My Pictures Talk Dec 31, 2011

This app is a Social Story companion app to the AAC/Visual Schedule app iCommunicate. Like iCommunicate, My Pictures talk is a simple but extremely versatile and powerful app.

The best use we’ve found with this app is Social Stories, a social story is where you tell a simple story about something that your child struggles with so they can see the process and decrease anxiety and unexpectedness. The first story we created was ‘I Got A Haircut’ for our son who is 4. We took pictures of each step in the process of cutting his hair (which he is afraid of), we then put each one in the app in sequence and described what was happening in text, just like we were telling a story. We had his big sister narrate the text so there is also audio (you can also add video which we may do next time we cut his hair).

When you first open the app you have a screen showing all your current stories (see first screen shot below). Add a new story using the + button at the top right or tap a story you’ve already created to open it. Once you’ve opened your story, you’ll be in the story setup screen which will either have nothing, or a list of what pictures/videos and text are already added to this story (see the second screenshot below of what our ‘I Got A Haircut’ story).

 

If you’ve just created the story you’ll want to add some pictures or videos to it. You can either choose from your library or you can take a picture or video directly within the app. Touch the + at the top right to add a photo or video and you get the screen below (first screen shot, click to enlarge). You name the picture (if you’re making a story, you’ll want to put the text for that ‘page’ here), record the audio to go with it (in our case we were telling a story so the audio was narration of the text) and select what story this image/video belongs to. If you’re adding video, you also have the option of editing the video.

Once you’ve completed your story, you touch the first item in the list and it brings it up with the accompanying text, sharing options and an edit button (see second screen shot below). You tap the image to hear the audio on that page, none of that process is automated. I would like to see the option of autoplay for audio and auto advance in the stories, but these things only take 2 taps so it’s definitely not a criticism.

 

The key features in this app for me are flexibility and simplicity, it is designed to use your own images and video, it should be restrictive and basic but it is extremely versatile, it’s potential is huge. We currently have 3 social stories in it for things our kids struggle with, they can watch and listen to the process to become more familiar and less anxious. Tomorrow I intend to make one that deals with feelings for my child who struggles with appropriately managing their feelings. It has potential for processing past events (for example if you’ve been on a family trip and someone has trouble processing it all), teaching appropriate or expected behavior, teaching facial expressions, teaching sign language … the list is endless. It also comes with several sharing options including zipping and emailing, which is fantastic.

In Short

Grembe Apps does an amazing job of keeping their apps simple and versatile. My Pictures Talk is the perfect social story app with endless potential. We highly recommend it!

Muslim Friendly Rating

Rated a Gold Apple, which means this is one of our favorites and we consider it a must have.

Details

• Price (at the time of review) $4.99
• Platform: Universal
• Developer: http://www.grembe.com/
• iTunes Link: View in App Store