Its me talking and demonstrating in a video with inserts of the actual app.

When you complete the Grace App training you will learn:

1. “Everybody Communicates” and how to identify what your learner is already very interested in communicating, and get ready to set up Grace App”

2. Finding, taking, creating and installing the pictures that you will need to engage the learner and show them how to communicate with Grace App

3. Using Grace App as a personalised tool to teach functional communication that has meaning for the learner.

If you have any questions, I’m available to contact via my Facebook page, email and twitters.

@graceapp

Having created and launched The Grace App on iTunes in March 2010, Gracie’s personal communication development has improved vastly through consistency of use, and the ability to control her own vocabulary by taking and adding pictures via the app.

Grace App Workshops are in 2 formats:

The first is presentation style with me at the front of a big room, like a lecture theatre or function room with AV set up.
It lasts for 2 hours* with a half hour for questions. After the first hour I take a break and let people ask for treats with the Grace App.

It works best with a large group. I can plug my iPad in directly to the A/V set up with projector or LCD screen. (Can also mirror with Apple TV)

The second way is “round table” For this I bring a few extra iPhones/iPads with me so people can practice while I present. This would require a big screen to mirror my iPad, but I also do this in classrooms where you have interactive white boards or LCD screens.

This enables a group to work through practical issues. Attendees can stop me throughout the presentation to ask specific questions about pupils they may be working with. The plug in screen means that everyone can see what I am demonstrating. Again I stop to let people practice requesting. It takes about 2 hours with 30 minutes for questions too.

Another option is the new schools online training service for SNAs and teachers “Education Nation”

My Grace App training and Autism101 training are in that system, as well as lots of other courses, which would be available to all your school staff for an annual fee. (This option is only open to schools, and has the full online catalogue, so that schools can access and request training that they need, when they need it during the year).

Each course video can also be shown in full screen, which means if you want to link a phone, or laptop to a projector or electronic whiteboard, you can use it to host staff in service days.

Please take a look at my online training modules here: CATTS Education Nation 

When you complete the Grace App training you will learn:

1. The Six Steps to setting up Grace App as an Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) system.
Alternative Communication Strategies:
2. Saying No/ and Wait
3. Teaching First, Then
4. Differential Reinforcement
5. Asking for Help (Replacing inappropriate behaviour)
6. Tell me Where it Hurts
7. Shared Attention.

For Autism 101:

• What is Autism?

• Flags for Autism
• Autism as a Sensory Disability
• Techniques that help
• Using Visual Supports
• Motivation and Reinforcement
• Inappropriate Behaviour
• Social Stories

-For question time I demonstrate responses to issues raised, but I also do a problem solving using a Flipchart.

I am happy to present to parents and professionals at the same time (I can be tactful) but no children or clients themselves. I talk about behavioural issues frankly and it isn’t fair to them.

For more information or to book a workshop, please email lisa@graceapp.com or to book through CATTs

Joe Morris

Practice Manager

086 467 9292

jmorris@catts.ie

As a family with 2 adults with Autism, proper full strength Autism, we have been away as a family almost every year since 2004. I’ve learned a thing or two and here are my top tips:

There is nothing better than walking off the plane and straight through the baggage area to go outside and get in your pre-booked taxi or to collect your hire-car. Being ahead of everyone else means less queuing, less waiting and less stress. You do not need more than you can pack in a cabin sized bag.

I learned after our first holiday when everything else is different, our kids like things to stay the same.

A big tip on the first visit will ensure the staff will look out for you when you come back. I have literally had a table set up for us when we arrived during a busy time. Going to the same place at the same time each day will help your kids feel more comfortable too. And we always get free cocktails on our last night!

This changed everything. Now I’m free to relax in the cafe without worrying about “entertaining” my son. Most places have free wifi for customers but with the EU roaming, we bring our own data package on my mobile phone. My son has logged on and started watching youtube before the waiter even arrives.

Going on a family holiday with kids with Autism is NOT like taking a gap year to go back packing across Europe!

You are there for a break. Save the “new experiences” for when you travel on your own. Its a big enough change for your kids to be away from home and school. Find a routine, stick to it and enjoy the peace. It will actually make your holiday seem longer!

Its also a good idea to make visuals  to represent each activity you will do each day. Your kids are probably used to that from school and it will give them a sense of control, which reduces anxiety.  Download Grace App and email me for the steps to print and set up a daily schedule to bring along.

It took me a number of years to realise that the reason Gracie wanted to wear her “Autism School” teeshirt every day on holiday was because she was anxious about everything else. So I learned to buy 7 identical dresses and 7 identical nighties just let her be. We still bring the “Autism Tee-shirts” to wear over swimmers on the way to the pool. They are an easy way to tell everyone who we are and why my adult sized daughter is squealing like a little girl and splashing everyone in her zone.

My son used to watch one movie, every night for the entire 2 weeks, despite the fact that he had packed a very heavy selection of DVDs in a folder in his carry on bag. We must have seen “Garfield” 100 times by the time we got home. The following year it was Harry Potter, at least there were 8 films then to have on a permanent loop!

Again it took me several years to realise that he wanted some kind of continuity so I started packing box sets of our favourite tv shows. Now we have a tradition of rewatching all seven seasons of “Parks and Rec” every year. I’ve already bought the box set of 30 rock ready for this year’s trip. Same characters, same setting, but a few more episodes.  It’s our holiday thing and it works for all of us.

This is the world’s greatest initiative and they have been doing it for years. Dublin Airport Authority have ready made Social Stories to help you prepare for going to the airport and getting through all the steps to getting on to the plane. Go here to download. Once you are booked, you can also request a wristband or lanyard that will make it easy for staff to identify you all as a family who needs extra help. Doors will literally open when they see that “Important Flyer” card so be sure to get on to the website and get your request in.

This time last year, Grace was featured on the iTunes “Accessibility” store in the company of some very impressive Apps:

And for good reason, Grace is one of the most accessible, adaptable “User Driven” Apps for communication delay and disability.

With the latest update to  Apple’s operating system we were able to create Grace App 3.1,  and it became possible not only to add and edit individual pictures, but to create and edit your own categories; making individualisation much easier.

What a lot of people don’t know is that you can now select “Tap to Talk” and turn your picture exchange communication into a speech generating App. 

Just open up “Settings” on your device, (little grey cog symbol) scroll down until you see the pink Grace App logo and click on that. Then look all the way down through the settings until you see “Tap to Speak” and select it:

If it doesn’t work, be sure to check you have:

a) the latest version installed: 3.1

b) the latest Apple  iTunes software: iOS 8.0 or newer

c) you have de-selected “mute” from your device menu:

When you edit or create a new card with your own photo, be sure to add text so that it will “speak” when you touch it too.

As I did with my yummy breakfast on my recent holiday in Spain.

Adios!

PS. If you too are having a vacation abroad this summer, be sure to install Grace on your iPhone and then set it to the language you need. Grace can be translated into French, German, Spanish, Danish, Arabic and Brazilian Portuguese and then back again. Read more HERE and Bon Voyage.

We do things “our way” following a few simple “rules” that are very different to what typical families might expect from a vacation; but I think we have an even better time than most.

AND

It is why I feel so passionate about getting the parents, teachers, tutors, supervisors, therapists and carers of these people to enable them to access this means.

You see, these kids (and young adults) are all actively communicating and shaping our behaviour in order to meet their needs right now. How do they do it?

See if you can guess what these kids are really saying:

 
These photographs were sent to me by good friends of small children. In each case it was possible to catch and hold or physically re-direct the child to a better way of getting their needs.

Because at the moment when Charlie pulls her Gran’s hair to get her to stop talking, it is kind of cute. But if Charlie was 23 and that was the only way she knew to get someone to help her find a quiet space, people might be a lot less understanding.

Adults with intellectual impairment or communication disabilities will often end up medicated and in residential care because they had no appropriate way of getting people to listen to what they need and want. The hair pulling, the dragging, the running away or the self-harm really got people’s attention quickly. And without anyone dedicated to teaching them to communicate by alternative means – disruptive, aggressive and distressing behaviours are their only way to be heard.

Make a commitment to learning what your child is really saying and give them the power to say it another way.

The very first thing we must teach, is How to Say What they Want.

xx

It would be so easy to add an electronic voice to the App. In fact, anyone can add an electronic voice to it using the device accessibility settings.

The reason I don’t do this is because I believe 2 things are fundamental to the App.

1. It is not about “speech” or “vocalisations” – it’s about communication. So if an individual can select a picture of something they like, need or want and show it to you, they are communicating.

Speaking if it happens is rewarded, but if it doesn’t, the meaning is still clear and the needs can be identified and met.

2. Why should the person with the disability have to imitate our speech sounds in order to be accepted and understood? Sure, I realise there are many many people with autism who rely on speech generating systems to communicate fluently. But there are many many others who think and communicate in pictures who deserve to be treated equally. They do it without autoclytics or standard grammar. They also do it without nuance. They take the shortest route to being understood in order to get what they need without getting frustrated or resorting to inappropriate behaviour that causes distress.

If that is enough for them, it should be enough for us. That doesn’t mean we should not encourage and reward “extra” efforts with communication. I can’t help but be absolutely delighted when my daughter calls me “Mummy” – and she knows it.

But I am also very happy when she shows me a picture of the nightie that I just put in the wash because she wants it back. That is much better than crying and screaming and trying to pull it out of the washing machine. Or she shows me a picture of the “Bear in the Big Blue House” DVD that she wants me to order.

I don’t expect her to say she wants to “wear” the nightie or “watch” the DVD. Her meaning is implicit in the request. And her request is valued.

I can answer in kind by selecting the “no” symbol for the nightie (which has to be washed after an accident) or the “wait” symbol for the DVD, which is followed by a search on eBay.

I can then help find a few Youtube clips of the Bear and watch them together. I can also set up a drawing game on the iPad where she requests each of the characters from “Bear” or any other show she likes by colour and I draw them. I get to share this activity with her because I know what she likes by following how she communicates.

It comes from her and she decides what it means. And that means everything to me.

And this is why: