Thanks to our partner Easterseals affiliates from the Expansion Pilot program, who have recently contributed several new reviews to the App Search Tool. Thanks also to Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation, for their generous support of the Expansion program.
Amy Barry, Digital Marketing Lead at BridgingApps, has noted a few newly reviewed apps to check out as we wind up October. (October is AAC Awareness Month, Disability Employment Awareness Month, and also Communicate with Your Kids Month.)
Google Translate is a helpful tool for inter-language communication. The app provides instant translation of spoken or written words. It speaks almost 250 languages (and counting).
Features include:
- A “detect language” option for users who need to identify someone else’s language before beginning translation
- Conversation mode for two people sharing one device
- Camera translation, which works with Google Lens to read and translate text
Uses include:
- Streamlining conversation for people with autism, intellectual disability, or other conditions that cause extra frustration trying to make oneself understood (or to understand others)
- Making job interviews easier
- Reading résumés via the camera-translation feature
- Helping users learn other languages
Note: Currently, Google Translate speaks only verbal languages. For translating American Sign Language (ASL), Google will soon release another tool, SignGemma.
Healthy Minds Program is a mindfulness app designed to promote well-being, life purpose, and human connection. It’s a product of Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc., which specializes in neuroscience-based wellbeing tools. Healthy Minds Program has been recognized as a “best meditation app” by Healthline, Business Insider, and other prominent review sources.
Features include:
- A self-evaluation quiz
- A library of audio lessons and meditations (18–27 of each for most topics)
- Space for users to personalize their experience by marking “favorite” items
Uses include:
- Providing quick help for anyone prone to anxiety attacks or meltdowns
- Training users to cope with job anxiety and stress
- Helping users plan individualized career paths
OffScreen is for users with screen-overuse habits (e.g., wandering down digital rabbit trails, allowing screen time to interfere with other life priorities). Users of Apple Screen Time (an iOS Settings feature) will find the basic tracking approach familiar, but OffScreen provides more in-depth analysis, including such metrics as how often a phone is picked up/unlocked; whether a device user is in motion (e.g., using a phone while walking); and “break” times when a device is not in use.
Features include:
- Screen locking
- Focus mode, which limits distractions by blocking unrelated apps while the user does important screen tasks
- “Digital detox challenge”
Uses include:
- Improving family communications by reducing “screen distraction” for children (and adults!)
- Helping users stay on task at work
- Reinforcing good habits for users with ADHD or other distraction challenges
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Are you an educator/counselor/Easterseals employee who’s found an app particularly helpful to your clients or students? You can post your own review for that app: check out our Become a BridgingApps Reviewer page.