(Prototype drawings)

People with autism tend to misinterpret what each conversational partner is thinking, feeling, and saying because they don’t realize that the daughter in these scenarios cannot see the father, and vice versa. Since people with autism might not understand the conversational partners' different perspectives and what they can and can't see, they might not know who says what to whom.

(Prototype drawings)

In this scenario, both the daughter and father are now looking at the same focus (the duck). I Can Have Conversations With You! has been clinically developed to help people with autism realize this and learn who says what to whom - and why.

This lesson was simply line drawings of a few scenes on paper which required the child to cut and paste speech bubbles with various phrases to simulate talking between the conversational partners.  I was extremely encouraged when my students were excited to learn from it.  Over many years, I took data on my students’ responses, continually shaping this systematic approach to conversation for people with autism.

Still, I wasn’t satisfied due to the nature of the presentation.  Luckily, at this point in time, technology was becoming more advanced and accessible. PowerPoint presentations on my laptop eventually replaced the paper versions of my lesson modules. After years of witnessing progress, I became convinced that making my system available to families everywhere was becoming more important to me than ever.

With tablets in the hands of millions, the device’s tactile, lightweight, and stimulating multimedia features made it the ideal device for my learning system’s effectiveness and affordability. In 2012, I started my journey of filming hundreds of videos, audio clips, interactive touch screen cues, sound effects, and data-keeping templates. Two years later, my autism app finally launched in the App Store, and the positive feedback has been amazing.

I Can Have Conversations With You! on the iPad is the answer for people with autism of almost every age to use different learning modalities including touch, sight, sound, automatic rewards, and instant feedback to fully understand and be able to speak during conversations. I'd be delighted to answer any questions you have about it, and I encourage you to visit the App Store to give your child this powerful and affordable tool today.