Mother Develops App to Help Son with Autism

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - July 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Nabeela Jaffer, CEO of Jafferson Software (http://www.jaffersonsoftware.com/index.php) in Ypsilanti, MI, knew she had to help her son when his autism began to interfere with his communication skills. Like many wonderful parents of special needs children, she taught him how to use sign language early on. Since his speech was severely affected by his struggle with autism, he liked to use sign language and gestures to connect with the world around him; unfortunately, many around him could not understand his signs and gestures.

Jaffer then tried introducing her son to various assistive technology devices that would help him to communicate, but he rejected them on the grounds of being too unwieldy and difficult to carry. At the same time, he began displaying more and more interest in using her iPod to play the games his peers were playing.

This inspired Jaffer to create My Words (http://mywordsapp.com/), a mobile device app that allows her to create a multi-sensory dictionary for her son. Using this app, Jaffer can type in a word, record her voice saying it, and take a picture of the word; then, she can organize it under a word group.  Recently, she added a “share words” option in the iTunes app, so that she can add words in her iPhone and share them to her son’s iPod.

Jaffer observes that her son regularly improves his pronunciation and reading skills while using My Words on his iPod. One of the biggest benefits, however, is that he can quickly use the app to say a word for him when he is struggling to convey his thoughts to others.

“He loves bikes,” Jaffer notes, “and used to sign the colors of bikes, but people didn’t understand him. Now that we have My Words, he can play the sound for the color on his iPod.”

Jaffer has seen that interactions like these “help him overcome the frustration of not being able to express himself.” She hopes that My Words can empower other special kids like her son to gain confidence that comes with being understood. Although My Words was originally released solely in the iTunes App Store in December 2010, Jaffer has since made it available in Google Play and as a Nook App.

For more information about this app, please visit: mywordsapp.com