Autism is defined by deviant communication abilities and various limited behaviors, interests, and activities demonstrated in early life. It is a common disability that usually begins in early development and lasts a lifetime. Autism is often known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A child suffering from this disorder faces many problems throughout their life. Some of them are mentioned below.
Social phobia Excessive worry/rumination Obsessive-compulsive behaviors Hyper-vigilance
Change may be quite upsetting for those on the autism spectrum. Though symptoms vary widely from person to person, they may also include new things like a lack of interest in friendship. Still, there is no leading cause of this disorder. So, all we can do is help and support them by teaching them how to adopt new changes. Teaching a person strategies to cope with changes in their surroundings and routines helps to build resilience and independence, which is mandatory. So, here we’ll see how we can help a child suffering from autism in several ways using various applications which provide unique features to tackle them.
Challenges that Autistic Person Face
One out of every 44 children in the United States has Autism Spectrum Disorder. The term “autism spectrum disorder” is used by therapists to describe the wide range of developmental problems that people with autism face. In this case, the word “spectrum” shows that no two people with this disorder are exactly the same. Every person with this disorder has different symptoms that make their disorder a little different from that of another person. Autism’s problems include communication problems, which can make it hard for the person to talk to others, and intellectual disabilities, which can make it hard for the person to understand what other people are saying. The person may also have trouble sleeping, which can make scary things even scarier and can be the main cause of anxiety and depression. Speech difficulties or a total lack of language, a lack of involvement in connections or relationships, difficulties with emotional skills, preoccupation, repetitive actions, minimizing visual contact, and poor motor function are among the signs that might occur. Technology may assist autistic adults and parents of autistic children.
How do Autism Apps Work?
These apps give kids the confidence they need to face the real world and teach them things like how to make decisions, talk to other people, and get along with them. It also makes them want to get better and learn more. These applications indirectly provide therapies to kids for the betterment of their health. This usually includes behavior therapy for increasing good behavior, ABA therapy which will help them to improve social-emotional behavior, physical and cognitive capabilities, and play therapy so that you can explore your child’s likes and dislikes as well as their interests. These apps make it easier for people to talk to each other through audio, video, and text. It helps to explain an event, a skill, or a story in a way that children can easily understand. You should always choose an application that supports error-free learning, has everything in a simple language so that it will be easy to understand for your child, and has visually distinctive interfaces as it will highlight texts by making them exciting and so on. Apps are made to keep track of how the child acts and then show progress cards. It can help people learn how to say what they think with practice. These apps are more fun to learn because they let you play games. There are different language versions of these games. We’ve compiled a list of the most outstanding autism applications in the hope that they’ll connect and touch more people.
Proloquo2Go
You can start exploring this fantastic app, Proloquo2Go, a symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication app for iOS users. Because they understand not being able to speak isn’t the same as having nothing to speak. Every human being of different age groups, i.e., children, teens, and adults, can use this application. There is no age limit for this app. The Proloquo2Go application provides an easy-to-use layout and step-by-step guidance. It will support users from beginning to advance to express their feelings, ideas, thoughts, and so on. Proloquo2Go application supports growth and development by making available research-based core words vocabulary. This helps a lot in language growth skills and makes communication easy through their intelligent features and handy layout. The Proloquo2Go app allows users to use it in their own way, as this is easier to customize. One can add buttons for essential things by choosing from the stickers available. You can add natural-sounding texts in all languages or use your local accent.
AutiSpark
AutiSpark application is an overall learning program, especially for kids. This application has an impressive concept and attractive colors and graphics, as per the expert’s advice. Kids will find this application quite innovative due to highlighting colors and exciting learning activities. Grasping through playing games is always an exciting way to learn something new. AutiSpark has gamified the concepts of matching, sequencing, sorting, and new words to make it eye-catching for kids. AutiSpark provides an errorless teaching environment and helps kids adapt to life skills with proper guidance. It also supports kids in daily activities such as brushing their teeth, bathing daily, and so on. All the games within this application are created under the guidance of therapists, keeping a kid’s needs in mind. Its colorful graphics and animation help a user to learn visually from this, which makes Autispark a unique Autism application.
Otsimo
Otsimo provides access to grasp fundamental education at home. It is created in such a manner that it doesn’t require any guidance; kids can use it on their own. The best part of using this Otsimo application is that it is ads-free. Its AAC training therapy boosts children’s potential and improves their behavior too. The utilization of this application is made easier using alternative communication tools. Otsimo allows you to adjust the difficulty level for your kids according to their age and level of understanding. Daily reports will be provided so that you can be sure that your kid is making progress. Otsimo not only makes your children happy but also reveals their true potential to always do something new. It always encourages kids to be self-sufficient and helps them gain confidence too.
Speech Blubs
Speech Blubs encourages a child to speak fluently without hesitation better, sooner, and more confidently. It targets improving their pronunciation by making kids watch and repeat after them several times. It makes learning new things interesting through its fun face filters feature, which assists kids in participating in that role-play more enthusiastically. They provide context preceded by the word the kid is learning, making it easier to remember. Speech Blubs is equipped with the necessary tools to improve your little one’s speech. It provides fun, interactive digital moral support more creatively and tangibly by fixing targets to operational goals. Along with iOS users, Android users can also have access to this app. You can also try this free of cost for seven days to boost your child’s communication skills. The application will also provide you with early access to new updates.
Birdhouse
Birdhouse application makes organizing things such as sleeping habits, food, behavior, etc., more accessible by providing you tools to organize and track everything privately and securely. It makes changes in a child’s behavior noticeable by alerting and notifying you of how the child is operating. This Birdhouse application streamlines note-making, familiarizes your kid’s behavior, and gives you more control over the child’s progress by notifying his progress daily. This application is precious in assisting caregivers in identifying patterns and strategies to assist kids who have autism. Birdhouse allows you to try it free of cost for two weeks and supports unlimited device uses and online support via mentors to guide you whenever you face any obstacles.
MITA
MITA focuses on developing your child’s imagination and language functions through visual exercises that follow a systematic approach for developing an ability to notice things in your child. MITA is available on both iOS and Android devices. MITA’s educational activities are based on techniques of visual and auditory conditions, pivotal response treatment, language therapy sessions, logical and reasoning availability, creativity, and so on. Most of the MITA features are entirely free and easy to use. Over time, the exercises get more complex and challenging to tackle so that your children can know their worth which will develop confidence in them to face difficulties without help. Playtime rewards will celebrate and praise your children’s achievements, encouraging them to tackle more obstacles when the level gets more challenging, making them self-sustained.
Autism ABC app
The Autism ABC Application is designed for iOS users to develop and improve the child’s logical, cognitive, and motor skills by introducing new games to play every month which are flexible according to the child’s age group. This application is excellent as it supports both entertainment and therapy hours. It’s easy to keep track of your child’s progress. The games and activities are made so that kids get better each time they play. The Autism ABC app is powered by artificial intelligence. It automatically keeps track of what users do while using it and adjusts the difficulty level based on how well they do. The best thing about this Autism ABC app is that it collects data, letting us see whether a certain activity is good for a child’s development.
Conclusion
There are a lot of apps that can help you boost your child’s self-esteem, improve their skills and knowledge in a subject like reading or writing, or teach them how to recognize and control their feelings. Every child on the autism spectrum has different needs, so think about which autism apps will help you and your child reach your goals in the best way. You may also explore some amazing STEM apps for kids to play and learn science.
