Tip #1: Sometime the most obvious uses are overlooked. Psychologists who do many evaluations, and particularly school psychologists, carry around a lot of stuff! Anything we can do to lighten the load is a good idea. iPhones and iPod Touch come with a clock application which has a stop watch feature. Use this for timed performance tests in your psychological evaluations. It is precise to a tenth of a second, silent and therefore not distracting to the subject, and it is discrete to use. It also has a lap timer for recording multiple times.
Tip #2: Don’t forget this technology started out primarily as a media player. Convert audio portions of tests, such as the CTOPP or WJ-III, to mp3 and put them on the iPod. Then you won’t have to carry around another device, such as a cassette or CD player, and the audio will likely be clearer than if you played the CD through your laptop speakers, thus preserving standardization and the integrity of the test. You can use external mini speakers or the ear buds. If you use the ear buds, don’t forget to have a supply of disposable ear bud covers on hand and sterile alcohol wipes in your office to clean before and after each client. Here are some places you can order ear inexpensive disposable ear bud covers http://practicon.com/Disposable-Headphone-Covers/p/70-8115/c/210/ http://www.shopwiki.com/earbud+covers
