognizing the conclusion of an activity helps kids regulate their behavior and reduce negative reactions. Available on AppStore, GooglePlay and Amazon.
Happy Kids Timer – Morning & Evening Routines – Designed with morning routines in mind, this app can be used throughout the whole day. Happy Kids Time helps teach time management through the assignment of different tasks that include getting dressed, eating meals, packing bags, etc. Each task is given a completion time, and characters encourage your child to beat the clock and claim a reward that gets them closer to a final reward at the end. Comes with 8 common morning chores and 7 typical evening chores. Free version allows you to go through your routine with predefined settings. Upgrade the game and unlock all features for $1.99. App available for iOS and Android for tablet or smart phone.
Choiceworks ($9.99) - Picture-based and helps children learn daily routines, understand feelings and helps improve both waiting skills and making choices. The pictures are very similar to what might be seen in a picture communication system. Choiceworks Calendar helps children learn the concepts of time for a whole month, teaching the bigger picture of organization on a monthly scale. Tasks can be added, along with countdowns, and email reminders. Choiceworks available on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch. Calendar available on iPad.
First-Then Visual Schedule HD ($14.99) – A full feature schedule that includes first-then boards, visual schedules, task analyses, social stories and video models. Fully customizable and sharable. For each schedule, the steps can be broken down and a timer can be set for each individual step or for the task as a whole as well as pictures or videos of each step included. Great for learners who benefit from bigger tasks being broken down into smaller, more manageable parts.
Visual Schedule Planner ($14.99) - Great for individuals who need visual supports to help ease transitions or like their events for the day visually represented. It is customizable, can be viewed as a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, and supports activity schedules and video models for each event. Activity schedule timers and checklist features are also available through this platform.
Scene Speak – ($9.99) Though not created for self-management, this App is a creative way to help create different interactive social stories about different scenes in the house and in the community. It also has a nice feature to teach different parts of the body and can be used for communication and to increase receptive language. Great for teaching what to expect in different environments and to help increase positive transitions! Available on iPad only.