Students and adults who struggle with learning, attention, and executive functioning difficulties are lucky to live in a day and time when electronic tools can help offset many of our struggles. The challenge is that new tools are invented and marketed every day making it difficult to keep up with what works.
On this resource page, Dr. Davenport provides a sampling of tools he’s seen work for fellow-strugglers. Tools are sorted by function and a short descriptor is provided. He also shares a few ways he has used these tools with students and adults to help improve their executive functioning management.
As many of you know, it’s important to “test-drive” different tools to see what works best for you: It is important to recognize that finding the right tool is a “process“, not a product. Considerthese tools as you search for what works best for you.
Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, and Reading Assistance Tools
LearningAlly– (Previously known as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) Membership provides access to more than 80,000 audiobooks including fiction, nonfiction, literature, and textbooks.
Texthelp – Assistive technology solutions to help students and people in the workplace read, write, and communicate with greater confidence.
Note-Taking
Livescribe– Livescribe smart-pens bring notes, words, and ideas to life. Livescribe makes it easy to connect paper and pen to the digital world and fundamentally change the way people capture, access, and share what they write, draw, and hear. Livescribe’s family of smartpens includes the Echo smartpen, the Sky wifi smartpen, and the Livescribe 3 smart-pen.
Use the Livescribe pen to make a verbal flash-card! Turn the pen on, say, and write the vocabulary word or historical event you need to remember. Now read the definition or fact that goes with that word. When you study, place the Livescribe pen on the words written to hear the definition or fact you need to recall.
Microsoft OneNote 2013 or later versions. While taking notes, students and adults can record audio and video copies of the lecture or meeting as they type or handwrite (using a tablet) notes. Audio recording is helpful to verify notes taken in class or during meetings. If you miss information, you can click on that part of your notes and immediately replay what was said. Students can use a video recording to capture important visual information such as PowerPoint slides or problems solved on the board. Students are urged to talk with their instructors before recording lectures.
Alarms, Timers, & Clocks
Alarmy (Sleep If U Can) is an innovative Android app for those who just can’t seem to get up on time, even with an alarm clock. This app has been cleverly designed to force you to get out of bed. You set it up by registering a photo of an area or room in your house. Then once the alarm is set, the only way to make it stop ringing is to get out of bed and go take a photo of the registered area.
Focus Time is a beautifully designed timer for people who want to avoid distractions and get more done. It works by allowing you to work in units of 25 minutes, separated by short breaks of 5 minutes. After every fourth session, you take a longer break. Focus Time will automatically switch between the work timer and the long/short break timers, as well as counting the number of sessions you’ve completed. You can select an activity and see a graph of how you’re spending your time.
Time Timer – This timer app for iPhone, Android, and computers is packed with features that allow you to automatically repeat timers up to 16 times, choose alarm or vibrate to signal when a set time is up, use Quick Start to create a Timer in seconds, save, name and customize your timers, view each Timer full-screen – or see up to four at once, and add a numerical countdown by choosing Time Display.
For fans of the original Time Timer, this app includes 3 viewing modes: Original: The red disk represents 60 minutes; Custom: The red disk represents any amount of time – seconds, minutes, or hours. (Perfect for interval sessions!); and Clock: The disk appears on a clock face.
Calendars/Planners/Goal-Directed Tools
Google Calendar displays events from Google and non-Google calendars and synchronizes across platforms. Numerous new features are being added.
iStudiezpro – iPhone, iPad, Mac application with multiple planning features for high school and college students. If you don’t like using a planner, don’t get this as it is a planner for your phone.
OutlookCalendardisplays events entered on your online Outlook calendar and can synchronize to Outlook on your PC.
Task Management Applications
Nozbeis a task prioritization app for all platforms based on the Getting Things Done model. A quote from the website says, “Nozbe’s tag line is “Simply Get Things Done” and that’s just what it helps you to do – be productive. Its full suite of apps is both robust and fun to use.”
PriorityMatrixApplication– a prioritization app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows that is based on the 4-quadrants method (urgent and important). Multiple tasks are divided into 4 customizable quadrants to help you plan, track, and organize them.
“To Do” from Microsoftis a task management application that interacts with multiple types of devices and syncs with Outlook and other Microsoft products.
Electronic Personal Assistants
An electronic personal assistant of your choice can schedule reminders, appointments, and much more.
Watchminder– This waterproof sports watch fits all wrist sizes and can be programmed to provide up to 30 daily recurring messages such as, “take your medicine”, “brush your teeth”, or “turn in homework” using either pre-programmed messages or by creating your own personalized messages. It provides vibrating alerts with a snooze/repeat feature.
WatchminderApp(for iPhone) is made by the manufacturers of the Watchminder and has many of the same features as the watch itself.
Information Organization/Information Management Tools
Evernote – An on-line organization tool for organizing notes (typed, spoken, handwritten), clipped web pages, photos, and task reminders. It syncs desktop, mobile, and the cloud across all platforms allowing you to access your notes anywhere anytime. Evernote now can send you time-based reminders for tasks/items you designate.
You can set up task lists and Evernote now can e-mail time-based reminders for tasks/items you designate. Using their phone, tablet, or laptop, students can take pictures of their assignment written on the board and store or e-mail it directly to their Evernote account for review when they get home. Students can set it up so that Evernote e-mails them a reminder to review these reminders when they get home so parents don’t have to!
SplashID– an application that allows you to synchronize personal data (internet log-in passwords and almost anything you can think of) between desktop software and multiple handheld platforms.
Internet Blocking/Management
Anti-Social – a neat little productivity application for Macs that turns off the social parts of the internet for up to 8 hours.
Freedom– a simple productivity application that locks you away from the internet on Mac or Windows computers for up to eight hours at a time.
StayFocusd – a productivity extension for Google Chrome that helps you stay focused on work by restricting the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites.
More to Come!
Check back from time-to-time to see new software and apps we’ve added.
