Child Proof Proloquo2Go…please pass on to Proloquo2Go users!!
Also folks wanting to use Guided Access, Part 2 is a must watch!:)
I get asked very frequently how to child proof Proloquo2Go, so I made a couple of quick videos to show you how! Please share with anyone using Proloquo2Go, so that they can keep all of their work safe!
Here’s the first one! Just click on the videos to view them!
Here’s Part 2: Child Proofing Proloquo2Go, using Guided Access, disabling parts of the screen…anyone using apps with kids could use this one!!:) You learn how to use Guided Access, along the way, too!
I also end the video with how to enable restrictions so that kids can’t delete apps, install apps or in app purchases.
Hope this helps!
Check out our other videos of how we are helping Abbey grow and learn with Proloquo2Go and ‘her’ review on many, many apps!:) http://www.youtube.com/famof6
Ok, I’ve posted about Pictello before, how we use this app for social stories, teaching Abbey what to expect, what to do in situations. So, we’ve got stories about Going to the Dentist, for example.
We also love Pictello because it has opened up a new world for Abbey. She figured out that she loves to look at pics of herself and her family doing things. So, I make stories about our trips, about new things she does and experiences, so she can look at it all again!
Well, yes, Pictello just got even better! Not only is it very simple to use, for myself and for Abbey…but now, YES, you can ADD VIDEOS!! Wow, to see Abbey’s face, the first time she opened up one of her stories, clicked on a page and it was a video….priceless! She started off with a huge grin and then was just giddy! It adds another whole dimension! So, now to think about ways we can use this new feature to help her learn and grow….
Here’s a pdf, Growing Beans, of one short, simple story I made using Pictello, of us planting bean seeds. I hope to use it again next year and see what she can do without my help! The page in the story without words, is actually a video,:) If you have Pictello, we can share stories! I can send you a Pictello link of a story that you can put on your Pictello, to look at and use, if you’d like.:) Just let me know!
Abbey is doing it, she’s learning to use sentences! Here’s a video of her asking for waffles..
I’ve been talking to the gals working with Abbey about how to teach her to do this and we’ve been brain storming, then at our last school meeting, the school team and I came up with which words to add to start with, to start the process. It sure has been a long road to get here, but it’s so cool to see her catch on so well! It sure takes a village! Here’s a screen shot of Abbey’s ‘home page’ with the words we added.
Here’s the screen shot of her asking for waffles. In the video, you can see how easily she navigates to find what she wants, another long work in progress! Proloquo2Go is so amazingly easy to add whatever we want and however we need it on there!
So, we used to have just one button for ‘I want’, we started by separating that into two. The school had already really been working on having her add on ‘please’ to the end of her requesting sentences, to that part was easy for her. Then we added ‘to, a, and the’, which I think will take a bit longer for her to learn to use. So, what do you think?:)
Thank you so much for everyone’s help and support, including Abbey’s ‘team’ and the folks at Proloquo2Go!
Don’t forget to check out Abbey’s other videos, there’s a link to them on the home page!
Abbey’s Year, 2012 video, click here. It’s just a brief glimpse of what our world, Abbey’s world was like in 2012, of her triumphs and struggles. She’s growing and learning, she’s continuing to communicate more, initiate more, reference us more…it’s truly amazing, blessings abound!
In the video you’ll see glimpses of her communicating with her iPad, with Proloquo2Go. You’ll see her first trip to Disneyland. You’ll also see some FIRSTS that were so exciting for us, her birthday blew us away this year, no pun intended.:) Christmas was incredible, seeing a true desire to celebrate, remembering from past experiences and truly enjoying the tree and presents, not to mention her little Nativity Scene, even!
What you’ll also experience with us, with Abbey, are some struggles…ugh, those stinkin’ doorways, what is it about doorways? We may never know, for sure! And, elevators, yikes! She was so incredibly brave on a trip in the car to California this year. I really didn’t know how it was going to go, it took a HUGE leap of faith…and, she did it! She did so well! There were some tough times, but overall, she sure surprised us, like she loves to do!:)
I really do want to thank all the people working with Abbey, helping her and us and all the friends and family praying for us every day….without you all, Abbey would not be the happy girl she is, succeeding in so many ways! I also want to thank a totally amazing husband who had enough faith for both of us that Abbey could succeed on a very long road trip, you were right, honey! One more thank you, thank you Lord for all of your provisions for our family, especially for our Abbey, for the strength you give us every single day to make it through the hard days and succeed on the good days!
Enjoy, and please, let us know what you think! Don’t forget to visit the link at the top of the page to see all of Abbey’s other videos on youtube, to see more!
Thank you!
Apps Abbey’s using are Proloquo2Go, to communicate and Count TV, a Sesame Street counting app, to help her learn to count.
Yep, Abbey knows how to spell and we didn’t even know it!Here’s the video of her spelling…
Sometimes it just takes a way for them to show us what they know. That can be pretty tricky, but I think technology, in the form of apps on the iPad is going to help them show us more and more!
Yesterday, the behavior specialist working with Abbey was trying to get Abbey to do some puzzles on her own iPad. Abbey enjoyed a couple new puzzle apps. We were talking about how cool this app is, that the kids have to actually turn the puzzle pieces to make them fit and how well Abbey did at this, so we pulled up Word Book and Puzzle Box by Anlock (iPad only.) Abbey played with it for a bit as we watched her, marveling at how well she could do it and then we clicked on the other option in the app, the Word Box. As you can see by the first picture, there are two boxes, a puzzle box and a word box, kids touch which one they want to do to begin. As they successfully pass levels, they get to chose items to add to their “room.” Abbey likes to move around the toys in her “room”, but hasn’t shown much interest yet in picking the items when offered.
Abbey began putting the letters in the boxes, but something amazing happened. I hadn’t even realized the different levels, just like with the puzzles, making them progressively harder. Abbey hadn’t done the third level on very many, so we asked her to do a couple that she had already done the first two levels and she put the letters in like it was nothing! Her specialist and I just looked at each other in shock and awe! We both laughed excitedly and praised Abbey, she CAN SPELL! She could only do the simple words, but what a great start and what a great way for her to show us that she can spell!
So, let me explain and show you the levels that I was referring to.
The first picture below shows the first level. The first level shows them where to put the letters, much like Abbey’s favorite app, First Words (there are many apps to chose and a free, lite version.)
The second picture below shows the second level. It gives them a color clue of where to put the letters, but the letters are not there as in the first level.
The third picture shows the third level. The third level does not give them any clues or hints, just plain spaces to put the letters. It will not allow them to put a wrong letter in a wrong space, as in the other levels.
Below is a picture of Abbey’s favorite word app. It shows her the letters, she’s just matching, but what great practice! This is from First Words:
There are some great apps out there to help kids like Abbey learn to spell and read, another one of her favorites is Starfall Learn to Read. Below, you’ll see that it has a lot to offer. The kiddos pick a place to start, then can pick which word to work on. They have a choice between spelling the word or watching a cute little video.
One other really great spelling/reading app is Bob Books 1. Abbey enjoys this one as well. There is a second Bob Books 2 app that is harder, also available. It has short, small little, easy to read stories giving the kids a chance to spell each of the main words. These are the HD versions, there are regular versions available for a lower price and free, lite versions to try out, as well!
We also love the apps by Grasshopper apps, like Little Speller 3 Letter Words and Little Reader 3 Letter Words, as these are FULLY customizable! You can add your own pictures and words for them to learn to spell and can chose, in settings, if you are going to allow hints or not. In Little Reader, they match the words to the pictures. There are free, lite versions available for these apps as well as harder versions.
Here’s to hoping you guys find ways for your kiddos to show you what they know! It’s just like witnessing a miracle when they do! I’m so thankful for amazing apps like these, giving Abbey to chance to show us!
FYI, I do not get compensated from any app developers, just sharing what works for Abbey.
Well, I had a much different blog post in mind this morning, guess we’ll save that one for another day. I woke up to the sound of Abbey throwing up. My first reaction was, ‘oh, my poor Abbey’, but then my second…’Ohh ohh, I can teach her how to tell me she has to throw up!’
Yes, you have to grab those opportunities to teach them to communicate when they come up! That is an important lesson I have learned over the years, with Abbey. There are so many things she won’t understand me trying to teach, unless they are happening, like something hurting, being angry or like today, throwing up. If I tried to teach her how to communicate these things to me when they were not happening, she wouldn’t get it.
So, she has an “I feel” button on her home page of Proloquo2Go, that has feelings like happy, sad, angry, etc.. I once again used “list view,”another great opportunity to use this feature. And, I made some of the buttons different colors, like happy is green, angry is red, tired is blue, hungry and sick are blue too, etc.. (She has to scroll down to get to some of them.) This morning we added the ‘throw up’ button, that speaks “like I have to throw up” when she presses it. I moved it up to the top for easy access for today. There is a great picture in Proloquo2Go’s picture library of a sick face beside a toilet, for a ‘throw up’ button, but I had to go with a picture of our ‘throw up bowl’ as Abbey doesn’t understand to throw up in the toilet yet. Last time she was sick was when we taught her to use a bowl, which was a wonderful thing!:)
I actually put a ‘hurt’ button in her ‘body parts’ folder and in her ‘feelings’ folder. Last time her ear hurt, we went to her body parts folder and worked on communicating that her ear hurt.
So, what opportunity do you have today, to teach your little one to communicate? Grab them while you can!
(Don’t forget to ‘follow’ my blog to get all our blog posts! Button up on the top, right)
I want to share our experiences with cases to save you guys some money as I know many of you are looking for that case that’s going to save your kiddo’s iPad, but which one? The contenders seem to be the Griffin Survivor (or link for a black one) and the Otterbox, from what I have seen and heard. They both claim to do a great job protecting against lots of wear and tear and both come with stands.
So, we bought a Griffin Survivor for our daughter’s new iPad mini, pictured above. We have never had a Griffin before as we’ve always gone with Otterboxes. The Griffin was cheaper on amazon, so we thought we’d give it a try. We’re pretty disappointed in it. The hard plastic shell that you put the iPad in, is so much thinner than all the Otterboxes we have had. The rubbery, plastic part that goes on the outside almost feels a bit thicker but there are flaps covering some of the holes that seem like they would break off easily. One of the flaps covers the camera and you have to try to hold it back while you take a pic, which is a pain. Then we get to the stand. This is a must for my daughter, Abbey, with autism. As you may be able to see in the picture, her Otterbox for her old iPad one in the background is duct taped. After many new stands, we finally gave up and taped it. I have seen the stands for the newer iPads and the iPad minis by Otterbox and they seem much stronger. The stand for the Griffin is very weak and I think it props it up too high. Also, the stand for the Otterbox also serves as a cover that snaps over the screen, when on the go, very important for putting Abbey’s iPad mini in her purse as she has no idea about being careful with it, that it could break. All this to say, we’ll be getting an Otterbox for her iPad mini, as soon as we can! Hope this helps and I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on cases, we can learn from each other!:)
P.S. All of this goes for the cases for iPhones too! We have always had Otterboxes and I bought a Griffin survivor for my son’s iPhone 4….not good. The same with all of the above, plus the rubber that covers the power button at the top keeps pushing down on it on it’s own and trying to turn it off:(
So every day, it’s something new. One thing about autism is, it’s never boring. You work on one behavior or challenge, just to have another one pop up! Yesterday it was, how do I get Abbey into Walmart because we’re out of toilet paper…yep, we made a story on Pictello about being out of toilet paper and made a grocery list in her story…worked great! The things you have to do to get toilet paper, gheesh! Today, she’s back to playing in the water in the fish tank. Yep, thought we had that one licked, so sometimes you even get to go back to an old challenge and take it on again, fun!
As you can see, from the picture, I put a bowl in the sink for her to play in. AND, added a picture of a faucet, with the words, “play in water” as a button on her iPad, so she can ask…super important! Communicating is the key to it all, we have finally figured out! She’s asking permission now before she does things, when she has a way to! Obviously, today is a water day and it’s winter, no pool. What is it with water and our kids with autism? They love it! She used to ask for baths all day, when she was younger. That was too much, got out of that one. So, sometimes you have to go with it, figure out how, not to get them to NOT play in water, but how they can. It’s like that with so many things. If you fight the challenge, it will win..you have to find a middle ground, something more acceptable, replace what you don’t want them to do with something that they like and you like too. Yeah, not always an easy task!
What worked in the past with the fish tank was a “Stop” sign. Ok, we had tried the stop signs in the past on things, didn’t work. So, sometimes what didn’t work in the past, good to take it out and try again, you never know. It seemed to work this time, yeah! Talk about an exciting day when she pulled me to the fish tank and put her hand on it, looked at me and I pointed to the stop sign…and yes, she accepted it, walked away and didn’t play in it for weeks, until today!
So, what’s your daily challenge today? Is it potty training, or something that is a daily challenge that won’t seem to end? Or is it a new challenge that just came up today? You get to be a detective every day, some days that’s pretty cool…other days, exhausting! Hang in there! Even those challenges that seem like they aren’t getting any better, usually, over time, with work, they do! Then you get to look back and feel a massive amount of accomplishment! And that, is a totally amazing feeling. Don’t forget to look back and see what you have accomplished when you’re working on your new daily struggle, it will help you have hope and the will to get through it!
I had a dear friend request that I post this video, just click on the link above. It is one I compiled of all of Abbey’s successes for the year, for 2011. I will start working on 2012’s video soon. It is like therapy for me to put this video together because days go by and it’s sometimes hard to notice some of the progress, until you look back and compile it into a year’s worth! Hope you enjoy this video…you’ll see a few seconds of a huge meltdown, part of our year, but so many wonderful firsts for Abbey!! Slowly, she’s finding her voice, she’s letting us in her world and becoming part of ours, she’s learning and growing! Stay tuned for the next one!:)
We use an app called Pictello to make stories for Abbey using pictures of her, her family and her world. These stories help her to look back on things she enjoyed in the hope she will remember from her experiences, help her learn about things that are hard for her and help her to learn about things she cannot do in a very non-threatening way. She loves them and looks at them almost every day…even the Going to the Dentist one! This picture is just one page from her story called, “Abbey’s Christmas” which had learning pages like this and pages about things she enjoyed, like candy canes.:) Abbey’s story about her trip to Disneyland is entered into a contest right now, please vote for her by picking how many stars you would like to give it, http://www.assistiveware.com/disneyland …Thank you! The contest is a great way to check out all the stories people have entered, you can get some great ideas! And, Picetllo is on sale, last day is TODAY!
abbeysvoice 