Tag Archive for: The Social Express

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The Social Express Readies New Web-Based Social Skills Program

The Social Express Web-based Version Coming SoonThe new Internet-based version of the popular social skills learning program, The Social Express, will be offered soon for Families, Professionals and School Districts.

An added feature, ‘The Clubhouse’, provides a safe environment for kids who are members to connect with each other and engage while practicing social skills.

Quote startThe upcoming Web-based, subscription version of The Social Express makes it easier to reach many more children and young adults who need help learning and practicing social skills. We want to help as many kids as possible to better interact with others.Quote end

 
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 25, 2013

Brighten Learning, makers of The Social Express®, is pleased to announce that a new Web-based version of its social skills learning program is coming soon.

The Social Express, winner of the SIIA Innovation Incubator Award in Ed Tech, is an interactive program that targets core deficit areas that stand in the way of school, social, and life success for children and young adults with social learning challenges.

Marc Zimmerman, CEO, said, “We’re so humbled by the community of parents, professionals and teachers that have gathered around The Social Express. We’re thrilled to be able to convert our social skills learning software into an Internet-based program. The upcoming Web-based, subscription version makes it easier for us to reach many more children and young adults who need help learning and practicing social skills. We want to help as many kids as possible to better interact with others.”

Families, Professionals and School Districts will be able to access the new Web-based version of The Social Express from all desktop computers, laptops and selected mobile devices. The new program retains the wonderful characters that users love and offers the same interactive learning environment for children to use along with their parents, teachers and speech language professionals.

Parents, school districts and professionals who become members of the new Internet-based program from The Social Express will be able to create custom learning plans around their children’s needs for social skill improvement. They’ll also have access to new content each month and the popular built-in teaching tips.

Jon Cornick, President and COO, said, “We developed the Web-based version to make it easier for children who need help with social skills to learn, connect and engage. One example, ‘The Clubhouse’, is a new private social network exclusively for children registered in The Social Express program. Inside The Clubhouse they can engage with each other while practicing the very skills they have learned in The Social Express. The goal is for them to generalize these new skills and ultimately make friends. The Clubhouse provides a safe and fun environment for this, and there is even a Parent Login for observing the child’s progress.”

Cornick added, “We’re developing exciting new tools and ways for kids to get involved with both learning and practicing social skills in our upcoming version of The Social Express. We invite our community of parents, educators and professionals to stay tuned to our exciting announcements. “

Since beginning in November of 2011, The Social Express has received wide support and heartwarming testimonials. Stories of progress and success have poured in from Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), parents and teachers of children diagnosed with Asperger’s, ADHD, autism and related disorders who have found help using the program.

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. They also like 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
Or follow the company on Facebook

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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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Help for Asperger’s: Social Skills Program for Kids Celebrates First Anniversary

Jon Cornick ,President, Brighten LearningOur president, Jon Cornick and I and our entire team were so excited  to celebrate the first anniversary of our company! The Social Express was one-year old on November 11, 2012. We actually celebrated at ASHA12!

We’re all so humbled by the wonderful reception our social learning program has received from parents, school administrators, and teachers in our first year. Also from the dedicated speech-language pathologist (SLP) community that provides help for Asperger’s and autism everyday. So many  children who need special assistance with communication skills rely heavily on SLPs and their teachers.

Thanks to everyone we’ve met at ASHA and other conferences.

– Marc and Jon

 

Help for Asperger’s

 

PRWeb–November 29, 2012–The Social Express, a peer-reviewed program that recently won the coveted Software Information and Industry Association (SIIA) Innovation Incubator Award in Tech Ed, celebrates its first anniversary with a growing community of people helping kids to learn social skills.

The Social Express provides social skills help for Asperger’s and other children diagnosed on the autism spectrum. In its first year, The Social Express has received wide support and heartwarming testimonials from the autism and Asperger’s community of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), educators, parents and teachers of children who need help for Asperger’s, ADHD, autism and related disorders.

Jon Cornick, President, said, “We are incredibly grateful for the amazing growth our company has achieved in our first year. We’ve found an enthusiastic community of supporters by participating in conferences, being featured in news stories, receiving wonderful reviews and publicity. The testimonials from educators, administrators, professionals and parents have been so encouraging.”

Marc Zimmerman, CEO, said, “My wife Tina and I were inspired to found our company in order to help other parents, like us, who have children with autism. We continue to be inspired, motivated and energized because of the deep commitment to help kids with autism and Asperger’s that we experience from the autism community.” Zimmerman continued, “We’d like to express our deep gratitude for all of the hard work the SLPs do everyday to help my twins and other children on the autism spectrum with communication skills.”

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.

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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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Interview: Autism Software Recommended by Social Skills Director

Autism-Software-Interview-Elif-Cagin

Elif Cagin, Social Skills Director at New Vista School

We are always excited when parents, therapists and educators send us stories about positive experiences using our autism software social skills program.

Recently, we sat down with Elif Cagin an educator who uses our autism software learning program with her students. Elif highly recommends The Social Express to other educators.

She is the Social Skills Department Chair at the New Vista School for adolescents with autism here in Southern California.

We asked her to share with us how she uses The Social Express with her students. Here is part one of our interview with Elif Cagin. We’ll post the second part tomorrow.

 The Social Express: Tell us about yourself, your role at the school and the types of students you work with.

Elif Cagin: I received my Applied Behavior Analysis Post-Masters Certificate from Pennsylvania State University and plans to sit for BCBA exam in Spring 2012. Also, I received a Master’s Degree in Special Education, Mild/Moderate Education Specialist Instruction credential, CLAD Certification, and EL Authorization from Chapman University.

Additionally, I’m a trained and certified therapist – UCLA Program for the Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS). I attended University of California, Riverside and received her Bachelor Degree in Liberal Studies. Currently, I am  the Social Skills Department Chair at New Vista School, a school for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

I enjoy being active in my community serving as the Chair for Autism Speaks Orange County Chapter 2012-2013. I previously volunteered as School and Community Outreach Co-Chair for Autism Speaks Orange County Chapter 2010-2011.  My professional interests are in the remediation and support of developmental delays and the treatment of social and behavioral deficits in children, adolescents and young adults.

I have over 8 years of experience in the assessment, treatment, and education of children, adolescents, and young adults with a variety of developmental disabilities and behavior disorders in school, home, community, and clinic settings. I’ve presented with other professionals in the field on a variety of topics regarding social skills development- curriculum and instruction, effective autism behavioral teaching strategies, and special education strategies.

My work and on-going education has focused on helping my students and families achieve happier, more fulfilling lives and relationships.  I have passion for working with students with special needs began at a very young age. I have a younger adult sibling who is on the Autism spectrum and my family is my source of inspiration and encouragement.

TSE: How do you use The Social Express autism software program with your students?

Elif: In our classroom we use The Social Express program 3-4 days a week to enrich social skills concept development and encourage application and generalization. We play the program on an iPad and project the program on the classroom whiteboard.

We begin the lesson with direct instruction of the concept that will be the focus of the day and play the program. We pause the program for discussion and participation.

If needed, we scaffold questions for students so that we can target individual behavior and social goals. This program is appropriate for varying ability levels because you can enrich or modify your own instruction and use the modeling in program as a strong support for any social skill concept that is being taught.

TSE: What kinds of progress are you seeing if any, from using the program with your students?

Elif: Student attention and engagement in social skills concept development across the class period has increased noticeably. I have observed specific students that could only attend to a lesson for no more than 10 minutes with frequent prompting for participation now when using “The Social Express” attend for 15-20 minutes and participate independently.

Students request The Social Express.  I find this is a highly preferred mode of instruction support. I have observed students outside of class discussing concepts and using critical thinking skills when faced with or observe peers that are in similar situations as the characters in the program.

Academic teachers such as reading, math, science, and social studies have also observed application and discussion of behaviors and social skills that have been taught using The Social Express.

Stop by tomorrow for part two of our interview.

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Social Learning Software Startup Presents at ISTE 2012 in San Diego

Social-Learning-Software-Presents-ISTE12We are excited to be sharing our social learning software program at next week’s ISTE conference with tech educators coming in from all over the planet.

It’s the 33rd annual ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference and exposition June 24-27 in San Diego. That’s right here in our home town of San Diego.

Here is our news release. If you’re attending ISTE12 next week, stop by our booth (5226) and say hello!

Social Learning Software Startup Presents at ISTE 2012 in San Diego

Brighten Learning to share new interactive social skills development program with educators.

 

Brighten Learning, a developer of interactive social learning software, will demonstrate its new social learning app, The Social Express™ at the 33rd annual ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference and exposition June 24-27 in San Diego.

The Social Express is a new 16-lesson social learning software program for students between the ages of five and 12 years. It uses interactive video modeling, movie quality animation, socially valid dialog, and original characters that students find engaging. Each one of the 30 interactive scenes contains teachable moments that assist educators to reinforce social skills learning.

According to President Jon Cornick, “Brighten Learning team is excited to meet and share ideas with the tech savvy educators that are coming from across the globe to participate in ISTE!”

“Brighten Learning will show educators how easy it is to use our social learning software program, project it on a classroom whiteboard, and pause the program when needed. The pause feature makes it easy for educators to discuss the social situation choices available to the characters in each scene of The Social Express,” Cornick added.

Educators in a wide variety of environments and populations use The Social Express. Students enjoy and request the program because of its realistic social dialog, Hollywood-quality animation, and interactive components.

Based on feedback from educators, The Social Express works equally well for students with a wide variety of levels of social skill deficits. Students with autism, Asperger’s, ADHD as well as more typical children experiencing social learning challenges will benefit from interacting with the program in a classroom environment.

The company’s ISTE12 booth (#5226) will provide iPads with demonstration versions of The Social Express social learning software app.

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 learning software. The company’s mission is to help children with ADHD, Autism and Asperger’s to improve their lives by teaching social skills using video modeling. Visit the company at http://thesocialexpress.com/

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Autism Help for Parents: Win Our Social Learning Software

Autism-Software-Smart-Apps-for-KidsOur friends at the popular website, SmartAppsForKids.com are launching The Social Express GIVEAWAY.

You can find out how to win a copy of The Social Express by clicking to the Smart Apps For Kids site here.

SmartAppsForKids.com calls our autism software:

“The Social Express, the app everybody wants…”

We love hearing that! We developed The Social Express to fill the need for autism help for parents. The Social Express is popular with teachers and therapists too. But we’re really glad that it’s the autism software app of choice for many parents who want to help their children to improve social learning.

If you know of anyone looking for autism help for parents, tell them  about The Social Express. Parents can help their kids with autism improve social skills using our autism software on just about any device you like. The Social Express is available for PC, Mac, or iPad.

How Autism Software Helps Your Child

The Social Express is engaging, educational autism software for children and young adults with social learning challenges. The software is designed to teach users how to think about and manage social situations. This way it helps them to develop meaningful social relationships with other children and succeed in life.

Using video modeling, The Social Express helps your child with autism, Asperger’s, or ADHD to work on skills that he or she needs to make friends. Skills like self-regulating, recognizing other people’s facial expressions, and how to keep the right distance from others in a conversation.

Join our free newsletter! Get insider updates from The Social Express, click here to join us!

Visit the Smart Apps For Kids website to learn more about The Social Express GIVEAWAY. Click here to check out their website.

 

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Flawless Foundation and The Social Express Working Together to Make A Difference

The Flawless Foundation takes a stand for children living with brain-based, behavioral challenges by promoting educated awareness about neurodevelopment, providing evidence-based, holistic treatment programs and by advancing environmental and prevention focused research.

We envision a world where every child living with behavioral challenges feels flawless and is understood and embraced by society.

Thanks again to our amazing colleagues The Social Express Interactive Software for donating their software to us. At our conference in NYC, they were a hot ticket – school administrators, physicians, parents were so grateful to receive this awesome tool for helping children with social learning.

 

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Apptudes.com Review of The Social Express

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thank you to Hillary Brumer for writing a great review.

The Social Express Teaches Special Needs Children Valuable Social Skills – Win Mac Copy From Developer

The Social Express, (iPad only. Mac and PC versions available) by Brighten Learning, Inc.  is an educational app that is designed to teach children with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, and ADHD social skills. While the app is geared for certain populations, it does have practical application for children up to Middle School.

There are many apps in the App Store that teach emotions. The Social Express is not like any of these apps. In fact, it blows the competition out of the water.

Learning something one is not good at is hard. Imagine spending all day being forced to work on that one thing. The Social Express makes working on skills that are difficult for many children with Autism – social skills – easily understood. By employing concepts in Social Thinking, self-regulation, and problem solving skills in a video modeling way of teaching.

The app is well-designed. I was immediately blown away by the beautiful graphics. The UI  was not cumbersome during testing. The app is a simple bus that takes the main characters, Zack, Emma, and their dog Sunny into town.  From there, various social scenarios are played out. The child selects the appropriate answer. By using specific language, video modeling, and error-free learning that allows children to think, The Social Express  has it all.

The Social Express is a rather large download, so make sure to have enough space to use it. Printable materials are also available, however unless an iPad user has access to a wireless printer, they are not of much use. It would be nice to see printables sent to an annotation app or PDF form for ease of customizing for learners.

Our children are asking to be taught in a different way than we were taught. Many debates have been waged over the use of technology to teach specific skills. However, regardless of one’s viewpoint, we can agree that using apps such as The Social Express only help to make children’s learning success in a way that makes sense for them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Social Express App Review & PC/MAC Giveaway!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thank you so much to Jenna Rayburn from Speech Room News  for this great review.

Social Express App Review & PC/MAC Giveaway!

Social communication is a critical area of need for many children. Social skills are often difficult to teach, and even harder for students to initiate and follow through. I’m always on the lookout for another tool to add in my ‘social skills toolbox.’ One app people have been requesting to see a review of is The Social Express. The developers gave me a copy of the app to test it out for you! The Social Express is software designed to teach management of social situations using video models and interactive choices. It’s available as an app and also for Macs/PCs, meaning it works for all SLP’s!

You open the Social Express and meet the main characters. Max is the driver who leads you through the app. He introduced some sweet characters, including my favorite, Sunny, the pup!

You can add multiple users – which is great! First, students work through each lesson to ‘unlock’ them.  Once you have passed the lessons the first time, you can go back to individual lessons as needed for review and instruction. There are 2 levels of instruction, based on similar skills with increased difficulty at level 2.

At the introduction of a skill the ‘Hidden Social Key’ is explicitly stated. There are teaching tips that you can turn on or off throughout the lessons. Social concepts targeted include: proximity and body language, eye contact, identifying feelings, coping strategies, conversational skills and figurative language.

My favorite part of the program is the part of the program where students answer questions to unlock the clubhouse! Student are presented with two video sessions and then they choose the one that demonstrates the skill.  I love it as a wrap up for the lessons to check comprehension of the skills.

One of the things I love about the app is that the carryover and generalization activities are included! I especially loved these coping strategies! If you have a printer set up, you just print and go!

**Update: I spoke with Mary Anne, the SLP who developed the app. I asked her if there was anything else she’s like to point out to SLP’s considering purchasing the software/app. Mary Anne said,” An added bonus, in my opinion is the shots of the locations at the beginning of each of the activities, they are still shots of the locations which provide an opportunity to discuss the context….the who what when and other aspects of the location. It is based on Carol Gray’s social context concepts. Also I use it as a a supplement to the other materials/curriculm that I use when working with kids with social learning challenges.”

Pros:
-Video modeling is engaging to students.
-Two skill levels are included, making the app appropriate for children k-5
-Provides modeling of both positive and negative outcomes.
-It allows for multiple answer choices – providing opportunity to let students choose the correct response as well as the incorrect response to work through.
-Allows for pausing to give the therapist time to give instruction
-Available for the ipad, PC computers, MAC computers

-Printables are included!

Cons:
-The price tag hurts, meaning it may be out of reach for many therapist! I imagine it cost a lot to develop the app with animation, and you can tell a lot of work went into it!
-It includes a limited set of lessons, and I hope they will expand with updates!

Checkout the Lite version of the app for free here. The full version is here.

Through the end of March you can now purchase The Social Express  full version for $44.99 which is 50% off our introductory price of $89.99


The founder of The Social Express, Marc, has generously offered 2 giveaways for Speech Room News followers! He is going to give away one copy of the program for PC computer and one copy for Mac users. These versions are good for computers only – not the ipad version!

To enter the giveaway:
1. Like Speech Room News on Facebook
2. Like The Social Express Interactive Software on Facebook
3. Comment on the SRN thread on facebook with your name, email and preference for mac/pc

Goodluck! Contest ends on Saturday![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Paul Ciminis of Autismradio.org Podcast with Marc Zimmerman

 

Monday I had a great time speaking with Paul Cimins the founder of Autism Radio, Inc.  We discussed our kids with autism and the Social Express.

Thank you Paul!

Here is the link to listen.

http://www.autismradio.org/podcasts/2012/3/4/show-108-interview-with-marc-zimmerman-founder-of-the-social.html

 

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