Just in time for back-to-school, we are very happy to welcome Orna Altman (MA Education), creator of Ginger Tiger, an online learning environment designed for children with special needs. Orna has decades of experience developing educational software for children with and without disabilities.
Ginger Tiger
by: Orna Altman
We are very happy to introduce you to the Ginger Tiger web environment for the special education community. With Ginger Tiger, we hope to make the integration of children and adults with disabilities an easier, more effective and enjoyable process.
We were driven to create Ginger Tiger by our experience with outdated educational media tools that created a dull environment for the student and were also frustrating for the teacher or caregiver.
A devoted team of special needs educators and software whiz kids tailor-made and field tested the Ginger Tiger site: a vast online activity resource, made exclusively for the special needs community. The result is an effective set of learning aids, targeting most of the needs of special education schools. Ginger Tiger currently contains over 100 activities. New activities are added regularly, keeping the site fresh and improving the users’ experience.
All of the games and activities on our site have a number of difficulty levels, enabling the teacher to advance the student in controlled steps and helping them to practice the activities enjoyably according to his or her ability. The site is designed to meet the needs of our users by keeping the games simple, clean, and with low stimulation screen design.
Ginger Tiger is accessible anywhere and anytime on any device that fits your needs such as PC’s, iPads and other tablets. It is accessible to all special needs access devices including switches, eye gaze, touch screens and keyboards. The Ginger Tiger site works on iOS and Android systems via the “Puffin” browser.
All of the Ginger Tiger activities are 100% accessible.
Navigation of the Ginger Tiger site is simple with the activities separated into 6 categories: Cause & Effect, Basic Skills, Timing, Math, Speech & Language and Language Arts.
Cause & Effect activities help the student to link cause and effect, while receiving reinforcing feedback. The Cause & Effect section builds cause and effect skills as well as the basics of hand-eye coordination and switch skills.
A sample of the activities for switch skill development
The Basic Skills section includes activities that develop skills such as object and color identification, sorting and visual memory, skills which provide the basis for reading, writing and math.
The Timing section contains funny activities aiding the development of cognitive skills such as timing, impulse control, concentration and attention. Timing activities are essential for single switch users and serve as a good starting point for learning this skill.
The Math section contains fun activities from pre-math to second grade levels. The activities are highly effective and supportive to students with disabilities due to the unique game structure and use of clean unobtrusive screens and objects.
“Count to 10” and its Settings
The Speech & Language section includes activities that support the development of verbal communication, auditory and linguistic skills. Here we practice subjects such as following directions, auditory memory concepts and definitions.
The Language Arts section encourages the student to explore and learn through fun games with letters and words, early reading and writing steps and strengthening of phonological awareness.
“Writing Words”
Ginger Tiger currently has hundreds of thousands of users, including therapists, teachers and parents, enjoying Ginger Tiger today at homes and schools. We continue to receive great feedback, with dozens of supportive comments coming in from parents and teachers every week.
It takes only 30 seconds to register to our site and experience all of the activities for an unlimited one week trial. Join us today, and enjoy the ride! You are sure to love it as much as we do!
Click here to see a video about Ginger Tiger.
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