Personal Organiser / Mobile Phone

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Thought I'd share info on the latest tool being introduced to my daughter to help her with her Asperger's in case anyone else, like me, thinks "wow that's a good idea, I want one too".

The hospital are providing her with a very smart mobile phone with software specifically designed for people with cognitive disorders. It will remind her of everything they program into it. Daily tasks, weekly ones, yearly ones, her school schedule, dr appointments, everything. It adds up her shopping as she goes around the store so she isn't embarassed when she gets to the till and doesn't have enough. She can put reminders on it herself by just pressing a button and saying what she needs to remember. And most importantly, it's really, really easy to use, and that's coming from me who doesn't even have a mobile because they are too complicated and do my head in.

I am well impressed. A step up the ladder out of chaos.

Sounds encouraging.

Myself, I can't imagine life without a (paper) year planner, because of the way I can see the overview so clearly.......I need to be constantly reminded of the overview or I get stuck in the detail of one appointment or task. And I don't like setting too many alarms, because I hate being interrupted. And I'm always scared of the machine breaking, and being unable to replace the data or the machine.

But that's just me. I've only tried the ordinary organisers, which seem to be just toys.....the keypads wear out, and the user interface is fiddly. I'm sure a much better one could exist. I tried writing my own reminder/planner program once, but it took over my life and I didn't get anything done, then I abandoned it because it was so inefficient.

I think that's fantastic. I'm sure my phone could do most of those, but they're all far too fiddely and time consuming. And usually end up crashing, too. And that's one of my better phones that I've had.

For me, the calander is the most important function. Not only can it tell me what I need to do, where and at what time, but also it's extremely important for me to look at where I am in relation to other events and to understand where I am in time.

I use my iPod Touch for something similar.

What is the phone, and what is the software? (I'm asking because I need something like that!) The only software I know of for cognitive disabilities is super-expensive, but I think that one is designed for people with severe deficits who need step-by-step instructions with pictures for every task.

Wow, needing step by step instructions with pictures for every task is severe? Interesting. (Not questioning it, just another note in my head that my experiences when certain of my problems were much less severe were not, actually, as mild as I sometimes feel like they were.)

What I would love is software that actually shows a person in front of me doing those things (perhaps projected onto eyeglasses as if a full-sized human, or over-glasses goggles like some of the software to help people with Parkinson's walk), because I can still sometimes harness echopraxia to do certain things that I otherwise can't do. And it wouldn't require language-translation, nor having to figure out what various still photos actually mean.

Yes, I would consider someone to have severe difficulties with executive functioning (assuming that is the issue for them) if they need step-by-step directions with pictures for daily tasks (e.g., brushing teeth), at least for adults. It certainly would have been considered evidence of severe executive functioning deficits in the brain-injured patients I worked with at rehab. I do know that daily self-care is difficult for many autistics however, so maybe the descriptions/scale is different.

Also, I wonder if you have ever tried music therapy. The rhythm of the music was very helpful for many of the Parkinson's patients at the hospital I worked at (e.g. for gait training), particularly to decrease freezing. Also, I wonder whether it would be possible to practice some tasks over and over to music so that the music itself could cue you for the different parts of it. Music therapy is just awesome in general for many, many different problems, including apraxia and aphasia. I was fortunate enough to co-treat with an excellent music therapist for a couple hours twice a week and I was able to observe what a difference it made for many patients. Just a thought, since I know you have that Parkinson-like movement disorder.

Is there a name for it? I'm curious to read up about it. I.e. did they develop custom software, or is it a suite of existing apps (and for what device/OS), and etc.? There's something like that called PEAT, but it's insanely expensive.

This is the one my daughter is getting. The videos about it are quite good.

http://www.gewa.se/english/gewa/product ... 08779.html

What happened to pen and paper?

As for shopping, i used a simplify technique: i rounded up the values, i.e. a thing cost 15 or 19.99 then i said it cost 20 to facilitate the "keep a tally" (Math was never a subject i got along with) and it left me a small buffer of money.

Learning to compensate for ones disability is important in todays society IMO: What happens when the gadgets run out of batteries, gets hacked or breaks?

You sound like my dad.