I've thought and thought and thought about what I'd love to see in an iPad app for Janey. I don't know the first thing about apps or writing them, so I don't know what really goes into it, but I know that many kids with autism have a huge interest in the iPad, and I don't think they are being well served. There are many communication programs, most of which cost a huge amount and I think are more for schools to buy, and there are lots of toddler or preschool apps that Janey and other kids might be very interested in, but which have design areas that make them not great for teaching her. I think someone writing the killer app to home educate a child with autism might make a killing, as well as being revered by many, many parents!
Here's what the app would be like. It would have to first, be very simple to enter. So many apps require all kinds of choices right at the start, and easily go by mistake to a screen to buy content, or to confusing menus. You'd have to be able to click on the app and start playing. Once you did, it would have to feature a very clean screen---not all kinds of hopping or dancing around icons. I'd picture something like this---a screen with a circle, square and a triangle. The voice says "touch the circle" If Janey did that successfully, she'd get a couple seconds of a customizable reward. In her case, it could be the opening lines of a song she loves, or a piece of a video. Then, automatically, it would go back to a question screen, and have, randomly or not, a totally different kind of question---this time, it could have 3 numbers, or 3 letters, or 3 faces, with a question about them. The change there prevents obsessive doing of the same task over and over, which Janey gets into doing. The program could have a way of analyzing how Janey is doing, and then slowly making itself more complex. I'm picture a program that could go from capital letters right onto, gradually, reading, or from counting to numbers to adding and in my dream world, on to algebra or something, all done in such a slow and measured way that there are no disturbing jumps in cognition needed.
The BIGGIE is what the program would do if you got an answer wrong. It would do NOTHING. It would not make an interesting sound, or say "No, you need to try again" or anything at ALL. It would move on to another question, in a totally different area, with no reward. The problem with most programs is that they, without meaning to, reward wrong answers. Janey loves it when wrong answers result in a shaking no head, or a popping sound, or anything at all. She even likes it when the game just eliminates the wrong answer and leaves the right ones, or leaves them all there. I think she likes savoring the wait for the reward, and so picks the right answer last in those cases. There needs to be no incentive at all for getting a wrong answer! No punishment either, of course, except not getting to see the highly coveted reward.
The reward would have to be very easy to set up as a personal reward. What Janey would like might be nothing like what another child would like. If a child was into Thomas the Tank Engine, it could be a little clip of their video. If the child was into plumbing (as my older son used to be), it could be a diagram of pipes. With Janey, it could be a listen to "And the Angels Sing" or "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" or "That's Rock and Roll", to name a few of her assorted favorite songs. Until a child's taste changes, the reward should be predictable and the same every time. Typical kids would get bored of this, but Janey anyway would feel very gypped if she was expecting one reward and got another. The reward should also end after a bit automatically. If it's left up to the child to say how long they want it, they will keep using it forever.
If an app like this already exists, I wish I could find it! I don't think it does. There are a few that come close. One is "Find Me", which was written especially for autistic kids, but it is very limited to one task---finding a little boy against an increasingly crowded background. It gets the reward just right, but Janey has reached the highest level it goes to and although she still plays it happily now and then, she is no longer learning anything new from it. Another app that almost works is the First Words group of games. They require kids to place letters in the right place to form a word (with a template provided) and once the letters are in place, a picture dances around and music plays. The problem with this one is that it always starts with the same easy words, and goes in a completely identical path each time. Janey knows that the words get longer and harder, so she just restarts the program at a later time to get back to her easy starting words!
Of course, there are lots of ways to learn besides on the iPad. But I think the iPad does have a huge appeal to kids like Janey. It's portable, so they can play in whatever odd body position feels right for them (and Janey gets into some crazy ones!), it exists at both home and school and it's "normal"---it's not an autism only thing, although Janey would not care about that, but overall, I do like her to be into things that other kids might possibly be into also.
We live in an amazing age, where I can even get picky about what kind of apps I want on technology that I would have given up years of my life to have as a kid! We are lucky that way, to be sure!
Rarer in Girls...Life with my daughter Janey, who is 21 and severely autistic
Showing posts with label FindMe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FindMe. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Ten iPad apps Janey likes
Notice here I didn't say "Ten iPad apps Janey has learned a lot from" or "Ten iPad apps I like". Over the year we've had the iPad, I've realized if Janey doesn't like an app, it does no good. It can be the greatest learning app on the face of the planet, but Janey's not going to use it at home unless she likes it. She knows very well how to use the button to take her back to the menu of apps, and she never hesitates to use it freely if something doesn't interest her. However, the few apps she likes get used a fairly lot. Not a HUGE amount. I wouldn't say the iPad is quite the success with Janey I'd dreamt it might be. She likes it, but as a toy she turns to now and then. I think she's learned a little from it, by chance, when an app that appeals to her just happens to have a learning component, but it hasn't been any huge breakthrough devise for her. That being said, I'm glad I got it for her. Any toy she actually uses and enjoys is a good toy, and the rest of us have fun with it when she's not using it. Anyway, here's the list, with links when I can find them! (in no particular order)
1. PianoBall
This is a simple piano app. You get a keyboard that kind of looks like a xylophone, which you can change the color and tone of with little balls above the keyboard. It plays various simple songs, and has a mode where little stars sparkle above the key you need to play next. Janey actually does this now and then, but mostly just fools around the colors and keys. I thought keyboard type apps would be Janey's favorite part of the iPad, but that hasn't really proven the case.
2. Fish School
Schools of fish form the letters of the alphabet and numbers. You move to the next letter by swiping across the screen. This was the first app Janey got into, and she still likes it a fair amount. It's nice and simple and colorful.
3. Christmas Song Machine
This app would most certainly not be on MY favorites list, but I would say it's Janey's all time favorite. It features kind of animated scenes playing with a background of Christmas songs being sung fairly badly. You pick the song by a somewhat complicated process in Santa's Workshop, which Janey mastered easily, as she does with most things that that she really likes. If you are into hearing O Holy Night sung annoyingly and repeatedly in mid-July, this is your app.
4. Elmo's Monster Maker
This is a cool app with a lot to it, but Janey doesn't use it the way it was intended. You pick a blank monster, and then pick eyes, a nose and a hat for him or her, and the monster comes to life. The choices change seasonally---there are Christmas ones, there were ones for the Olympics, etc. However, Janey likes the monsters blank-faced, which you can do, and she then makes them dance to various types of music---disco, Mexican and so on. She does this over and over and over. I've often tried to interest her in the faces, but that is not the point for her. You might have better luck!
5. Starfall ABCs
This app is like one that is on the internet, and Janey played it first there at school, and was delighted to find it at home. You pick a letter block and the app shows a few things that start with that letter. Some of the letters have little activities, too, like filling in the letters to spell "camp" and getting a camp song. Janey knows the letters she likes and picks them out, but otherwise, I am not so sure she learns a lot from this. She enjoys it a great deal, though.
6. Firstwords Christmas
This one actually DOES teach. I was thrilled when Janey got into it. You get mixed up letters of a word, and have to put them in the right place, like a puzzle. When you do, the app says the word and moves a picture around, and makes a sound. Janey has played this for hours. Over the year, I've seen her ability to match letters increase hugely, partly because of this app. There are all kinds of other Firstwords apps, but Janey is a big fan of Christmas things and likes this one far better than the others.
7. FindMe (autism)
This is the only app specifically designed for autistic kids that Janey has gotten into. You find a little boy in an outdoor setting that gets increasing busy as you get better. When you have found him five times, you get a dancing shapes reward. Whoever designed this knew exactly what would motivate autistic kids, as Janey will play this for a VERY long time to get that reward, which to me looks very boring, but to her is the ultimate treat. I wish this game moved on beyond finding the boy, which Janey has gotten extremely good at. If she had to find letters or numbers or shapes, I think she'd be motivated to do so.
8. Noodle Words
This is a very, very well designed and cool app. You open a magic box of words, pick a word, and then play with the word. For example, "surprise" lets you get all kinds of surprises by touching it. There are little guys at the bottom of the screen that interact with the words. It's a nice clean looking screen graphically, so the word stars, and I think Janey has learned to recognize which words she wants to play with. I wish they'd expand this to much more words.
9. GoFun
Here's one of those "why in the world does she like this?" apps. It's a puzzle app. You pick a picture and then it turns into a puzzle to do. The problem is that the puzzles are very badly done---with strange divisions into pieces and not great pictures. Janey is obsessed with one of a leprechaun, and does the first few pieces of it over and over. She never finishes it. There are lots of puzzles, anyway, including a bunny one and a clock one she's done now and then. I've downloaded all kinds of better puzzle apps, or better in my eyes, but they have no appeal to her.
10. Working on the Railroad
Another app I wish was better, but one Janey likes a lot. It consists of a video of the song being sung, and then a few "learning games"---putting shapes into, for some reasons, large letters, simple puzzles, etc. The song is sung nicely and I think having it in the background during the activities keeps Janey working on them, but I wish there were more of them and they were a little better designed.
So there's her list. This is no means a list of the best apps I've found. There are many fabulous apps out there, often for free or for very small amounts of money, which is what I love about the iPad. I'd love it even more if Janey liked more of those apps. If someone could design a learning app that would truly appeal to autistic kids, they would be a hero in my eyes. I'd love something that combined the appeal of FindMe with the design of Noodle Words and the letter learning of FirstWords, with music that is well done like in Working on the Railroad, and depth like GoFun. If there was an app like that, and it was expandable, I'd pay pretty good money for it, and I'm sure a lot of schools would too. But the designer would have to actually understand autism, or at least Janey's form of autism. They'd have to get that autistic kids won't work for rewards they don't want, that music and moving objects are a huge draw, that repetition has to be a part of it, but with very gradual changes build in so the kids can't just do the same thing over and over for hours, that you have to design with the kid in mind and not the parents. You can make a beautiful, full featured, amazing app that kids with autism will never touch, if it doesn't appeal to them. Or, sadly, you can make a slapped together stupid app that for some reason appeals to autistic kids, and they will play it for hours. That's life in Autism City, I guess.
1. PianoBall
This is a simple piano app. You get a keyboard that kind of looks like a xylophone, which you can change the color and tone of with little balls above the keyboard. It plays various simple songs, and has a mode where little stars sparkle above the key you need to play next. Janey actually does this now and then, but mostly just fools around the colors and keys. I thought keyboard type apps would be Janey's favorite part of the iPad, but that hasn't really proven the case.
2. Fish School
Schools of fish form the letters of the alphabet and numbers. You move to the next letter by swiping across the screen. This was the first app Janey got into, and she still likes it a fair amount. It's nice and simple and colorful.
3. Christmas Song Machine
This app would most certainly not be on MY favorites list, but I would say it's Janey's all time favorite. It features kind of animated scenes playing with a background of Christmas songs being sung fairly badly. You pick the song by a somewhat complicated process in Santa's Workshop, which Janey mastered easily, as she does with most things that that she really likes. If you are into hearing O Holy Night sung annoyingly and repeatedly in mid-July, this is your app.
4. Elmo's Monster Maker
This is a cool app with a lot to it, but Janey doesn't use it the way it was intended. You pick a blank monster, and then pick eyes, a nose and a hat for him or her, and the monster comes to life. The choices change seasonally---there are Christmas ones, there were ones for the Olympics, etc. However, Janey likes the monsters blank-faced, which you can do, and she then makes them dance to various types of music---disco, Mexican and so on. She does this over and over and over. I've often tried to interest her in the faces, but that is not the point for her. You might have better luck!
5. Starfall ABCs
This app is like one that is on the internet, and Janey played it first there at school, and was delighted to find it at home. You pick a letter block and the app shows a few things that start with that letter. Some of the letters have little activities, too, like filling in the letters to spell "camp" and getting a camp song. Janey knows the letters she likes and picks them out, but otherwise, I am not so sure she learns a lot from this. She enjoys it a great deal, though.
6. Firstwords Christmas
This one actually DOES teach. I was thrilled when Janey got into it. You get mixed up letters of a word, and have to put them in the right place, like a puzzle. When you do, the app says the word and moves a picture around, and makes a sound. Janey has played this for hours. Over the year, I've seen her ability to match letters increase hugely, partly because of this app. There are all kinds of other Firstwords apps, but Janey is a big fan of Christmas things and likes this one far better than the others.
7. FindMe (autism)
This is the only app specifically designed for autistic kids that Janey has gotten into. You find a little boy in an outdoor setting that gets increasing busy as you get better. When you have found him five times, you get a dancing shapes reward. Whoever designed this knew exactly what would motivate autistic kids, as Janey will play this for a VERY long time to get that reward, which to me looks very boring, but to her is the ultimate treat. I wish this game moved on beyond finding the boy, which Janey has gotten extremely good at. If she had to find letters or numbers or shapes, I think she'd be motivated to do so.
8. Noodle Words
This is a very, very well designed and cool app. You open a magic box of words, pick a word, and then play with the word. For example, "surprise" lets you get all kinds of surprises by touching it. There are little guys at the bottom of the screen that interact with the words. It's a nice clean looking screen graphically, so the word stars, and I think Janey has learned to recognize which words she wants to play with. I wish they'd expand this to much more words.
9. GoFun
Here's one of those "why in the world does she like this?" apps. It's a puzzle app. You pick a picture and then it turns into a puzzle to do. The problem is that the puzzles are very badly done---with strange divisions into pieces and not great pictures. Janey is obsessed with one of a leprechaun, and does the first few pieces of it over and over. She never finishes it. There are lots of puzzles, anyway, including a bunny one and a clock one she's done now and then. I've downloaded all kinds of better puzzle apps, or better in my eyes, but they have no appeal to her.
10. Working on the Railroad
Another app I wish was better, but one Janey likes a lot. It consists of a video of the song being sung, and then a few "learning games"---putting shapes into, for some reasons, large letters, simple puzzles, etc. The song is sung nicely and I think having it in the background during the activities keeps Janey working on them, but I wish there were more of them and they were a little better designed.
So there's her list. This is no means a list of the best apps I've found. There are many fabulous apps out there, often for free or for very small amounts of money, which is what I love about the iPad. I'd love it even more if Janey liked more of those apps. If someone could design a learning app that would truly appeal to autistic kids, they would be a hero in my eyes. I'd love something that combined the appeal of FindMe with the design of Noodle Words and the letter learning of FirstWords, with music that is well done like in Working on the Railroad, and depth like GoFun. If there was an app like that, and it was expandable, I'd pay pretty good money for it, and I'm sure a lot of schools would too. But the designer would have to actually understand autism, or at least Janey's form of autism. They'd have to get that autistic kids won't work for rewards they don't want, that music and moving objects are a huge draw, that repetition has to be a part of it, but with very gradual changes build in so the kids can't just do the same thing over and over for hours, that you have to design with the kid in mind and not the parents. You can make a beautiful, full featured, amazing app that kids with autism will never touch, if it doesn't appeal to them. Or, sadly, you can make a slapped together stupid app that for some reason appeals to autistic kids, and they will play it for hours. That's life in Autism City, I guess.
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