Kathy's List of Apps for Autism

Autism Tracker can be life changing for families with an autistic child. Explore Autism. Track what matters to your child and your family. Use the visual calendar and multi-item graphs to view and discuss patterns. Share individual events or entire screens with your team using Dropbox, email or Twitter (Twitter lets you set up closed groups). Now, track several persons on one device. Daily Reminders.

Before you buy, please try the Lite version of Autism Tracker first. It has the same functionality as the Pro version. The number entries per item is limited to twelve in the Lite version. All data and set up can be transferred to Autism Tracker Pro.

Autism Tracker is an educational app that helps families explore Autism. Each of its screens represents a different domain of Autism. Several screens are already set up to get you started:

MOOD
- Happiness, - Stress, - Activity Level, - Hyperactivity, Weather

BEHAVIOR
- Bolting, - Self-injurious, - Property Destruction, - Tantrum

FOOD
- Casein, - Lactose, - Gluten, - Colorants, - Caffeine

HEALTH
- Sleep, - Bowel Movements, - BM Texture

REPORTS
- show and compare all items at a glance

Key features
- One tap Yes / No items
- Customizable visual scales
- Use your own images and labels
- Note item with photos
- Powerful analytical package
- Daily, weekly, monthly graphs
- Compare multiple graphs at a glance
- Average, Min, Max, Last statistics
- Bar, line, icon, an trend graphs
- Visual calendar calculates icons for each day
- Tweet entries, notes and icons with one tap
- Export lists of entries for detailed review
- Export tables for daily, weekly, or monthly graphs
- Export backups for safe keeping or sharing

Teach your child new skills with Camp Discovery! Developed by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), Camp Discovery is a suite of therapeutic learning games that appeal to children and are approved by renowned behavioral scientists, teachers, and parents. Based on CARD’s comprehensive curriculum, developed over 25 years, Camp Discovery creates fun learning opportunities for children with autism and offers learning games including Objects, Colors, Shapes, Community Helpers, Emotions, and more. New learning games are released regularly! Camp Discovery is an excellent therapeutic tool for children ages 2 and up.

EVIDENCE BASED

The teaching procedures used in Camp Discovery learning games are designed by experts in the field of autism and are grounded on evidence-based behavioral principles, including reinforcement and prompting. Although Camp Discovery is designed for children with autism, all children can benefit from the carefully developed teaching procedures.

UNIQUE FEATURES

Many features set Camp Discovery apart from other children’s learning apps.

-Every Learning Trial Begins with a Preference Assessment
Rewards for correct responses are personalized for each player based on the results of the preference assessment

-Fun Mini Games Motivate Learning
Mini games serve as both a break from learning and an exciting reward for completing rounds.

-Track Your Child’s Progress
Camp Discovery allows you to track your child’s progress across games and generates graphs to show you how much your child is learning.

-Parents Are in Control
Multiple settings can be manipulated by parents in order to personalize the player’s learning experience.

SIMPLE USER INTERFACE

Camp Discovery was developed for the iPad, and the interface was designed for easy use by the player. The games are voice narrated, and responses require dragging and dropping or touching flashcards to be successful.

All Camp Discovery profits are used for the development of new learning games.

IN THE NEWS
http://www.cultofmac.com/262683/camp-discovery-uses-ipad-teach-kids-autism/
http://www.theiphonemom.com/Detailed_App_Review-detail/autism-learning-games-camp-discovery-review/

ABOUT CARD
CARD was founded in 1990 by leading autism expert and clinical psychologist Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA-D. CARD treats individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder using the principles of applied behavior analysis, which is empirically proven to be the most effective method for treating individuals with autism spectrum disorder and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Surgeon General. For more information visit www.centerforautism.com.

CONTACT US
appsupport@centerforautism.com
http://campdiscoveryforautism.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CampDiscoveryApps
https://twitter.com/_campdiscovery
https://plus.google.com/105453602028099929141/posts
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1EH8yCQVFnlrXJhlAwYYQ

Autism Emotion uses music and a photo slideshow to help teach about different emotions.

EMOTIONS:
- Happy
- Sad
- Proud
- Calm

EASY TO USE:
Touch the forward and back buttons to move through the photos one by one. Or simply press the slide show button to advance photos automatically. A home button brings you back to the navigation menu where you may choose your next emotion.

ABOUT:
This app is based on the Model Me Faces & Emotions™ DVD, part of the Model Me Kids® social skills training series for children and teenagers with Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

FEATURES:
The app includes audio narration (English), descriptive text of each photo, and songs by Music Therapist Rachel Rambach.

To learn more, visit www.modelmekids.com
Follow us on Twitter @modelmekids

•Developed by a speech-language pathologist
•Uses functional, real-life VIDEO, not still pictures
•Appropriate for children with receptive and expressive language impairments: autism, developmental language delays, Down’s Syndrome, and more…
•Improves functional language use
•Targets 60 actions with 91 novel video clips & 160 total clips start to finish
•Teaches expressive language concepts of verb + ing, singular pronouns + is + ing, plural prounouns + are + ing
•Also great for teaching simple wh questions (who, what, where), possessive pronouns, and past tense verbs (wait for video to stop playing)
•Data collection of pronouns and verbs

Also Includes:
•Rhythmic voice output to improve attention and increase ease of production
•Option to mute voice
•Record/play option
•Limited background noise to avoid echolalia of irrelevant speech
•Option to view written text

Description of Student Use:
Student chooses a module (modules are listed in a hierarchy from easiest to most difficult). A short video clip plays with voice output (i.e., “He is climbing.”). The user may also choose to mute the voice (more difficult without a model). The student may choose to record their own voice saying the action or sentence. The user then hits the “next” or “previous” arrow to continue.

Use Birdhouse for iPhone to keep a running, searchable log of your child's daily activities and behaviors, so you can figure out what's working and what needs to be changed.

Birdhouse is a super helpful, easy-to-use web and iPhone application designed for parents raising children with Autism BY parents raising a child with Autism.

Users must create an account on a full size (desktop/laptop) browser prior to using Birdhouse for iPhone.

Please email us at owl@birdhousehq.com with any and all feedback, questions, concerns, etc.

Thank you for helping us make Birdhouse more helpful for your family!

Avaz, a full-featured AAC app, has been developed for children who are non-verbal or who have difficulty speaking. Avaz has been designed with the vision of making every voice heard! Avaz is child- and caregiver-friendly, and helps therapists and educators to bring out the maximum potential in children. Avaz has received top international awards, including being on MIT’s list of Top 35 Innovations in 2011.

PRAISE FOR AVAZ
“Has a very clean presentation and is very intuitive to use. 3 stars/3 stars.” - Jane Farrall, AAC and Assistive Technology Expert and Speech Pathologist, Spectronicsinoz

“After Dharunika has started using Avaz, she has started communicating a lot more– and she also wants to communicate lot more now. She also spoke to complete strangers using Avaz, which she had never done before.” – Dharunika’s mother, a happy parent

“Avaz for Autism is the most flexible and functional assisted communication software I have seen for the iPad. It’s an outstanding tool and will open doors for countless individuals who need assisted communication.” – Sandra Fleming, bestappsforkids.com

“Avaz is a great AAC option for many reasons, but we especially love the dedication to continued improvements and innovation.” – Dr. Robin Parker, Consulting Director, UM-NSU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD), PrAACtical AAC

WHY CHOOSE AVAZ?
Avaz was developed in collaboration with 25 schools and 500 children, to help children with autism achieve the most effective communication possible. Avaz is also useful for children with Down Syndrome, Angelman's Syndrome, Aspergers, Apraxia and other non-verbal conditions. Avaz’s user interface is designed to make speech therapy more effective, develop a child’s language, and improve his/her intent to communicate.

Avaz uses picture symbols and high-quality voice synthesis to help users create messages. It comes with 3 research-based, graded picture vocabularies, and a Core Words set that will help a child begin to communicate. These vocabularies have been designed to facilitate spontaneous novel utterance generation, encouraging a child to not only use language, but also generalize from it.
While Avaz helps a child get started quickly with pictures, it's also great for facilitating easy transition into text. Avaz's keyboard has support for saving and loading text, a Quick response bar for frequently-used messages, and a picture-assisted text prediction capability for sight readers.

Avaz features animation for maximizing reinforcement, the ability to remove distracting content from the screen, fine-grained control over the speech output, and a high-contrast mode.

Avaz is exceptionally easy to customize, and comes with 7 high-quality voices from Acapela. You can even record your own voice! Avaz takes the hassle out of 'programming' a typical AAC aid, and keeps the focus on interacting with the child.

MAIN FEATURES
√ Research based, graded Vocabulary
√ Symbols and Images (15,000+ high-quality Symbolstix symbols or use your images)
√ Track Therapy Sessions and receive therapy logs in the mail
√ Easy backup and restore using iTunes and Dropbox
√ Seamless Integrated Text and Keyboard Mode
√ Be Social! Share your messages using email, Facebook, Twitter
√ Reinforcement using zoom and animation
√ Alert key
√ Word prediction with pictures and text
√ Instant Search to explore vocabulary easily
√ Consistent Motor Planning
√ No active internet connection (Wi-Fi or 3G) required
√ Grid Size Control
√ Very simple help screen on all pages

ADDITIONAL NOTES
√ Educational institutions can get a 50% discount on Avaz if they purchase 20 or more licenses through Apple’s Volume Licensing Program for Education
√ Detailed Tutorials and Support Videos http://www.avazapp.com/support/

Model Me Going Places™ is a great visual teaching tool for helping your child learn to navigate challenging locations in the community. Each location contains a photo slideshow of children modeling appropriate behavior.

LOCATIONS:
- Hairdresser
- Mall
- Doctor
- Playground
- Grocery Store
- Restaurant

EASY TO USE:
Touch the forward and back buttons to move through the photos one by one. Or simply press the slide show button to advance photos automatically. A home button brings you back to the navigation menu where you may choose your next destination.

ABOUT:
This app is based on the Model Me Going Places™ DVD, part of the Model Me Kids® social skills training series for children and teenagers with Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

FEATURES:
The app includes audio narration (English) and descriptive text of each photo.

To learn more, visit www.modelmekids.com
Follow us on Twitter @modelmekids