First & Then vs Choicegenics

Designed by an Occupational Therapist. First & Then is a very simple app that uses a board with photos to show that one activity must happen before the next can occur. A fantastic tool for visual learners! The idea behind a First & Then board is to encourage a child to complete an activity that they don’t particularly enjoy. The board motivates the child to engage in a less preferred activity, knowing that a preferred activity (or a reward) will follow. For example, the ‘first’ activity may be something such as handwriting, homework, eating vegetables, using the toilet or visiting the dentist. The ‘then’ activity may be playing outside, computer time or a chocolate treat. The App is extremely simple to use, the board is set up from one page, with clear prompts to help along the way. The app allows the user to quickly and simply insert photos from the device’s camera or photo library, meaning that ‘First & Then’ boards can be made on-the-go and with little fuss. Photos taken are saved within the App to use again and again. The app includes a coloured visual timer, that the user can choose to use, to show the child how long they need to spend on an activity. As well as a digital display, the time is also represented by a coloured pie chart. When the pie is green, the child needs to keep going. When the pie turns amber, the child needs to get ready to finish. The pie turns red when it is time to stop the activity. The app also includes a ‘Finished box’. The child can drag the photo into this box when the activity is completed. The App is complete with the option to use exciting tones to reward the child for completing the activity.

Choicegenics is an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) app for persons with special needs, who may have speech and language challenges and use an auditory-visual method of communication. The app provides features to create boards using images and texts. Actions, such as text to speech and navigation to other boards can be configured on choice selection to provide immediate feedback and continued communication opportunity. Boards can be created at home level, and also inside folders for ease of access and logical categorization. The boards inside a folder can be linked to provide paginated choices. Users can also backup their data to google drive and import previous data to restore boards and folders.