Touch Trainer vs CViConnect Pro

Touch Trainer is a simple cause and effect app designed for anyone just learning about touch screen technology. This is a great, easy to use "first app" that teaches single finger fine motor skills as well as cause and effect. Touch Trainer plays music and shows a simple animation whenever a button is tapped. The button gets progressively smaller as the app moves through the levels to easily teach individuals how to use a touch screen. In the settings menu the caregiver can decide if the app will "react" to any touch or if it only recognizes distinct taps. Touch Trainer was developed by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst as a way to use errorless learning (in which the learner never fails, but is supported in success) to teach the prerequisite skills needed to benefit from touchscreen technology. Touch Trainer allows the learner with autism, down syndrome or other intellectual disability to be in control, and to move forward at their own pace. Touch trainer also provides immediate and consistent feedback, allows for practice and repetition of basic skills in a fun way, provides fun and enjoyment, and let’s the learner get acquainted with using handheld devices. Touch Trainer is designed to provide visual and or auditory stimulation when the learner taps the correct place on the screen. The box progressively gets smaller until it is the size of the buttons commonly used in apps geared toward people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities, and young children. Touch Trainer can open the doors to the multitude of apps available so that all learners can benefit from this technology, and become more independent. Touchscreen technology is being used more frequently in special education classrooms and in speech, occupational, or behavioral therapy sessions. There are a multitude of apps now available in the app store geared towards children, both with and without intellectual disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders and down syndrome. Some of the many advantages of these apps are that they suit visual learners, they allow for non-verbal and non-written responding, they provide immediate and consistent feedback, and are very motivating, because they are just so much fun! Some of the apps that are available for children both with and without special needs (such as autism spectrum disorders and Down syndrome) are Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Picture Schedules & Social Stories, Behavior and Social Skills, Speech & Language skills, math skills, and literacy skills. Unfortunately not all learners have been able to access all of the benefits from these applications. There are some foundational prerequisite skills needed to use almost any app available. Prerequisite skills such as auditory and visual discrimination skills, “tapping” skills, and basic awareness of effects when the screen is touched in different ways and in different places. Touch Trainer teaches all of these skills in an exciting, fun and learner-directed way! Touch Trainer has 7 levels. Caregivers choose if the app will recognize any touch (such as swipes or holds) or if it only reacts to distinct taps and how many correct responses move the learner on to the next level. If that is for example set at “10” then after 10 consecutive correct “touches or taps” they will move up to the next step. Correct responses must be consecutive, any incorrect response will reset the count. Caregivers also choose the length, in seconds, of the audio, visual and vibrating (only available on devices that vibrate, such as the iphone) reinforcer.

Who is the app for? CViConnect Pro is an iPad application intended to support teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs) who are working with students who have Cortical Visual Impairment. The app can be used by teachers to prepare and run visual activities with their students. The goal is to aid in the process of improving the visual impairment with this iPad application, and grow the awareness of CVI as a whole and provide educational content related to CVI. What does it do? The application guides the TVI through the process of working with students who have Cortical Visual Impairment. It allows the TVI to present visually stimulating activities to the student and captures data that can be used by the TVI to better help their students with their impairment. How does it work? Using the front-facing camera in the iPad the application can measure facts about how the child is responding to the exercises. All of these expertly-determined facts can then be graphed and analyzed by the educator, in whole or in part, across all training sessions. For example, it is possible to graph the time spent, on average, on training sessions combined with the number of times a sprite is touched, showing ways of measuring improvement in visual acuity as well as allowing a teacher to tailor future lesson plans to better match the needs of the student. In addition to analyzing favorite and least favorite lessons, the CVI system has the ability to use information from the training sessions to automatically generate new training sessions that are best for the student. As an example, the system can detect highly touched areas of the iPad and where sprites are commonly touched. Using this information, the system can automatically generate new lesson plans that focus the attention specifically on these areas as well as specifically AWAY from these areas to improve acuity. The system can use facts about the lengths of time spent on average by the user on training sessions to tailor the length of time a typical training session should take place. Where can I get help if I need it? CViConnect Pro maintains a support forum where users of the app (parents, TVI's and CVI professionals) are supported by leading CVI professionals and CVi Connect technical staff. Users can asks questions and provide feedback in this forum, which adds to the CVi community as a whole by serving as a place where CVI discussions can take place.