Equipment to help with daily life
Having the right equipment can make life easier, support independence and help children and young people develop new skills.
There are a range of things that may be of use.
Our Assistive Technology Service has resources, gadgets and equipment that children, young people and adults can borrow free of charge. They are also able to give expert advice. You can contact them direct yourself or ask an involved worker to make a referral.
Some of our Child and Family Centres have toys and equipment that you can use and, in some cases, borrow.
You can get information and advice on things that can help with activities of daily living online at Safe and Well for Children or Safe and Well for Adults.
Children’s Occupational Therapists have information, advice and videos about things you can do to support and develop independence including Equipment at Home on their website. They have an Occupational Therapy Advice Line that families can use to get practical therapy advice, strategies and support in relation to a child’s functional and independence skills.
Apps and gadgets to help with daily life
There are lots of technology that can help us organise our daily lives. Below are some that we suggest could assist with different tasks you may need extra help with.
Visual Schedules & Social Stories
Visual Schedules and Social Stories is a visual support app focusing on Visual Schedules and Social Stories.
The app focuses on using social stories and visual schedules to improve socially appropriate behaviors in children with autism. It’s a virtual visual support app to assist children with autism and communication challenges at home, school and the community. The app replaces the traditional visual supports that can be cumbersome, time consuming, costly to create and limited in function.
Let me talk
A free AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) talker app which supports communication in all areas of life and therefore providing a voice to everyone. LetMeTalk is donation financed. LetMeTalk enables you to line up images in a meaningful way to read this row of images as a sentence.
My Talk Tools
MyTalkTools Mobile is a next generation AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) app that helps people with communication difficulties say what they want with sequences of words, sounds and images.
Evernote - Notes Organizer
You choose the content (simple grids or boards with bold images) and play recorded sounds when you touch a cell. The sequences can even form complete sentences.
Meal Prep Pro
1,000s of easy recipes, customized to your needs, likes and dislikes.
Housy: House Cleaning Schedule
Easy house cleaning checklists! Get your motivation to keep house clean using Housy chores tracker. Your best chore chart to make life easier.
SimpleMind - Mind Mapping
Mind mapping helps you organize your thoughts, remember information and generate new ideas.
Genie Connect
A home system that enables connections with friends, family, support staff, prompts, task planning and more.