iAutism

There are few things more valuable to parents of children on the spectrum than icon-based communication boards and booklets. They can be created to explain almost any task -getting ready for school, eating, playtime choices- and any schedule, such as a school day or a field trip.

The problem with icon-based systems is the time it takes to create each activity representation. First you locate the icons, then you print them out, then you laminate them (if you want them to survive more than a day or two), then you attach velcro strips top the backs, and only then are you ready to use them.

There are books of pre-printed PCS symbols that you can purchase, and a few software programs as well, but in the end you still have to devote a day to an arts and crafts project to make any use of the symbols. Additionally, if you need a symbol that isn’t in one of the standard libraries, you either have to draw one of your own, search for one online, or use a photograph instead.

iPrompts solves all of these problems in one simple to use app. There are only four tabs in the interface which we will discuss below.

Schedules

This area lets you construct and save “schedules” (or social stories), tasks that consist of sequential images. Adding or editing a schedule presents you with a screen in which the icons are sequenced from top to bottom. You can choose icons from the Library, where they are organized by category, or you can add a photo you took with the device camera, you select from its Photo Library or you search on Internet. Icons can be reordered by tapping and dragging to the new location.

Just put the device in landscape mode to go to view-only mode in which images appear larger in size and you can go scrolling through them. In addition, each image is associated with a descriptive text –but no audio– which can be helpful if the child can read, of course.

Countdown and choices

The Countdown tab shows a simple countdown timer to which you can attach an icon. If you want your child to wash his hands for one minute, choose the “wash hands” icon from the library, then set the timer for one minute. You can see the time count down, as well as watch a box change from green to white as time runs out. The timer chimes at the beginning halfway point, and end of the task. Timer time is set up using hours and minutes.

The Choices tab allows you to create choices for different occasions (“Do you want an apple or a banana for a snack?”) by choosing one of two or more images. The app automatically inserts a bar with the word “or” between each image, and when an image is selected, it darkens the others. As with the schedules, putting the device in landscape mode exits the editing mode and shows larger images.

Library

iPrompts comes with a library of more than 300 images grouped in 29 categories. Most are illustrations, and the rest are pictures. That gives an average of a dozen images by category, covering topics such as bath, kitchen, food (various categories), clothing, personal care, transportation, school, playground, toys, drawing or colors, ie, the most common in the environment of a child.

You can also create new categories and add images to existing categories. The latter may be done by taking a picture with the device, in the case of an iPhone or a fourth-generation iPod touch, by choosing a photo of the available up through the application of the device or by searching for photos directly from the Internet by selecting an option image search built into iPrompts.

The tab “Library” also allows you delete images, edit the text associated with each image or duplicate images. The latter two options, combined, allow, for example, use of an image in a Schedule so that the text is much more descriptive of what the child has to do.

Advantages

What benefits do these systems offer? Handhold Adaptive’s website itself offers a good review: quicker to create images (no need to print, cut and hook), option to add images on the fly, avoid going loaded with lots of cards, something also very stigmatizing, hundreds of images available from the beginning, images are clearly visible in low light, for example within a cinema- and, finally, is an environmentally sound option (much better that printing hundreds of images.

iPrompts looks simple, but is very powerful. You can populate a library with photos you have taken yourself or found online, and then build your own sets of schedules and choices. In the five minutes it would have taken to print out a single icon, it is possible to create an entire twenty-step schedule.

As drawbacks, the small screen of the iPhone or iPod touch makes impossible to see many steps of a schedules, requiring to scroll. You can not demand more to those devices, but what we would like to see is an IPad-native version to take advantage of its much higher screen. Concerning languages, iPrompts is only in English, but after all is designed to work with images, so the application language is hardly relevant. Among the plans of Handhold Adaptive, they want to integrate video and sound association to images, which no doubt would add attraction to the app.

Apart from these details, iPrompts is a great tool.

-David Shaw & Francesc Sistach

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iPrompts 1.21

Web: www.HandHoldAdaptive.com

Developer: HandHold Adaptive, LLC.

Languages: English.

Functions: Visual schedules, social stories, choices and y countdowns based on images.

iPhone/iPod touch version: Yes.

iPad version: No.

Price: $49.99 / €39.99

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This post is also available in: Spanish