During the testing sessions I had a nice surprise when the child’s mother told me “It is the first time I see him (the child) trying to say some of the words and hand signals included in the mobile phone application”.
This meant the mobile phone icons and videos motivated him to copy and remember gestures and words. That was especially important because the more he practices to say words and signals the more he would be able to communicate.
Some of the successful characteristics of the application were to include videos with sound, also that it was easy to use for child and that it has clear sequence of steps to follow. The videos were taken from previous visits and always included known people for the child. In this way we assured the child could find familiar faces and locations which kept his attention and focus.
Having said that, a collection of personalized symbols it’s a need for the child. Creating a personalized database for the child could improve the learning process of the user. Adding video and sound could make more enjoyable the whole experience of using the application. When talking about children applications it is especially important to make them fun for them.
Image: 30 icons/buttons that the child can choose from in the mobile phone
