Jan. 10, 2013 — A smartphone application that has potential to help children with autism communicate more effectively is now available for download.
Developed by Keith Allen, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a child psychologist at UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, the app uses evidence-based naturalistic teaching procedures to foster communication.
“We wanted to help parents do more to help their children learn basic communication skills. We wanted to develop something that could assist parents right in their homes, and we wanted something that was supported by research,” Dr. Allen said. “Naturalistic teaching that provides pictures of objects and prompts for parents fit all of these requirements.”