“Few can legitimately boast that an iPhone app changed their life but for 10-year-old Grace Domican, unable to speak due to autism, the touchscreen phone has given her a voice for the first time,” Asher Moses reports for Stuff.
“Her mother, Lisa Domican, created a picture-based iPhone, [iPod touch, and iPad] application to help her communicate and the tool was so successful she is now trialling it in a school for autistic children in Ireland,” Moses reports. “Domican, who was born in Australia and lived there until she moved to Ireland in 2001, is also planning to provide it to schools in Australia and is selling both iPhone and iPad versions on the iTunes App Store. Aspect, Australia’s largest non-profit organisation providing support for people with autism, has expressed interest in trialling the app with its clients, while Domican said she had also been in contact with the Woodbury School in Baulkham Hills.
“The Grace app is essentially a digital version of the Picture Exchange Communications System – a book of laminated pictures attached to a board by velcro that allows children with autism to build sentences and communicate,” Moses reports.
“Children with autism are often unable to use and understand expressive language because the developmental disability means those parts of the brain don’t work. Some children with autism go on to develop speech, while others never do,” Moses reports. “As the child learns new words via pictures they are added to the PECS book, a system that quickly becomes unwieldy, particularly outside the home setting.”
Moses reports, “With the app, which is being sold for A$45 on the App Store with some of the proceeds going to charity, Grace has access to more than 400 symbols and photos in the palm of her hand. She can add new ones herself by taking pictures with the phone’s camera.”
Full article here.
More info about the “Grace – Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal People” app via Apple’s iTunes App Store here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
I know the money is going to charity, but $45 is still way too much. why not just give the app away for free and call that charity?
@Nancy,
Could you imagine the number of hours that goes into such an app, not to mention the support costs once people start using it? Revenue generation is important, unless you were hoping for ad-supported?
For someone unable to communicate, this would be cheap at twice the price.
I believe we have started to enter the age where iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps will start to come into their own. We will start seeing novel, insightful, and downright amazing apps that can and will charge a premium price…and be worth every penny. The day of $1-$3 app is coming to an end.
Her child has autism. She likely has large expenses raising her as a consequence. I don’t think the cost of the application is out of line.
I think I’m gonna cry.
The PECS system usually costs $200 or more. It’s a specialized app and might even be able to submit it to insurance as a medical expense.
I read it as being forty-five Australian dollars – not American ones.
That works out at 41 USD or 27 british sterling.
Simple words… I don’t give you shit even though it is for charity. Did you forget that we are still in economy recession?
@Edward
People like you make Americans look bad… “economy in recession”, is that the excuse you use for everything? Countries get out of a recession by PRODUCING and CONSUMING more, not the opposite.
Unable to speak because of Autism???? WTH… does autism even have a definition anymore?
Jesus,
Yes.. autism |ˈôˌtizəm|
noun Psychiatry
a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.
jjjj,
And why not? It’s a story of sacrifice and unconditional love.
Jesus,
Specifically, it’s believed that autistic children’s brains cause them to try to formulate speech before their brain has fully processed what the other person has said.
On a side note, watch the movie “Temple Grandin”. It’s about a famous autistic woman and is excellent.
@MrMcLargeHuge,
I look at it the other way – the price of Mac desktop/laptop apps will start to drop because people’s changed expectations on pricing.