New Autism Video Therapy Introduced via an App

▤ Summary

Wilkes-Barre, PA, April 27, 2011 --( The new app was developed by a team at Data Makes the Difference (www.datamtd.com) and mHealth researcher Dr. Michael Kelley, who has published articles (http://nms.sagepub.com/content/10/6/915.full.pdf+html) on using mobile phones for relapse prevention.“So it’s very exciting to be able to offer an app that uses this type of evidence-based practice.” As a mHealth application, the development team believes the features of Ther-Ad will generate larger effects on autism, with a much broader range of clients, and do so efficiently, relative to other forms of video self-modeling therapies.Mr. Loveland’s encouragement to pursue the concept for the app was vital in moving the development process forward since the idea’s inception one year ago with Dr. Kelley.After the video self-modeling clip finishes, the student is automatically reinforced by being returned to the motivating movie.Video content is uploaded directly to Apple® iTunes, so that each student’s needs are tailored with appropriate motivating videos and individualized self-modeling clips.“Modeling is one of the established treatments listed in the National Autism Center’s National Standards Project,” said Liz Maher, MEd, BCBA, and co-owner of Data Makes the Difference.“So it’s very exciting to be able to offer an app that uses this type of evidence-based practice.”As a mHealth application, the development team believes the features of Ther-Ad will generate larger effects on autism, with a much broader range of clients, and do so efficiently, relative to other forms of video self-modeling therapies.Initial testing to quantify the effectiveness of video self-modeling as a pivotal training approach is underway with John Loveland, clinical director of the Loveland Academy (www.lovelandacademyhawaii.com) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

▦ Linked Companies

Apple Inc.

$1B+