Introductions

Hello,

   
     I figured I would start my first post off with a little bit of an introduction to myself as well as a bit about what this blog is all about. I will be completely honest, I am new to this whole blogging thing so this may come off as a bit choppy. I am and adult living with Autism  and though I have managed to accomplish many things in life it has taken many years of hard work and struggling to get to where I am today. Before I go any further I want to make this very clear as a write this that I am only ONE adult with autism and so can only speak for my own experiences in life. please keep in mind that no two people on the autism spectrum are exactly the same.  I will be using this blog to write reviews on AAC apps that I test out, I  also plan to do some writing about  service dogs for Autism and about my life experiences as a person with Autism in general.

        

 Who am I

           I am just one girl with autism who is trying to make her way in this life and maybe hopefully I can find a way to help others along the way. I am verbal now but when I was a child I had a moderate speech delay.  I was very fortunate to have gotten early intervention from the age of 8 months and I largely attribute that to making it possible to get to where I am today.  In-spite of my early intervention  it still took many years of intensive therapies such as speech, play and occupational therapies. Animals also played a major role in helping me learn to interact with others.  This is kinda just a brief and vague description of my past.  I managed to graduate high school and am now in college. One day I would like to work training service dogs. Against all the odds I am also happily engaged and I spend a fair amount of time  advocating and educating people on autism service dogs.

       Why am i reviewing AAC.Apps?

           Recently I have developed something of a special interest in AAC apps and their use. This interest started as I started thinking on my own thought processes and communication struggles(yes I am verbal but i still have trouble communicating my thoughts, feeling  and needs at times) I really wish these apps were around when I was little and learning how to communicate verbally. I do think they would have helped me a lot. Not only with learning to communicate but also with getting my wants and needs out when I could not get the words to come out. This interest grew stronger last year after having my thyroid removed as I was predominantly non verbal for a while. Until my voice came back I utilized AAC apps to communicate my wants and needs. Since then I have  spent a lot of time researching various AAC apps and thinking on ways to improve them.  Earlier this week I began wishing I could get paid to test and review various AAC apps but that didn't seem likely to happen so I put it on my list of jobs that would be awesome to have but don't exist or that I'm not likely to get, and went on with my life. However the other day while I was walking, my now retired to the title of at home service dog, Nim I decided I wasn't going to just give up on that dream. I may not be able to get paid for it but I can still test out and review AAC apps! So  that is what this blog is for. My reviews and writing my experiences while testing these apps out! I do this in hope that my reviews might help others along the way.

My testing process

   I plan to spend 2 weeks testing out each app, during those 2 weeks I will utilize that AAC  app as my sole means of communication, only using my voice for emergencies, should I need to utilize a second app I will note that in my reviews as well as write how often I had to use a second AAC app. Through out the two weeks may write up a short post on experiences that I have had using the app and any funny stories. When the two weeks have finished I will write a review on the app. I still have to work on coming up with the exact  criteria for exactly how I will review them, however some areas will include versatility (how well can I use this in different plat forms, sound quality, ease of use, ease of editing, cost and practicality.these are only a few areas I will be rain ting these apps!

I hope to be doing my first testings and review in the next few weeks, I plan to keep you updated until then.
          - AutismDogGirl