Why We’re a Bit Wary of Software (But Still Curious)
May 1, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Seattle Post-Intelligencer report Paul Nyhan writes about Teachtown software as a “high-tech way to lower the cost of autism.” Parents in Seattle report that they spend “$30,000, $40,000 and $50,000 a year on applied behavior analysis because few health insurance plans cover the costly treatment”; a subscription to Teachtown is $40/month. While the software’s founders stress that there is no substitute for actual, live human teachers (yes, there is no substitute!), it can provide “some—though not all—of the elements of the popular behavioral therapy.” Specifically,
Backed by concepts co-founder Lars Lidén learned while earning a doctorate in cognitive and neural systems, the software allows speech therapists, psychologists, teachers and parents to connect virtually and check on a child’s progress without passing around binders packed with charts and test results. Today, roughly 1,000 parents, school districts and treatment centers use TeachTown software.
The child, meanwhile, can log on from home or school to work through exercises targeted to his stage of development. To begin work, a student moves through an online town, clicking on icons of red, yellow and blue houses, a playground or a zoo to begin exercises.
Founders stress their software program doesn’t replace therapists and doctors. Children with autism need human therapists and often a wide range of services. Instead, TeachTown allows children to work on their own, cutting down expensive hours spent with therapists, who charge from $25 to $50 an hour.
You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of TeachTown. I’m considering this, maybe in the summer for Charlie has half-days of school. After reviewing the software’s interface, I’m not sure how engaged Charlie might be with it, based on previous experience using Headsprout and a number of programs from Laureate Learning. The colorful pictures and graphics on all of these programs have so far not held Charlie’s attention for very long (as in, not long at all).
Generally, I’ve noted (and since Charlie was a toddler) that drawings and cartoons seem to be especially hard for him to focus his eyes on and decode. He tends to note colors first and basic shapes, but he’s soon looking away as if his eyes are tired and his mind over-saturated by too many colors, images, moving lines of things. He hasn’t been wanting to do any online jigsaw puzzles lately; I suspect that he may have enjoyed those because, in an online puzzle, there’s only one picture to focus on.
One reason I tend to err on the side of caution in presenting Charlie with lots of busy visual images, pictures, etc., is that sometimes looking at these has seemed to overstimulate him and result in him crying out and grabbing as if in distress; in the past, some of Charlie’s head-banging seemed to be connected to this kind of visual over-stimulation. I’ve noted that we have no TV; Charlie does not seem to miss it at all, and he usually only watches a few minutes of any program, then gets up and moves around.
Am glad that TeachTown offers a free trial so we can see what Charlie thinks of it. And, perhaps, needless to say, the place to find us in the summer is out and about on walks and in pools and biking around our town.
Thanks for the post.
AT one point Eleanor was glued to the computer. Now she can take it or leave it. Her preference is to have company while she uses it, and since I have to sometimes clarify or additionally teach something confusing in the program or fix it when there’s a bug, it works.
Overall, the computer has been positive; at a time when pros were saying that Eleanor was not able to receptively process, I took video of her able to process quite a bit on the computer. The problem was that the real-life method of instruction was so aversive that she was not motivated to comply. That led to a major change in instruction. At one point she was not happy about having stories read to her, but liked listening to them on the computer; we eased in backwards from computer version to book version and that was helpful.
I agree with you about too much stuff going on. It’s not always reinforcing for Eleanor and gets in the way of the instruction. Headsprout, careful design and all, tanked. We did better with a structured in-person DI curriculum.
So it depends. I try to screen the program ahead of time to get my take. I’ll give something about a week, and if the ice is not thawing by then, it’s probably time to look at something else.
I have been considering doing the 30 day free trial as well. I have a sample packet from Laureate software that I never got around to reviewing and seeing how Matt would like it.
During K-1 that teacher used this system that Matt really seemed to enjoy.
http://www.assistivetech.com/p-stages.htm
My district bought the Discrete Trial Trainer for my students several years ago. It’s not online, but it’s extremely customizable and not visually cluttered at all. It also comes with a range of reinforcers (mini-games); I’ve never yet had a student that I couldn’t get engaged in one of them.
Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of discrete trial (it can be done well, but I believe should be only a portion of a child’s education) but it’s a wonderful format for the computer.
Maybe Charlie would prefer that, as its interface is so much less visual?
(Also, I’ve tried a variety of Laureate programs with many kids…not too many of them like them.)
Are comments with links taking longer to post? I did one when this was first posted and then tried again when I did not see it and got an error report that it was a duplicate.
I had posted the link to stages software and said I wanted to do the 30 day trial as well and that I have a packet from Laureate and have not gotten around to using it yet.
Hi Bonnie, yes, comments with links usually end up in the moderation queue and (argh!) sometimes in the SPAM box. I just found your comment and took it out (and I’ll be answering your question about the dentist by the end of the evening, sorry I have not yet done this). Would love to know what you think of those programs—-
Thanks for the information, Kristina! A free trial sounds great! I need to fill in some hours for this summer, too!
I also got “The Transporters”, the DVD on emotions from Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen and have been using it for almost a year. Alex likes it a lot, it is similar to Thomas Train only better, I think. I got a message from Dr. BC a couple of months ago, they are going to be distributing this DVD in the USA starting this summer. You can read about it and try an episode at http://transporters.tv
I also got Dr. BC’s “Mind Reading” DVD about a year ago, and it is good, although Alex prefers The Transporters at age 7.
Alex has learned a lot about emotions from these interactive DVDs and is now constantly trying to figure out how people around him are feeling by their voices and facial expressions!
Every little bit helps! And I especially like the “free trial”! Thanks for the tip!
Karen
Very interesting. I went to the site and spent a long time looking at it. I think M is advanced past this software but had something like this been available for me to purchase when she was younger I certainly would have given it a try. You can’t beat the monthly cost of it and you can even get a free trial. I hope that most of the tasks are computer related and not expecting lots of one to one activities with parents. I know I would have loved something where M could have worked on the computer rather than me constantly playing with her when she was younger. We never did ABA but looking over it I would not hesitate to try it.
We have been devoted TeachTown fans for one year and I can’t say enough about what a fantastic teaching tool this has been for Liam (age almost 7). We signed up for the free trial and then we were hooked! The reporting features are fantastic – you can see exactly how many trials, prompted and unprompted, were necessary for your child to master a particular section. They suggest lots of supplementary activities to help reinforce or teach a lesson. It is highly customizable for the moments when Liam only wants to focus on animal or letter lessons. The people at the company are fantastic and very helpful. We ultimately had TeachTown written into Liam’s IEP because he was making such tremendous progress on it, and it was so much better than having him play the same Elmo games on pbskids.org day after day! Liam frequently asks for TeachTown at home and at school, and he seems excited by the “reward” segments that come after a set number of trials.
Even if your child is not as much of a computer lover as Liam, do give the 30 day trial a chance. I have spread the word to other parents who might not know about TeachTown, and most reviews have been positive. I am so glad they are getting some good press because their product has been fantastic for us, and given Liam ABA type instruction at a price we can afford and a method he prefers!
Kristina – have you done the trial yet? I am thinking now might be a good time while home on vacation.
I am so impressed using Teachtown with a 5 year old foster child. While other ed softwares are not on his level, Teachtown is. The “busyness” of other programs isn’t there. Just one thing at a time to do, or match. The spoken directions are simple. My guys vocab has increased greatly since starting this program 1 1/2 months ago. He is in his 100th or so lessons, with 3o some mastered. I would give this a try and not wait for summer. My little guy is in school all day most days, (preschool and therapies), and he still wants to do it.
Cynthia Vereide (Washington State)