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VO Lab

VO Lab

No VoiceOver skills required
Moderate
Gestures: Finger drag, double tap, single finger flick left/right, three finger flick left/right.
Download on the App Store
VO Lab is an iPad game that is designed for adolescents and older students to learn and practice basic navigational touch gestures for VoiceOver, Apple’s built-in screen reader on iOS devices.

In the four multi-level stages of the VO Lab app you follow the directions of the strange Professor in his unusual chemistry lab, where he undertakes a not quite scientific experiment, with fictional chemicals. You practice touch gestures while you move through the app. When you have mastered all of the required touch gestures, you will be put in charge of the final experiment!
The app offers a fun and supportive learning experience. Although it has been demonstrated that the app can be used independently, active guidance and support may be required to help the learner perform the touch gestures correctly and achieve the best learning outcomes. To assist with this process, dynamically updated score-data and clear, short instructions are provided throughout the app.
The Taptap song helps to develop the correct timing and speed for the double tap gesture on the touch screen.
Download the instructions of VO Lab
Tips and Tutorial for blind educators using VO Lab

“This app has visuals that will appeal to students with low vision as well as intriguing sounds that are motivating for everyone. Do you have a low vision student who is resistant to learning a screen reader? This is the perfect app to introduce these students to basic VoiceOver gestures! Since the app is designed to be played without turning VoiceOver on and the story plot is so engaging, students are not even aware that they are learning VoiceOver gestures!”
Diane Brauner, educational accessibility consultant, on Perkins School for the Blind's Paths to Technology website