Autism Speaks Official Blog

I have a 12 year old brother that has autism like symptoms. What type of applications are available for him. I have been a very important role model in his life thus far.

The concept of a stress thermometer seems clear enough, I could use one of these myself, and maybe autistic folks could use one for other people. But what would it actually do?

Will this thermometer change colors as the person’s mood chsnges??

Would this be done through a series of icons almost like emoticons that the child could indicate an emotion or what they are feeling at the moment?

I like the concept…. and having a way to demonstrate the stress level could be helpful.

We use colors, each identifying the stress level. Green=1/calm, blue=2/not so calm, Yellow=3/aggitated, Orange=4/frustrated, Red=5/MAD

Could it be personalized? perhaps with visuals that are used in their daily life or would they need to be training on this new visual?

I like the idea!

agree with Joeliene I Can see that idea working

Ronnie – cool idea :)

I love the Super B idea. I worry all the time how my son will deal with Bullying in Junior High.

bullying is a reality and anything that can helpful like an application would be beneficial and maybe be intoduced to school

I love the concept, but unclear how it would help / what it could do.

Yes I LOVE the Super B idea!!!

Bullying “Lifealert” – We need more anti-bullying awareness and prevention. Anything to help protect our children would be appreciated greatly!

good idea but how can we actually get our kids to use it…. my son would never do it.

Bullying I think might always be an issue for children with disabilities! A lifealert system would be a great idea!! Expecually since theres alot of autistic children who don’t talk or can’t express they’re feeling or whats going on outside the home

I think the idea could be a great tool – especially if it offers both a way to alert others – i.e. track occcurances & gives social stories for possible responses.

My son is in Kindergarten and is already being picked on by kids on the bus

Thats an amazing idea. I have Aspergers, and I’m quite High Functioning, and the symptoms aren’t there anymore for me, but yes, I think this is a great idea for those who are low-functioning.

Would this be an alert that is immediate. So that personel can respond when incident is happing?

i think it may be a good idea, however I see great means of abuse to come from it.

would this app be affordable?

I think that in some instances it could be great. Even if used only when telling is trully needed.

now are we talking about online bullying or real life bullying

That would be great… I love the idea. My sister gets bullied and she has ASD so i think this is a very useful app

if it were immediate it would be hard to abuse…because officials can respond right away

Most Jr. High Schools that I’m aware of don’t let kids use phone during the school day – immediacy would be a problem. An app that walked a kid through a re”port of bullying “time, place, etc” might be very useful to get an accurate picture of what happened.

how would this app work for a kindergarten student?

I would also like to see the app have features available to teachers, (especially general education teachers) to use to educate/inform their general ed students about how to accept others that are different (those with ASD). If we help to teach awareness and spread information it might cut down on bullying due to misunderstanding.

Definitely needs to be tailored to different ages.

You could build the app to age appropriateness. One interface for kindergarders, another for middle school, another for high school. Becoming more complex over time.

The storyboard app is an excellent idea. Parents go crazy taking photos and laminating and printing.

Love this idea!

I love this idea – if my daughter could select a situation from the screen and then review the story board – it would really help her get through a lot more situations on her own.

I think it would be great if the kids could input their own situations and stories….my son has a hard time telling the difference between that actually happened and what he wanted to happen

I Struggle as a creative person. I sometime find it hard to put together a social story on short notice. This could be benificial. If the pictures and stories get to generic I know my son would lose interest.

It would be good if there were a combo of pre generated pics as well as you can upload/use your own photos. this would make it most relevant

I like Donna’s idea of both generic photos and uploading your own.

The ability to search the internet for images would be great

Adding location awareness to the app so it would present pictures based on physical location might be a cool feature.

Maybe we are limiting ourselves in this concept a little – with the video cameras on the phones/pads, why have a story board when you can have a “Social story video”

I picture taking a video of my older daughter brushing her teeth the “right way” then having it play while my daughter with autism brushes hers

Having the ability to share your story via email or social networking is also fantastic

Great idea Jerry! I enjoy that a lot

Jerry that sounds great! But I do think social stories on boards have a place. I had a student who got too caught up in the “business” of a video (whether he was in it or not) and really needed the organization of a 1-2-3-etc picture story

If video were used, my daughter would likely be upset if the reality didn’t match exactly.

I think the ability to share the user-generated content with many of these apps will be one of the most important features. As parents and caregivers, none of us has the time we would like to spend developing these types of things.

What is the timeframe on development of an app – once the hackathon is complete?

I am wondering if we could use computer science students to some of the development. Could we structure the app development in such a what that professors could offer chunks to their students to do as projects?

how often are those resources updated with newly found or newly created apps?

price range on the apps?

And, then how will they be made available at large – for purchase, free, iTunes

have you considered a panel of older ASD individuals to give ideas that would have helped them when they were younger?

H.A. – Thanks for your efforts, on behalf of all the parents here we really appreciate it!

will this live chat remain available for other to read if they could not participate?

thank you so much for looking out for new ways to help our kids :)