What is the difference between Autism Speech and other Picture-to-Voice apps ?.

There are others Picture-to-Voice apps in the Android Market it is true, but there some specific features that makes special the design of Autism Speech. The basics rules of autism speech are:

- Time is an important resource

Some applications have an interface that needs that the user: record, take photos and make other things to make the app work properly as default. This is an additional work for the user that needs to think and search for the better images and sounds, which is a not trivial and some times very demanding task, especially in the case of autistic children.

The pictures as well as the pictures position on the screen, in Autism Speech app, were carefully selected according to the autistic children needs.

- The interface should be consistent and easy.

Change the interface every time the children needs the device to comunicate something will frustrate him

- Less is better

Autism speech give the possibility to the child to access many options with few touches

- A word is not a sentence

One of the most difficult things to understand by the autistic children is the verb concept. Autism speech gives them the basics of the use of verbs.

- Reinforcement using reward

Some apps only give the possibility of emiting a voice when an image is pushed. The Autism Speech app also does that, but also performe a third operation, which is to make a zoom of the image if the children  push the sequence verb-object. In this way the children learning is reinforced

Robustness:

Usually the autistic children do not have fine motricity. The scrolling of screens could be a very difficult challenge for they. Autism speech have a no-scrolling interface in order to make easier the pictures selection

Some advices for the daily use of Autism Speech App

The non-verbal autistic children usually create his own way of obtaining what they want, for example if they want something to eat: they go to kitchen or they open the refrigerator and try to take it by their own or they take your hand and push it in the direction of the object that they want.
If they want to go somewhere then they try to escape from you and run to that place or they push you in that direction.  If they don't know how to explain what they want then they perform tantrums or self-injury behaviors.

Some autistic children develop this set routines and others in order to solve what they consider to be they basics needs. Then, they may think: why should I change ?.  You must to prove to your children that the use of the device with the Autism Speech application represent less effort and complications than using his methods. In order to do that, we will give you some advices:

1. Graduality and patience: You must begin by taking his hand and pressing in the options. For example if the family is going to dinner, you must take the device before he may know that is going to eat and press: I want - food.
 This process of helping him or her with your hand may take weeks or even a year depending on the progress of the children.

2. The children must love his device not hate it: In the first lessons try to use the device only for things that you know he love, for example for soft drink, fruits, go to the beach. After you see that he is not rejecting the device then you may pass to the other options.