CALL Scotland's App Wheels: Finding Useful Technology for Learning

Most people looking for technology to make reading, writing or organisation easier begin in the same place: a search box in an app store. It rarely goes well. The results are ranked by popularity and marketing rather than by usefulness, and a great deal of it is labelled 'for dyslexia' without explaining what it actually does.

What CALL Scotland is

CALL Scotland is an independent organisation based at the University of Edinburgh. It publishes free information and practical resources about technology for children and young people who have difficulties with communication, reading, writing and access to the curriculum. Much of its work is aimed at schools, but a good deal of it is just as useful to adults and university students.

CALL Scotland is not connected to Defining Dyslexia in any way. There is no partnership, sponsorship or endorsement in either direction. We link to their resources because they are free, independent and genuinely helpful, and the links open the original pages so you always see the current version.

What the Wheel of Apps posters are

The app wheels are free downloadable posters. Each one takes a device or platform, such as iPad, Android or Chromebook, and arranges apps and tools around a circle. The segments are organised by the purpose the tool serves rather than by category in a shop. You can find them in CALL Scotland's posters and leaflets library.

Because everything sits on one page, you can see at a glance that there are several different ways to approach the same difficulty. That is often more useful than a long list, particularly for anyone who finds dense written information tiring.

Why a visual, task-based resource is easier to use

An app store asks you to already know what you are looking for. A task-based resource asks a much easier question: what is the bit that is hard?

• •Reading long texts, where having the text read aloud may reduce the effort involved.
• •Getting ideas down, where dictation or voice recording may be quicker than typing.
• •Planning writing, where mind-mapping or outlining tools can make the structure visible.
• •Proofreading, where hearing your own work read back often catches what your eyes skip.
• •Organisation, where calendars, reminders and simple task lists act as external memory.
• •Communication, where symbol or speech tools support people who find speech difficult.
• •Access, where switch access, magnification or accessible formats remove a physical barrier.

Naming the barrier first tends to narrow the field very quickly. It also makes it obvious when the honest answer is that no app is needed, and what would actually help is more time, a different format or a conversation with a tutor.

Start with the task, not the label

An app described as being 'for dyslexia' is not automatically useful to a dyslexic person, and a mainstream tool with no such label often is. Dyslexic profiles differ considerably from one person to another, so the only reliable test is whether a particular tool reduces the particular difficulty you have.

It is also worth separating two quite different kinds of app. Assistive technology reduces a barrier while you work, such as text-to-speech, dictation or a reminder system. Training apps ask you to practise skills, and our review of Elevate looks at one of those honestly. Practice apps can be enjoyable and can build confidence, but they do not treat, cure or remediate dyslexia, and they are not a substitute for tools that remove the obstacle in front of you.

How students, families and educators use them

University students often use the wheels to work out what to ask for. If you can say that reading long journal articles is the problem, a study-needs conversation becomes much more concrete. Our guide to managing university study when organisation does not come naturally covers the wider planning side of that.

Families often use them to see what is possible before spending anything, particularly where a device is already in the house. Teachers, SENCos and support staff tend to use them differently again, as a way of checking that a tool being introduced is matched to an identified need and can be taught properly rather than simply installed.

Test one tool at a time, in a real task

Installing six apps in an afternoon almost always ends with all six being deleted. A more reliable approach is to choose one, use it for a genuine piece of work for a week or two, and then decide.

• •Name the specific difficulty you want to reduce.
• •Choose one tool that addresses it.
• •Use it on real work, not on a trial exercise.
• •Give it long enough to stop feeling unfamiliar.
• •Keep it only if it genuinely made the task easier.

Before buying anything, check what your phone, tablet, laptop or university software already includes. Built-in read-aloud, dictation, immersive reading and focus settings are often enough on their own, and they have the advantage of being available everywhere you already work. Our guide to technology and assistive tools for dyslexia goes through those in more detail.

Before buying anything, check what your phone, tablet, laptop or university software already includes.

A note on MyStudyBar and changing software

CALL Scotland also hosts MyStudyBar, a free collection of study tools grouped around stages of the study cycle such as planning, reading, writing and reviewing. It is a useful illustration of how support tools can be organised around a process rather than a diagnosis.

Inclusion on an app wheel is not a recommendation for any individual, and neither is a mention on this website. These are starting points for exploration, not personal advice about what will suit you or your child.

When technology is not the whole answer

Technology reduces effort. It does not explain why the effort was there in the first place. If reading, writing, spelling or processing have been persistently difficult over a long period, and good tools only take the edge off, a full diagnostic assessment can set out what the underlying profile actually looks like and what support is likely to help.

If you would like to talk that through first, you are welcome to get in touch for a free 15-minute telephone call. There is no obligation, and it is often enough to work out whether an assessment would tell you anything useful.