iCommunicate 1.0

iCommunicate is a versatile app that will help typically developing children, as well as children with developmental delays and autism. Early Intervention specialists, teachers, and parents will love this app!!! We provide a way to make customized storyboards and visual schedules for your child.

-- GENESIS

This idea was born out of our personal experience with our son. He qualified for Early Intervention at 19 months due to an expressive and receptive language delay. When he was 27 months old he began having significant social anxiety, and did not want to leave the house. As a mom, and physical therapist I knew something was wrong. We had him evaluated by many professionals, including an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a neurologist, a developmental specialist, and a psychologist. We found that storyboards were the most helpful tool recommended by these professionals.

-- STORYBOARD/ROUTINES

Storyboards are collections of pictures that convey a concept. Many children are visual learners. They may be more likely to understand what they see rather than what they hear.
They are used for:
-Showing an overview of a specific time frame (i.e. their daily schedule)
-Showing what is about to happen(i.e. first songs, then snack, then stories)
-Reinforcing turn taking
-Helping children express their needs by allowing them to point to a picture or make a choice
-Preparing children for transitions
-Showing routines (i.e. bedtime or potty training)
-Alerting children to changes in routine

These storyboards are helpful for my typically developing children as well. They help my 4 year old with waiting and turn taking, as she has learned in circle time that she must wait for her picture to appear before taking her turn. They also help our 1 year-old with general language, as a picture is paired with the written word, like a flash card.

-- PICTURES

The pictures are the building blocks for our application. You can also take pictures with your camera, or add existing pictures from your camera roll. The pictures can be used for flash cards, games, making choices, reinforcing concepts(who, what, where?), and visual cues.
We include 100+ pictures to get you started.

-- TIPS FOR USE

-Creating and editing storyboards is done by tapping on the row where you want to select a picture. The rows are setup in groups of 4 pictures for 4 storyboards. The first row corresponds to the first picture in the storyboard section you are editing, and so on. Deleting pictures from storyboards is done by using the left to right swiping gesture and selecting Delete.
-Storyboards are displayed as a webpage in Safari, so you can interact using double taps to zoom in and out and swipes to scroll to next picture, or up and down
-Take pictures of your kids and personalize pictures for home, car, and places and events you frequent.

I truly hope this makes your life with your children a little bit easier!