Words in Pictures

PICTURES, WORDS, MESSAGES, AGENDA: the first app expressly made to give parents, teachers and specialists an effective and portable tool for visual communication to children or adults suffering from Autistic Spectrum Disorders or intellectually impaired. >>BEST APP for Patients - AboutPharma Digital Awards 2013<< Now including 5 LANGUAGES (IT, ES, ENG, FR, DE) and NEW FEATURES! FREE for 2 weeks. Later you can buy the most suitable subscription for your needs. Autism causes a difficult understanding of concepts that can be overcome only by the use of pictures to support verbal codes. Words in Pictures is a companion, A DAILY HELP: it allows a person to bring with them on their iPhone or iPad the cards that link image and concept to be shown to the child. The cards work as the "words" of visual communication. One can easily search, build messages and quickly plan their day on the agenda. The app is developed bearing in mind the needs of those who want to interact with the autistic person. Its GOAL is to enrich the communication with visual supports, helping autistic kids to live in a world more understandable and predictable and to MAINTAIN A CONTACT with people around them. The app is the result of the collaboration among Finger Talks (technology, marketing, social commitment), speech therapists (Parole Tue), neuropsychiatrists, educators and parents from all over the world who joined in both the design and the test. Visual communication is widely recognised as an effective way to support understanding. Nevertheless, the autistic child often lacks of intentional communication. The PECULIARITY of the app lies in its focus on the practical use by the adult. The app sets a gradual path in the communication exchange which starts from the adult and is oriented to the child. The emphasis is put on the sharing of meaning; then the autistic person is encouraged to an "outgoing" active involvement. 4 SECTIONS with rapid access to features for parents and specialists; appealing graphics for the child. 1. PICTURES: Build cards and meanings Interactive vocabulary: test the understanding of concepts by looking up "semantic" categories with more than 1200 symbols of daily use chosen by our experts and make new cards - pictures, text and audio - and personal categories. 2. MESSAGES: Quickly make rules and instructions Special Feature: type in the text of a sentence, the app will translate it quickly into a sequence of pictures. You can make new cards and add them, record your own voice, save and use the message later. 3. AGENDA: Visual schedule, time planning and routine learning Aid the child to understand daily and weekly activities: add the cards in sequence in the visual agenda (e.g. morning, afternoon, evening) setting up to 4 levels of detail, get the child involved in the “choice” between 2 cards - a first conscious interaction with the medium - and add markers on the activities. 4. MY WORDS: Message archive Quickly look up for frequent messages you archived, to show in "view only" mode without risk of modification. Promptly manage critical situations. MAIN FEATURES • fast and easy communication - search for a picture by word or category; make a message with instant translation into symbols; word-predictor; archive for the most used words, messages and days. • comprehensive - understanding, communication, scheduler, social rules and tasks analysis. • reliable - expert's advice, thorough beta testing, high quality pictures (SymbolStix™). • customizable - card making with symbols, photos, text, audio and user-defined categories. • engaging - the child can choose by a tap the favourite activity or snack - possibility to add markers on the performed tasks (the "v" for "done", the "flip card", the "x" for "don't do") • practical - images-on-the-go on your mobile, integrated step-by-step visual guide. Development partners: Vidiemme Consulting Surf on www.fingertalksapp.com to get further information.