Using Ipad

I have not done this myself but look at the following settings on the iPad,

Settings > General > Accessibility

There is a section there of some different settings that you can implement to improve things for your mother.

eg. Zoom, Large Text and Guided Access in particular look like they might be helpful.

You are very welcome. Technology has made it so much easier to communicate, stay in touch and be entertained but we need to make sure that it is available to everyone. My Dad, who is now 80, loves all his Apple stuff and I regularly help him to make the most of it. FaceTime and Skype are particularly good at keeping us all in touch despite being quite some distance apart.

I am sure that she will enjoy it as it I believe that it is much easier to use than an iPhone or computer/Mac.

Do also come back here with any further questions which you might have as there are many more people, with much more experience and knowledge than me here, which is willingly shared.

I recently went through this for my 91 year old father-in-law.

Please read https://developer.apple.com/technologies/ios/accessibility.html

First, your Mom's ipad will have VoiceOver (all ipad versions do.)

She will need a wireless router to use ipad at home. These can be rented via cable providres, though most people buy a router and set it up themselves. She will need an internet connection at home, and many elderly people, like my Mom, have no interest. If or once she is set up

Go to settings. On the right side of the screen, scroll down to the very bottom, (it does not show until you scroll all the way down) > accessibiliy> that will take you to another screen. On the right top, slide VoiceOver ON. When your mom puts her fingers on an app, it will tell her what the app is. If it's not want she wants she can tap others until she gets to the ibooks app. All her books can be stored in there.

Please be aware that once VoiceOver is on, scrolling and different tapping will come into play.

There are some videos on youtube, specifically regarding Voiceover for the vision challenged. There are many apps that can help your mom with brain games that you might add in as she gets more comfortable with the ipad.

Regarding apps on opening screen, please read http://ipad.about.com/od/ipad_tips/a/Great-iPad-Tips-Every-Owner-Should-Know.htm. You can create a folder, drag and drop what your Mom will not need, and move it down to the tray at he bottom of the screen.

Also, though I havenn't found a way to make the apps you'll kep on the opening page larger, your Mom can, with VoiceOver, be told what she dealing with.

You and she can use FaceTime to talk and you can do this without a cellular ipad. It's built into all ipads.

http://www.apple.com/ios/facetime/

When I think of other info that will help your mom, I'll get back here. I think ipads for seniors are great, and the more you read about how many things she can do with it, it can be a close contact for her to not only read books, but listen to music, play brain games, and use FaceTime to keep in contact.

Hope this helps.

Hi again,

I forgot to mention photos. What will help me, though, is first knowing if she has a computer and internet connection. Does she?

I love that these days you can get your family to get old family pictures that sit in albums, shoeboes, etc.and remove them, scan them into a folder on their computers, edit them (even those old, faded torn ones can be made to look new). If they can't do it themselves, a photo developing store can for not a lot of money. Each person can then put them on a cd and send them to you. You can then combine all onto one folder.

To go further on this, it will help if I know her current computer/internet set up so I give you the best way to go to get them onto her ipad. It helps memory for them and I'm sure will bring joy, too. What a great surprise that would be for her.

So please let me know.

Thanks.

Hi again Junie,

This is funny. When I saw your question there was one response only and that was from Rapha. I started writing this and by the time I sent it I see there were many more posts between the two of you. (It happens often, particulary on this subject.

iBooks app is right there on the ipad.

I have said for a long time that I must buy a dictation app! What I wrote could have been said in a few minutes.

You can move virtually all of the apps to another screen if you like but you must keep at least one app on the home screen.

Tap and hold down on any of the apps on the screen and they will all begin to "jiggle". While they are in this jiggling state, you can hold down on an icon and move it over to another screen. I have found that this works best of you move the icon slowly and when you get to the edge of the screen, just drag it about halfway over to the next screen - just hold it here for a second or two, and the icon will jump to the next screen. When you are done moving all the Apps, tap on the home button and the apps will stop "jiggling",

There are many audio books available in the iBooks Store that you can purchase/download. You will need to download iBooks from the App Store first. iBooks is free and it is great for organizing your books into collections as well. That is something for down the road though and not something that you need to worry about now.

When you download an audiobook, you actually play it in the Music App on the iPad. There is a button at the bottom of the Music App that is called "More". Tap on that button to access audiobooks.

This might be useful for you ae well.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/ipad_user_guide.pdf

Good luck and all the best in this endeavor. It's going to be a bit of a challenge I'm sure.