The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has recently revealed the results of a new study which points that autism is present in about 1 in 50 children in America. This news has raised concerns of parents, health care professionals and also educational institutions due to the various issues that autistic children face in terms of learning, communication and social interaction.
Parents are concerned because of the costs in terms of emotional trauma that are going through or will have to go through with their kids being diagnosed of autism spectrum disorders. Healthcare professionals are concerned because the research on autism seems to be going in no direction. And finally, primary educational institutions are concerned because they have to implement special teaching techniques for autistic children more rigorously than ever before.
Thanks to increasing awareness and improving technology, there are smart tools and smart toys available in the market. These smart tools and smart toys are being advocated, for there has been an improvement in autistic children who have used these tools and toys.
Basically, these tools and/or toys have been cleverly designed to meet the developmental needs of an autistic child. They include physical toys as well as virtual tools, thanks to the improvements in latest technology in smartphones and tablet PCs.
Some of the highly rated smartphone, apple and tablet applications for autism include:
8 Technology Tools for Children With Autism
Autism Xpress is an application designed to run on Apple products. The application basically teaches an autistic child about emotions and subsequent facial expressions. General emotions such as happiness, sadness, hunger, etc are present in the app, in the form of small icons. Once the kid touches an icon, a full scale image of the emotion is displayed along with the text. This application can teach the difference between simple human emotions, feelings and facial expressions making it easier for autistic kids to understand.
Grace App is an application developed by Steven Troughton Smith. This is one application which is designed exclusively for people with autism spectrum disorders in mind. Grace App is an excellent tool that lets an autistic person communicate his or her mood or feeling appropriately. Lets them communicate what’s on their mind. It includes categories of images and text which can be arranged in a series to give rise to meaningful sentences that aid in communicating. In the short run Grace app helps to communicate, but in the long run, there is a hope that the autistic person can remember sentences and communicate without the help of this application.
iConverse is another such application designed for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch. This is an educational application that lets autistic children and children with communication disabilities to communicate freely. The application has been categorized as Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC). Due to easy portability, this application is a replacement for bulky communication devices of the past. This application has 6 set of basic communication modes and it can also be customizable by adding new modes. It can also record voices and has text-to-speech function which makes it easy to use.
- Essential Grammar in Use Activities
This is an educational app designed to teach basic grammar to autistic children. The app employs a bundle of visuals and sounds. This application uses standard and simple grammar techniques coupled with fun-filled activities. The application is useful for both regular children as well as for autistic children.
Some of the popular Android applications include
Show Me Numbers is an interactive application that teaches number sequence to children with autism spectrum disorders. This application is based on proven theory called Applied Behaviour Analysis. The application includes customizable features and tracking features which enable parents or teachers to track the progress of the child. This application has been developed after interacting with parents, teachers, schools, therapists, researchers, technocrats and researchers to give out the best application for improving condition in autism spectrum disorders.
Match Me has been especially designed keeping in mind the needs of autistic children. This is an interactive game like application where there are number of things display and flip. Each of the items has to be matched with an identical item and pair them up. This game has the potential to improve memory of the user.
Autism Speaks is an application that bridges the gap in autism community by bringing together the latest news and techniques being employed by researchers and doctors to common people. The communication is two way, since it gives power to common people to reach out and ask. The aim also is to bring awareness among people and to urge various institutions to find a solution for autism.
This online book has been designed keeping in mind about those people who still do not know anything about autism and its effects. This book is for regular people and it gives them an idea about how to communicate with autistic people. Demystifying autism is the motto of this application. Other details about autism such as the symptoms, possible causes, diagnosis of autism, medicines, therapies and alternative treatments used for autism and tips for parents.
These are some of the applications that have gained some popularity in Google’s Play Store.
