Price: $24.99

Seller: Steven Troughton-Smith

Tablet: iPad

Educational Aspect:

• PECS system (Picture Exchange Communication System)

Description:

The Grace app for Autism is a basic vocabulary of pictures that can be customized by the iPad’s camera as well as photos or images found on the Internet.

Review:

The Grace app for Autism is a non-speaking picture exchange system for non-verbal people to communicate their wants and needs more effectively.  It comes pre-loaded with eight categories (sentence makers, colors, shapes & numbers, my body, food & drink, things I like, things I need, and places).  The app is laid out nicely and easily organized.  The major drawback to this app is the labeling choices on some of the pre-loaded pictures. It is evident that they are not typical labels that we would use in the U.S. (i.e. picture of underwear labeling it as “pants” and picture of french fries labeling it as “chips”).  The edit button does not allow you to edit the wording, it only allows for the picture to be deleted from the category.  This means that you would need to find and add in all the proper pictures with labeling yourself.  If you are willing to put the time into finding the proper pictures for your son/daughter to customize this app, it can be extremely useful.  As a therapist, you could use this app in replace of laminating and making PECS.  It allows for simple communication and can provide the user with a simple way to communicate his or her needs and wants.  It should be noted once again, that this app does NOT speak. This is not to be confused as an AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication) app.  This app will allow the user to form simple sentences, request, and know the expectations placed on them (i.e. first homework next computer).

Pros:                                                           Cons:

1. Simple to use                                        1.  Pre-loaded pictures labeled improperly
2. 8 pre loaded categories                        2.  Time consuming to find & load pictures
3. Customizable                                        3.   High price point

4.   Grace app manual                                   4.   Edit button only allows for deleting picture

Click to access graceappmanual.pdf

This app would really benefit from having the “edit” button do more.  If you could easily change the label of the picture, this app would be quick, simple, and ready to use.  For its price point the app should be ready to go for people in various locations around the world.  On the other side, the Grace app website http://www.graceapp.com/ is full of information, videos, and a very detailed manual on how to use the app.

Click to view and/or purchase Grace

Provided by: Andrea Flynn, B.A., SLPA