Picaa vs AutisMIND

Picaa: Interactive and Cooperative Mobile Learning. Important: The application is in English (as well as in Spanish) although sample activities provided are in Spanish. You can customize or create new ones with the pictures and sounds you want, including synthesized sounds (Text-To-Speech) in English. Picaa aims to bring flexibility and adaptability in the education of children with special needs (autism, PDD, Down Syndrome, etc). The app allows defining five kinds of activities fully customizable to be performed by the users: - Exploration: this activity can be used like an augmentative and alternative communicator (AAC) system. Exploration activities also can be used like navigation-based histories that let students learn concepts through the navigation of a hypermedia system with components. - Association: the student must indicate relationships between elements that belong to several sets. - Puzzle: a decomposed image must be rebuilt from multiple pieces. Number, size and shape of pieces can be configured. - Sorting/selection: a list of elements that must be ordered in a sequence or where the user must find a particular item. - Memory (Memory-Match). Create activities for working memory, can use images and text. More innovating factors of the platform are: - It is designed like a mobile platform, following an approach where activities run on entertainment mobile devices that turn out to be more attractive to users. - It provides support for group work, fostering integration and interaction with other users. - It has the capability of user adaptation and content customization. - It provides functions to synthesize sounds (requires WiFi/3G connection). - Activities can be shared via email or can be imported/exported via iTunes sharing files feature. (*) Sample pictures given by the DiverTIC Association (www.divertic.org).

Autismind is a tool to support parents and professionals to stimulate social thinking and the Theory of Mind in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism, Asperger ...) or other disorders, such as intellectual development delay or deficit attention (ADHD). The app consists of 10 different themes, with 6 levels of difficulty and more than 1,000 playful exercises and interactive materials. The ToM is the ability to put yourself in the place of the other to know what you think, what you feel, what you want ... and thus be able to modulate our behavior to adapt to the situation. Children with autism may have a deficit of Theory of Mind and clearly interfere in social relationships, making it difficult to adapt and integrate into the environment. Therefore it is very important to stimulate social thinking in those children with autism or Asperger who show alterations. AutisMIND is an application that deals with the Theory of Mind in a global way, with the objectives organized and structured according to the evolutive development of the child, acting as a guide for parents and professionals who carry out the intervention. Main features of Autismind: Simple and intuitive use: avoids overloading stimulate, unnecessary details and is very clean and easy to understand. Immediate feedback and positive reinforcement: it allows you to instantly know if the answer is correct and uses reinforcers and prizes that evolve as the child completes levels, increasing the motivation to successfully complete the exercises. Customizable configuration: functions adaptable to the needs of each user (essential factor for children with autism): control over locutions, music, progression indicator and choice between various prizes and avatars. Learning without error: clear and defined structure, with exercises that progressively increase difficulty and visual aids and supports to ensure understanding and success in exercise, avoiding the frustration that children with autism spectrum disorder may experience. Playful exercises: raises learning with fun examples, funny locutions and animations that promote interest, attention and motivation to learn. Record of the evolution: statistics that allow to follow the progress and to value the advances. Exportable data in .PDF with user information: response time, number of hits and errors and total time allocated. Pictograms and photographs: illustrations with simple lines, without distractors that divert attention, combined with photographs that represent in a more reliable way the natural context of the child. Multi-user: Possibility of creating customized profiles for different users, facilitating their professional or shared use. Autismind has been created thanks to the collaboration of the multidisciplinary team of professionals (psychologists, speech therapists and psychopedagogues) of the IDAPP center, specialized in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders, as well as having the support and help of families, without which could not have carried out the project.