SLP Shares How Calming Strategies App Helped Student with Autism

We are always thrilled to hear about how The Social Express has made a difference for children who need help with social skills! Libby Pittman, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) shared this story of one of her sixth graders. He was able to go on a class trip without his mom–for the first time–because he of our app, The Digital Problem Solver. It seems he’s able to use the DPS app whenever he needed calming strategies.

The Social Express, Fearless Fire Drills, by Libby PittmanAlso, Libby Pittman in her SLP work, identified the need for helping children with autism to better cope with school fire drills. She created this wonderful Facebook page with her approach. Click here to visit: Fearless Fire Drills

Here is Libby’s letter to us:


Brilliant! Just brilliant is all I can say about the Social Express App.  This program teaches the hidden curriculum that so many of our social delayed and children on the spectrum.  All the students who have used this program have shown significant improvement in being aware of others and what others may think when we say and do things.  I highly recommend this program for any SLP or resource teacher.

Last month, one of my 6th grade students was able to go out of the State on his confirmation trip without his mother due to the digital problem solver, that is part of this social program.  He had never traveled without his mother before this trip.  Through the use of the strategies that are presented in the DPS and some sensory strategies he was able to calm himself when he began to get anxious.

This is the best money I have spent on a therapy program in years.  The characters in the scenes are realistic and lovable.  The language is direct and appropriate for a wide range of receptive skills.  There is a teacher tip mode, which can be turned on or off.  The lessons are intentional and scaffold on each other beautifully.

Thank you for all that you are doing to develop this program.  I am certain you all are changing lives.

Most Sincerely,

Libby Pittman, MS CCC-SLP

Thank you so much, Libby, for sharing your experiences with your students using The Social Express! We are so glad it’s helping.

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BridgingApps.org Reviews The Social Express

BridgingApps.org, a nonprofit group associated with Easter Seals Services for People with Disabilities, of Greater Houston, reviewed The Social Express. We are honored to have their review! Here is an portion of the review by BridgingApps.org:

This is an app designed to work on pragmatic language or social skills with children, teenagers and even young adults. It was designed for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders but is appropriate for any child struggling with social skills.

The app is a series of structured animated videos and activities or lessons built around characters at the preteen level. The videos are high quality and proved to be quite engaging and fun to watch. It captured the attention of children ages 7 and up at varying developmental levels and deficits in social skills. Each video is built around a social key for the child to practice and learn. The app is highly structured with an introduction, practice activities, followed by an interactive review of the skill learned.

We have used this app with children between the ages of 7 and 12 with diagnoses on the autism spectrum. Each of them were engaged willingly throughout their sessions and enjoyed the videos and activities. The children were able to retell the story and the targeted social skill. All were willing to continue with the app throughout a therapy session, and we noted the app is also a great way to practice turn-taking, which is a crucial social skill to master.

A great add-on idea to this app would be to have the children role play each scenario after watching the video and completing the activities on The Social Express.

You can read the complete review by clicking here.

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Social Skills Program Review by Advanceweb.com

We’re fortunate to have several members of the Speech-Language Pathologists’ community who use, review, and recommend our social skills learning program.

Speech-language pathologist, Jeremy Legaspi, recently posted this review of The Social Express on the community site, advanceweb.com

The Social Express is gorgeous animated and interactive app to address social skills. It was created to work on social skills as well as target children’s social thinking skills by problem solving situations.  It’s intended to be used for elementary school-aged children with autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, nonverbal learning disabilities, pragmatic language deficits or other social-cognitive challenges.

The Social Express Opening Screen

This app provides some of the following:

Integrates many components including: hidden rules, Social Thinking® concepts, video modeling, self-regulation, and problem solving to help the user and adult “put it all together”

– Allows for multiple responses with different outcomes

– Presents teaching tips to assist the adult working with the user to expand on each lesson

– Provides printables for generalization of the presented skills

The Social Express [is] using video modeling to provide the visual models that children with Autism and ADHD need and crave. What is Video Modeling? Video modeling is a method of teaching that uses videos to provide a visual model of targeted behaviors or skills.

 

 

These scenes are animated.

 

 

 

There are 16 lessons across 2 Levels. Each Lesson has a Skill Level, Hidden Social key, and a goal. These include:

Skill Level 1

Skill Level 1: What are they thinking about?

Hidden Social Key: Look at what others are looking at

Goal: To introduce the concept that we look at things that we are  thinking about

Skill Level 1: Being with the group

Hidden Social Key: Keep your body facing the group

Goal: To introduce the concept that it’s important to keep your body facing the group

Skill Level 1: Pick the feeling

Hidden Social Key: User your eyes and brain to figure things out

Goal: to demonstrate how peoples’ bodies and face express emotions

Skill Level 1: Using the DPS: Digital Problem Solver

Hidden Social Key: Monitor and adjust your behavior when you’re in a group

Goal: to allow the user to identify and solve social problems

Skill Level 1: What’s Next?

Hidden Social Key: User your eyes and brain to figure things out

Goal: To present the concept of inferring what will happen next

Skill Level 1: What are they doing?

Hidden Social Key: Look at who is talking

Goal: To introduce the concept of figuring out what others are doing by looking at them

Skill Level 1: Saying the right thing

Hidden Social Key: Talk about things that others like to talk about

Goal: To introduce the concept that it is important to think about what other people like

Skill Level 1: Unlocking the clubhouse

Hidden Social Key: Use your eyes and brain to figure things out

Goal: To provide an opportunity for the user to observe and identify when others are using hidden social keys

Skill Level 2

Skill Level 2: Watch what I do

Hidden Social Key: Look at what others are looking at

Goal: To introduce the concept that it is important to watch what others are looking at or doing

Skill Level 2: Using our friend files

Hidden Social Key: Keep your body facing the group and talk about what others are discussing

Goal: To introduce the concept of listening to what others are saying

Skill Level 2: Thinking about your friend

Hidden Social Key:  Try to figure out what to do based on how others are feeling

Goal: To identify mad, sad, happy, and scared feelings, and figure out what to do when others are feeling this way

 

Skill Level 2: Using the DPS:  Digital Problem Solver

Hidden Social Key: Monitor and adjust your behavior when you’re with a group

Goal: To introduce four coping strategies and the results of using them

 

Skill Level 2: What’s their plan?

Hidden Social Key: Use your eyes and brain to figure things out

Goal: To introduce the concept of observing other’s body and eye movements to figure out what they will do next

 

Skill Level 2: What does that mean?

Hidden Social Key: Look at who is talking

Goal: to introduce the use of idioms in conversation

 

Skill Level 2: Having a conversation

Hidden Social Key: Talk about what the group is talking about

Goal: To introduce the concept that people ask follow-up questions to find out more about a topic

 

Skill Level 2: Unlocking the clubhouse

Hidden Social Key: Use your eyes and brain to figure things out

Goal: To provide the opportunity for the user to observe and identify when others are using the Hidden Social Keys

The included printables are a nice way to make these lessons tangible for the child. Here are a few examples of what the printables look like:

Watch a video of the Social Express in action.

Overall the app has some amazingly cool features and targets a number of skills that most children on the spectrum need but maybe priced out of range of some SLP’s budgets. Priced at $89.99 The Social Express is available for Mac, PC, and iPad. I say treat it as an investment and check it out on the App Store for more info here: The Social Express.

This review originally posted by Jeremy Legaspi on Advance Web you can visit by clicking here,  Advanceweb.com

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Autism Education Company Presents at ASHA 2012 Convention November 15-17

 

 

Autism-Education-Firm-Presents-ASHA12

San Diego, CA—(PRWeb) November 15, 2012—Speech-language pathologists and professionals attending the 2012 ASHA Convention, who are looking for interactive social skills education for autism, will want to visit The Social Express™ in Booth 408. 

The Social Express is a peer-reviewed program that recently won the coveted Software Information and Industry Association (SIIA) Innovation Incubator Award in Tech Ed.  The program provides social skills education for children on the autism spectrum and has been featured on news programs in major markets as well as growing coverage on the web.

 

Jon Cornick ,President, Brighten LearningJon Cornick, President, said, “We are very excited to attend ASHA 2012 in Atlanta. Over the past months we’ve received many positive responses from the SLP community and hope to meet many of them in person at our booth.”

Marc Zimmerman, CEO, commented, “The work that the SLP Helping Your Child Learn Social Skillscommunity did with my twin sons with autism was incredible. Speech-Language Pathologists provide amazing and vital services to children with autism and related disorders. I know firsthand just how vital a role SLPs play for these children.” Zimmerman continued, “I deeply appreciate all of the hard work the SLPs do to help my twins with their communication skills.”

Cornick added, “This is the one-year anniversary of the launch of The Social Express. We’re just thrilled to be able to celebrate this event at ASHA with the SLP community.”

The Social Express joins 12,000 leading practitioners at the annual ASHA Convention. This event is being held at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from November 15-17, 2012.

The Social Express is an interactive video-modeling, social skills learning and education for autism program. Parents, professionals, and educators of special needs children like the high-quality, Hollywood-style animation that holds their attention without over stimulation and the scenes that reinforce the best choices for kids to make in social situations.  Learn more about The Social Express by visiting:  thesocialexpress.com Twitter: @TheSocialExpres

About Brighten Learning, Inc.:

Brighten Learning™, founded by parents of autistic twins in 2010, is a privately held company based in Encinitas, California.  The company develops The Social Express™ and other interactive social skills software and learning management systems. The company’s mission is to help special needs children with social-emotional deficits to improve their lives. The company’s video modeling social skills learning programs help children with ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and related disorders to improve their interactions with others. Visit the company at http://thesocialexpress.com/

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Autism Education Startup Presents at NAEYC Conference November 7-10

Jon Cornick ,President, Brighten LearningThe Social Express, a peer-reviewed, award winning social learning program will present at the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) event in Atlanta from November 7-10, 2012. The Social Express will be in Booth # 2350.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) October 30, 2012

Early childhood professionals attending the 2012 NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo, who are looking for interactive education for autism programs, will want to visit The Social Express™. The Social Express is a peer-reviewed program that recently won the coveted Software Information and Industry Association (SIIA) Innovation Incubator Award in Tech Ed. The program provides social skills education for children on the autism spectrum and has been featured on news programs in major markets as well as growing coverage on the web. The Social Express will be located in Booth 2350.

Jon Cornick, President, said, “Early childhood learning is an important focus for our company.  It’s been reported that 80 percent of children enter kindergarten with social learning issues.”

Cornick continued, “We often hear from school teachers that, when they use The Social Express in their classrooms, students respond positively to the content and are more respectful to their fellow peers.”

The Social Express joins leading practitioners at the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) event. This event is being held at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from November 7-10, 2012.

In its initial phase, The Social Express is a 16-lesson interactive video-modeling social skills learning and education for autism program. Parents, professionals, and educators of special needs children like the high-quality, Hollywood-style animation that holds their attention without over stimulation and the scenes that reinforce the best choices for kids to make in social situations. Learn more about The Social Express by visiting: thesocialexpress.com Twitter: @TheSocialExpres

About Brighten Learning, Inc.
Brighten Learning™, founded by parents of autistic twins in 2008, is a privately held company based in Encinitas, California. The company develops The Social Express™ and other interactive social skills software and learning management systems. The company’s mission is to help special needs children with social-emotional deficits to improve their lives. The company’s video modeling social skills learning programs help children with ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and related disorders to improve their interactions with others. Visit the company at http://thesocialexpress.com/

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The Social Express in The News

 

The Social Express Awarded Most Innovative by SIIA

 

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology

 

 

Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism & Social Learning Startup Donate to Schools with Autism Classes

 

 

The Social Express CEO Keynotes Special Needs Touch Technology Apps Event

New Autism Social Learning Software Takes Top SIIA Ed Tech Summit Award

 

Laying the Groundwork for a Shared Tech. Infrastructure

 

Autism Speaks.org: Autism Speaks, Online and Tech Leaders Team Up with Innovative Autism Awareness Month Initiatives

 

 

Autism app helps kids develop social skills

 

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Great Review of App: Social Skills Coping Strategies for Kids

Common Sense Media Reviews My DPS, by The Social ExpressThanks to Common Sense Media for a great review of a social skills app for kids from The Social Express: My DPS, Digital Problem Solver!

My Digital Problem Solver Helps Kids with Social Skills Coping Techniques

Here is an excerpt from the review of our social skills coping app for kids:

What parents Need to Know:

Parents need to know that My DPS is an excellent app to teach emotions and problem-solving techniques. The app focuses on identifying a variety of emotions through facial expressions, body language, and written/spoken language, and suggests coping strategies to deal with a range of social situations. My DPS is short for “My Digital Problem Solver” and uses CGI-animated videos to show social situations and coping skills in settings relevant to kids.

My Digital Problem Solver app, by The Social ExpressMy DPS is an excellent app to help teach emotions and social problem solving techniques. It’s easy to use, can be customized to show a variety of emotions, and teaches valuable everyday life skills. The CGI animations are impressive, and the app’s music is calming with comforting lyrics. The app would be even better if it had a spoken text option for non-readers and a way to import video to customize coping strategies options.

That said, My DPS is a fantastic tool to help kids learn effective coping techniques. You can read the complete review by clicking here.

What kids can learn

Kids can learn to identify emotions and successful coping mechanisms, as well as hone interpersonal skills to help them manage a variety of social situations. The CGI animations also help kids handle stress by developing self-reliance to move beyond emotional obstacles. The in-app visual and aural cues are accessible to kids with developmental and learning differences. While the aural and video cues can’t be modified, still picture and text cues can be customized to match specific emotions and coping strategies. The customization options and impressive animations help make My DPS a great way to learn about emotions.

Common Sense Media is a great resource for parents looking to find the best apps to help their kids. Find out more by visiting their website by clicking here.

 

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Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism & Social Learning Startup Donate to Schools with Autism Classes

The Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism Partners with The Social ExpressSan Diego, CA and Framingham, MA—(PRWeb) October 23, 2012—The Social Express™, creators of new interactive social skills programs for special needs children, has partnered with The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism and donated copies of its program to schools who teach children with autism.

“We’re very proud to donate The Social Express learning program to The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism,” said Marc Zimmerman, CEO and Founder of Brighten Learning. “After using our program, teachers tell us that students are extremely receptive to its social skills lessons like ‘talking about what others like to talk about’ and ‘being part of the group’.  Many ask to use the program everyday.“

Zimmerman added, “Educator feedback also tells us that The Social Express characters engage students so well, they’re able to begin learning tough social concepts. We’re excited to share the program with more schools!”

The importance of technology to enhance children’s learning in the classroom is widely accepted. For children with autism, laptop computers are especially helpful but are out of reach for many schools with autism specific classrooms.

The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism has long recognized this fact. In 2000 the Laurie Flutie Computer Initiative was created for the purpose of donating computers to underprivileged families of individuals living with autism as well as to schools with autism-specific classrooms.

Chris Chirco, Program Director at the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, stated that, “The Flutie Foundation is excited to partner with The Social Express.  Computer technology has become a key component in the education of many individuals with autism spectrum disorders and The Social Express offers a very visually stimulating and engaging interface that is sure to appeal to children on the autism spectrum.  Learning social skills can be critical for an individual with autism to succeed independently.”

Computers are given to schools with autism-specific classrooms that could not otherwise afford to purchase them. To date the foundation has distributed close to 500 computers to families and schools in New York and New England.

In its initial phase, The Social Express is a 16-lesson interactive video-modeling social skills learning program. Parents, professionals, and educators of special needs children like the high-quality, Hollywood-style animation that holds their attention without over stimulation and the scenes that reinforce the best choices for kids to make in social situations.

Children with autism, ADHD, Asperger’s, and other social-emotional deficits find the characters engaging and many ask to use it every day. Learn more about The Social Express by visiting the website: http://thesocialexpress.com/

About Brighten Learning, Inc.:

Brighten Learning™, founded by parents of autistic twins in 2008, is a privately held company based in Encinitas, California.  The company develops The Social Express™ and other interactive social skills software and learning management systems. The company’s mission is to help special needs children with social-emotional deficits to improve their lives. The company’s video modeling social skills learning programs help children with ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and related disorders to improve their interactions with others. Visit the company at http://thesocialexpress.com/

About The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism:

The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. was established in 1998 by Doug Flutie and his wife, Laurie, in honor of their 20  year old son, Doug, Jr. who was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. The Flutie Foundation’s mission is to support families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Foundation is committed to increasing awareness of the challenges of living with autism and helping families find resources to help address those challenges. We provide individuals with autism and their families an opportunity to improve their quality of life by funding educational, therapeutic, recreational and advocacy programs. For more information on The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, please contact Maria Baez at the Ebben Zall Group at (781) 449-3244, or visit www.flutiefoundation.org.

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San Diego Walk Now for Autism Speaks Was a Great Event!

 

San Diego Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Our family had an awesome time at the San Diego Walk Now for Autism Speaks on Saturday, October 6. The twins were overjoyed that the organizers had arranged for a jumpy! They had a great time because jumpys are a big favorite with our boys. It was not easy to get them to get off of the jumpy…

So, the twins’ second favorite activity (after the jumpy) of the day was drawing…

San Diego Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Maybe drawing was so cool that day, because they’d just walked 2 miles. And they were tuckered out. They could sit down. Which was fine with their mom and me!

The San Diego Walk Now for Autism Speaks turnout was really big. Safe to say, a great time was had by all. There were tons of families.

Walk Now for Autism Speaks San Diego

You can click to the Facebook page for Autism Speaks San Diego for lots more pictures. Click here for their Facebook page.

I enjoyed talking to the other parents and all the exhibitors. San Diego has such great people and kids!

The Walk was held at the beautiful, historic Liberty Station Park. It’s located near San Diego Harbor and was originally the site for the United States Naval Training Center for new recruits.  Like a lot of historic buildings in San Diego, Liberty Park has many restored buildings that are in the Spanish style of architecture.

According to the history on Liberty Station’s website, from 1923 until the 1990’s, thousands of US Navy recruits were trained here. It also says that San Diego is home to one-sixth of the US Navy’s entire fleet!

The boys were disappointed that they missed out on the face painting at the Walk. It was over by the time we arrived. Oops. Better planning next time.

If you’d like to check out where the next Autism Speaks Walk is happening near your home, click over here. They keep a handy list of upcoming walks.

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5 Tips to Help Your Child Make Friends


Helping Your Child Learn Social SkillsIf your child is having difficulty making friends at school, it is heart breaking. You want to help him. It could be that he’s experiencing problems developing a range of social skills. Maybe he’s having difficulty looking others in the eye, talking about what the group is talking about, or other behaviors that are needed for him to “stay with the group” successfully. It could be your child’s problem solving skills need help.

Talk to him about what’s going on and try to identify the barriers. Is it that he’s having difficulty relating to his classmates? Is he not able to stay with the group? Is he not noticing or even saying “hello” to the other kids?

Ask your child’s teacher the same questions. I recommend to parents that you treat all of your child’s teachers, therapists, coaches, and anyone else who is in their daily lives like your ‘team’. Stay in regular contact with them so that you can benefit from their observations and suggestions.

These are just the first steps in helping your child to improve his or her social skills.

I’ll discuss more ways to help your child make friends in future articles.

It’s Hard to Find Social Skills Homework

 

I certainly learned about the importance of social skills when our twin sons began mainstream kindergarten. (You can read how we accomplished mainstreaming here.)

This was in 2007, before apps and interactive software programs were widely available. I searched high and low for a social skills learning software program. There were none at the time. That’s what led me to develop The Social Express. (But that’s another story.)

Here Are 5 Tips for Helping Your Child Improve His Social Skills

1. Have calm conversations with your child about what’s keeping him from making friends. Find out exactly where he’s having trouble when trying to interact with other kids. Ask him to describe the other kids in his class and what he thinks about them. Find out what happens during recess or group activities. Ask lots of simple questions. Dig deep with your questions.

2. Become the CSI Read more

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