1. Scavenger Hunt

If you are working on object labels or lessons like features or functions, you can create lists for the child to take pictures of around the house. If the child can’t read, you can stay with him or her and read the labels out loud. You can even time the child and have them try to beat their record!

Sample Lists:

Objects: Cup, ball, desk, pencil, clock, etc.

Features: Something with a nose, something with hair, etc.

Functions: Something you can drink with, something you can use to eat, etc.

2. Cause and Effect Videos

Teaching cause and effect is challenging because of the difficulty involved in breaking down and separating out cause and effect during real time events. One way to deal with this is using the camera to take a video of an event. Play back the video with the child, pausing time to time to talk through what is happening and the relationship between the two events.

3. Perspective Taking/Knowing

Perspective taking is an important skill for children with autism to learn but it is often very difficult to teach. One way I’ve worked on this was using the camera to show my perspective. I was playing hide and seek with one of my kiddos and his feet were sticking out from below the curtain. I took a picture of what I saw and we talked about how I knew where he was hiding. We also discussed what he would need to do to be more hidden.

4. Conversation Training

FaceTime and Skype video chat are useful for practicing conversation. Since technology is more engaging for some children, the use of video chat can help them focus more on the conversation at hand. I’ve used video chat with a kiddo and his eye contact actually improved during these conversations because he was less distracted by other things.

5. Gross Motor Modeling

Gross motor skills are difficult for some kids and the use of video modeling in addition to physical prompting can help them learn these skills quicker. If you don’t have a third person available when working on gross motor skills, you can take a video of yourself performing the action, play the video for the child, and then help physically prompt them as they try to mimic what they are seeing.

How have you used a smartphone’s camera to create learning opportunities?

The post 5 Ways to Use Your Smartphone’s Camera to Create Learning Opportunities appeared first on PixelAtion Labs.

At the start of the app, the user is presented with a table of four characters, two humans, a cat, and a bull. After choosing a character, the user makes the character food picking from a large selection of ingredients that can be prepared in a variety of ways. Each character has different tastes and their reactions to the food express their preference, disgust or indifference.

It is easy to work on inferring likes/dislikes, cause and effect, and preferences with this app. For starters, ask the child how the character feels after eating each food item based on the character’s reaction. For instance, if the cat makes a happy face after eating a boiled lemon you can ask, “Did the cat like it?” Once you’ve done a few of these, you can go back to the main screen and ask questions about the preferences of each character. You can ask which characters liked or disliked certain foods.

As you are working through these questions, there are always opportunities to vary your language to include categories, colors and negations. Instead of always naming the ingredient, try referring to the ingredient by its category and/or color. For instance, instead of saying, “broccoli,” you might say, “the green vegetable.” You can also work on negations by asking the child to pick an ingredient that is “not a fruit,” for example.

Selecting the ingredients is only part of the fun to be had with this app. The user also has loads of options to prepare the food (cut, blend, boil, fry, microwave, and more). This adds another layer to likes/dislikes as well as the option to target cause and effect skills. For example, one of the characters doesn’t like meat unless it is blended and cooked into a patty.

You can also work on knowing with your kiddo. While observing the reactions of the characters ask, “Did they like it/how do you know?” There isn’t a whole lot more to expand on here but it is a small opportunity to generalize this skill.

If you are working on following instructions with the child, you can chain a few steps together to carry out in the kitchen. You can ask the child to choose a specific ingredient and preform precise steps to prepare it.

Toca Kitchen provides a lot of opportunities for learning and as a bonus the reactions of the characters are pretty entertaining (especially the bull). There’s a parent section in the top left that provides basic information about the app. Toca Boca also makes an app called Kitchen Monsters that uses the same concepts but features monsters as the characters. That app is free but only available for iOS at this time.

Have you played Toca Kitchen? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

App: Toca Kitchen

Price: $2.99

Available on: the App Store, Google Play, Windows, and Amazon

Developer: Toca Boca

Targeted Skills: Actions, Categories, Cause and Effect, Colors, Following Instructions, Foods, Knowing, Likes/Dislikes, Negations, Preferences

The post The Benefits of Playing Toca Kitchen for Children with Autism appeared first on PixelAtion Labs.