Independent Living with an iPhone: DSAM Presentation September 2017

This page holds material from a Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota workshop to be delivered September 9, 2017.

These draft book chapters are available for download. Some are up to a year old and all will have more revisions before publication. They haven’t been proofread, so they have many typos and similar errors. Don’t worry about reporting those.

When I started my book project I planned to do both iPhone and Android in a single book. I’ve since focused on iPhone and I hope to do Android as a separate, later book. These chapters still contain Android material. It is harder to write about Android because devices vary and there are usual several different generations of Android software in use.

Chapters are distributed here as PDFs. The writing tool I use creates Endnotes rather than Footnotes when I save as PDF.

iOS 11 is coming out on September 12 so they will all need some revision after that!

  • Introduction and the Way of the Guide: Two early chapters that discuss roles of Guide and Explorer.
  • Overview of independence apps: An older chapter that gives an overview of smartphone apps that promote independence.
  • Setting up an iPhone: I’ve rewritten this one a couple of times and it needs another do over. I think it’s too detailed, though part of the problem is that the iPhone has gotten more complex over time.  You can skip to the summary for a highlight of settings.
  • Planning and memory – Calendar: One of my favorite topics.
  • Memory – Notes: Includes older Android material and discussion of Reminders. The iPhone Notes discussion is current.
  • Messaging: A bonus chapter! I didn’t cover this topic today but it’s a big one.
  • Social – Facebook: Facebook is friend and foe.
  • Safety – Restrictions: One of the more challenging topics in the book! I describe use of MMGuardian as a remote restriction management app. I think it’s a good choice but I’d love to hear of experience with alternatives.
  • Home video monitoring: Another bonus chapter. I dropped this from the book but it’s a topic of some general interest. I might work it back in if I do an “apps of interest” chapter — but that might be a second edition effort.