Therapy for children with special needs can be hard to find and very expensive. Parents want to make sure that they can get the best for their children, but it can be a challenge sometimes. The use of tablets has definitely been the answer for many people. We have been using tablets for various therapies such as social skills and even speech therapy. I recently had the opportunity to review the app Teenage Switch and Touch Progressions (iTunes $29.99) from RJ Cooper & Associates, Inc.

The role of Pediatric Assistive Technology in therapy is to help individuals with disabilities to use an item, whether it be a toy or software with the use of one key or button. This type of therapy opens the door to adding more complex learning as the individual shows progress in completely the tasks with success.

The Teenage Switch and Touch Progressions app is a cause and effect app that offers a learning opportunity for those with limited abilities to learn about interactions with music, animation and other people. Especially designed for teenagers, this app has graphics and situations that most teenagers would be able to relate to. When using this app, it is training the student when to touch, where to touch, and what to touch on the screen to get interaction with the program.

The different areas that the student is being exposed to include bowling, basketball, dance party, fast food restaurant, putting on makeup and getting popcorn. In each scenario, you student is exposed to situations they may be facing and seeing, and the scene stops and encourages interaction through screen touch to continue to progress through the situation. So a student learns what appropriate behavior is during a dance, when the scene stops though and requests interaction from the student, it expects that behavior to happen right away. If you leave it sitting for too long, a verbal reminder is given to touch the screen.

You can switch the mode between Hold-down – which requires the student to hold down the button to see the movie or time-reinforcement – which plays the scene for a preset time and then stops and waits for the response from the student.

The program does allow for some customization. This includes music, sound effects, and prompts. All the interaction is recorded by the program and keeps track of your student’s progress in the Data file. From here you can see how many appropriate and inappropriate responses your student has had. You can easily clear this data to use this program with a couple different students.

This was a new type of therapy that I was introduced to through this review. The use of The Teenage Switch and Touch Progressions app was beneficial with our boys. I used it for more of the social skills aspect where it showed our boys how they should be acting in different situations. But I was also able to see how well they would follow the directions and stay on task to tap the screen when they needed too. This has been an issue with Joey lately, as his attention span has been way off recently.

The Teenage Switch and Touch Progressions app forced him to slow down and wait to see how the whole scene played out. He had to touch the screen and follow the directions in this respect, so as to continue to watch the program.

This app is definitely a great addition for families who want to work more therapy in, but may be strapped financially. The Teenage Switch and Touch Progression app allows you to work with your student from the comfort of your own home. No need to sit in traffic to get the extra help you are looking for. The price for the app is also reasonable at $29.99.

We have worked our way through all levels of the app, and we will continue to practice our skills using The Teenage Switch and Touch Progression app. You can adjust the settings as your student improves on their skills. This definitely makes it a program that you can customize and use repeatedly with your student. The Teenage Switch and Touch Progression app is a great value for families.

—Product review by Renita Kuehner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, December, 2016