There's an App for When Mommy Is Away on Business

I am leaving this afternoon for two weeks of whirlwind international and bi-coastal conferencing. If you're going to be at the March 5th National Autistic Society conference in Harrogate, UK, where I'll be talking iPads & apps; or at the March 7th UCSF Developmental Disabilities Conference in San Francisco, where all four TPGA editrixes, myself included, will be discussing Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, social media, community, and outreach; or at the UN Foundation's Shot@Life Champions Summit to discuss vaccine policy and outreach in Washington DC March 9 - 12, please do say hello. (If I was to wear a communication badge, it would be Green, as perfectly outlined by ASAN -- I am not great at initiating conversations, but am happy to chat if approached.)

My husband and mother and a whole squadron of friends and helpers are covering for me -- the documentation for How To Run This Household When I'm Not Here is seven pages of 10 point text. So I'm not worried about being gone, and am profoundly grateful to everyone involved. I am worried about missing my family, though, and having them miss me.

So of course I made Leo a Kid in Story interactive book about going on a trip, where I'll be, why I'm going, how long I'll be gone, who will be with him while I'm gone, and that I will definitely be coming back. He liked the story, especially the part about me going on a train in England (that Thomas the Tank Engine conditioning perisists, it does). Since I will be 8 hours ahead of Leo for the first week, FaceTime will not always be an option. But with the Kid in Story app, he can independently see my picture, hear my voice, and reassure himself that I'll becoming back soon -- as many times as he wants to reassure himself. I also made him a bunch of KiS versions of his favorite books, so I can "read" them to him even when I'm not there.

I talk about the Kid in Story app all the time -- even in Bay Area Parent just this week -- with good reason. It's an affordable, easy-to-use story creation app. And its free companion Reader app lets you share any story you've made with any person who has access to an iDevice. It took me 30 minutes, tops, to create a nine-page story with custom photos, text, and voiceover, and then share it with Leo's grandmother, dad, and teacher. Leo will be able to reassure himself I'll be coming back, wherever he goes. And knowing he'll be reassured makes it less difficult for me to leave his side for such a long stretch.

Toca Band: Best Music App for Leo Ever

We're a family of Toca Boca fans, which is no secret -- I'm pretty sure we own all their apps, and we jump up and down every time a new one comes out. So: Yay! Toca Band arrives today!

Leo has always loved music apps, but this one is special, this is the one he's been waiting for -- as he can show you himself in the video below, which shows him diving right in, seconds after opening Toca Band for the very first time. Watch him go:

Do you see? Do you see how easy-to-use -- and fun -- and open-ended -- and goofy -- and creative this app is? Yet still structured enough for Leo to feel comfortable exploring? He doesn't need to read; he doesn't need to understand the characters' scat-style, often word-free "singing;" he doesn't need to stop and figure out how to use anything. The swipe-based selection menu at the bottom of the screen is easy for him to navigate, and to pluck characters from and then plonk on stage in different musical combinations. He enjoyed checking out all the different sounds/beats/loops, then popping the characters on the center stage star, exploring their individual percussive or vocal or musical characteristics and how they meshed with what was going on on the main stage -- and then popping right back to the main screen.

This this this. This is how apps should be designed. If you ever contemplate creating apps to delight and entertain kids -- all kids, including autistic kids like Leo -- then you need to take a long, hard, detailed look at apps like Toca Band, and start trying to understand why and how they work.

Leo's little sister Mali was waiting behind her brother the entire time he was playing the new app, desperate to have her own turn. And when she got it, she immediately started experimenting with innumerable musical combinations on the main stage, running over and asking us to listen to each one -- and they were fun to listen to, she was able to get really creative. Seeing what she and Leo could do made me itch to dive in, too. In fact the only reason I'm not playing with Toca Band right now is because I'm typing. The only reason.

The Toca Band "Stage." You can swipe the characters below to select different ones.
Placing a character on the center stage star opens up their own screen
-- with more musical options.

The only caveat I'd give is that if your kids push back against requests to turn their iPad's volume down (ahem, my progeny), then this app is yet another argument for Apple to enable a global iDevice volume limiter. Especially if your child gets really explorey with multiple musicians and center stage percussion characters, because Toca Band makes achieving dissonance and cacophony just as simple as harmony and counterpoint. All valid musical expressions! But not ones a precoccupied parent like me is going to want to hear at top volume for hours on end.

As device volume limit is not within the developer's control, I have no problem stating that Toca Band is a fabulous app. It is a Shining Example app. It is an app that lets my son be smart and creative. It is an app Leo adored on sight.

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Disclosure: Toca Boca sent me a preview code for Toca Band. But, as always (and since Leo's iPad has 450+ apps) I only write about apps that really stand out.

Leo App Review: Injini's Write My Name

Tracing letters and words.

It's been a while since Leo sat down with a brand new app and just took off with it, but that's what happened with Injini's new Write My Name handwriting practice app ($1.99). Yay! Leo deserves a fun, crisply designed, intuitive and customizable app to help support his reading and writing skills.

You're probably thinking that there are a lot of handwriting practice apps out there, and you're right -- but this one is different, this one is superior.

These photos and video are from the very first time Leo sat down with Write My Name. He was delighted -- he immediately plowed through word after word, animation after animation, letter sound after letter sound, reinforced learning opportunity after reinforce learning opportunity.

The official information about the app follows, but I also talked to the developers and was pleased to find out that they consulted with occupational therapists on the handwriting portion of the app, and tested it with children with fine motor delays:

What's unique about Write My Name? There is plenty of competition in the tracing app category but our features can make a significant impact for children who struggle to learn how to write.

• Create 36 custom name tags with your own pictures and recordings to personalize learning for your child
• Beautiful illustrations
• Animations upon completion of each letter or word
• Easy to navigate to promote independent learning
• Uppercase and lowercase alphabet
• 100+ common sight/Dolch words
• Records student progress as word cards and letters are completed
• Fingerpaint mode shows completed letters in child’s own handwriting
• Distraction-free: No advertisements or in-app purchases

In the same tradition as Injini Child Development Game Suite and My First AAC, Project Injini was inspired to create Write My Name to help children with special needs practice emerging writing skills in a fun and playful way. Mastering writing your own name is often an IEP goal but the other tracing apps in the app store don't make this activity easily accessible AND achievable. We had this particular activity in mind when we created Write My Name. 

I love the customizable name tags -- and I can't wait to see how pleased Leo will be when we help him fill out a bunch of these tags with the names and photos of his favorite people and things -- which will then let him practice writing the names of those items.

Create your own name tag...

...then click on your name tag to practice writing your own name!

Letter tracing option one: Fingerpaint! This lets us see
what Leo's letter tracing ability actually looks like.

Letter tracing option two: clean lines! These lines are automatic,
and dependent on tracing ability but not fine motor precision.

The following video shows Leo and Write My Name in action. He loved this app -- and I appreciate that it broke him out of the Speech With Milo: Prepositions app rut he'd been stuck in this week (we love the Milo series, but right now the Milo music is the soundtrack of my nightmares).

Again, it's been a while since I've been really impressed with an app. This one's more than worthy of you or your child's time, and your $1.99.

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Disclosure: we were gifted a copy of the app, but the opinion expressed here is my own. I only review apps worth reviewing.

Making Great Apps for Kids With Autism, Kids Like Leo

I'm going to be spending all today at HP's App Hackathon, the IRL manifestation of their HackingAutism.com project. You can check out the Hacking Autism idea gallery to see apps people have suggested, and you can still add your own thoughts. As you might imagine, I have a few app ideas of my own -- how about a game based on Stephen Shore's excellent Using a Public Bathroom video? Leo would love it, and it would be fun, educational, and appeal to not just Leo but ten-year-old boys the world over.

I was initially invited to the Hackathon to give a talk, but apparently the developers decided at the last minute that they don't want to hear about why they should be hacking -- they just want to get to the hacking! So I'll be there as a parent resource and as a blogger.

But because I already wrote up the slides for my talk, I'll slap those bullets up here. This is what I want the Hackathoners to know about developing apps for kids like Leo:

How Apps Expand Learning and Leisure Opportunities for People With Autism

• Independent learning and leisure can be a challenge for kids like Leo – and he deserves to play! 
• Apps are motivating and dynamic: they have audio, visuals 
• Great content and ideas are useless without a straightforward user interface

Why Apps Work for Leo 

• No cursor analogy - direct touch screen
• Fine motor ease: stylus, mouse not required
• Replace backpacks and cupboards of activities
• Learn independently, or with support
• Incidental, interstitial learning 

What Helpful Apps Do

• Simplify, focus – break learning down into discrete chunks 
• Support literacy but don’t require it 
• Avoid nested, cluttered, text-heavy interfaces 
• Use reinforcing audio, visual cues 

Ideal App User Interfaces
(Adapted from Injini.net's results from beta-testing their very recommended Injini app suite with children with autism)

• To keep children with autism engaged, apps need:
• Consistency 
• Predictability 
• Simplicity 
• Visual cues, structure 
• Clearly defined, consistent beginnings and endings:
• Support learning
• Ease transition anxiety

 Elegant does not mean perfect or polished! It means simple and straightforward.

Collage/art app Faces iMake: one of my very favorite, easy-for-Leo-to-use UIs

Mali App Demo: Toca Robot Lab

Mali's and Leo's Toca Boca app fandom has been recognized, as you can see by the excellent Toca Boca tee she's sporting in the video below. Malil is demonstrating one of the apps she has in heavy rotation, Toca Robot Lab -- which lets her create robots and then guide them through mazes before they are dispatched to the great robot unknown.

Once again, our thanks to Toca Boca for making motivating, easy-to-use apps!



We are grateful to Toca Boca for gifting our family this app (and the t-shirt) but the opinions expressed in this space are ours and ours alone. As always, we only review the apps we consider worth reviewing -- though we have a sizeable app review backlog.