The new ‘Grace’ App has just been launched thanks to the determination of one resourceful mum.

AUTISM can be dreadfully isolating. People who have the condition can be cut off from those around them and can live a life that lacks, in some ways, connection to other human beings.   Lisa Domican knows all about it. She has a daughter with autism. Her name is Grace. But now, thanks to a wonderful innovation, Grace won’t be quite so isolated any more. Lisa has developed a new App which is designed to help non-verbal children and adults to communicate with other people through texts and pictures.

Picture Book
“When I saw an advertisement for the iPhone on the side of the 46a bus one day, I noticed pictures of Apps which immediately reminded me of Grace’s picture book. I figured this might make the process of communication for people with autism a lot more discreet and less frustrating.”   The concept is brilliantly simple. But, more than that, it affords people with autism another way of expressing themselves. The App (which is called ‘Grace’) was developed with the help of 02 Telefonica and Irish Autism Action and has been hailed as ‘long overdue’. Facilities and support for children and adults with autism are under-par compared to other mental disabilities. Before this intervention, sufferers relied on printed pictures to construct sentences – a tedious exercise.   “It’s simple to use, but it also addresses a niche in visual communications that encourage the users’ own voice. Its simplicity and usability is down to the fact that it was created by somebody who uses and needs it,” says Lisa.   Tracy Sherwood is mother to Charlie who is aged 5. Charlie is autistic and has been using the new App.   “Grace App brought us hope,” says Tracy. “It gave dignity and independence to my daughter. Grace is not just a virtue; it is a life changing App.”   It was the lack of help available from the Department of Education and Health Services that triggered the creation of Grace App. Lisa explains:   “When Grace was three-years-old, she attended a special state pre-school with one teacher for six children with severe autism. The HSE Autism Services provided less than an hour a week of speech therapy to the entire class, so the teacher and therapist, although willing, only had time to work with the children whose speech was developing. Grace couldn’t talk, so she did not get speech therapy”.   Now, the difference is marked.   “It was up to me to teach her to communicate, so I did the parents course and set up the picture exchange system myself. It was hard work but I stuck with it. They told me that she would never talk, but Gracie can now speak in three-word sentences using the App and her independence grows each day. We proved them wrong.”

• For more information of autism or Smartphone Apps log on to http://www.autismireland.ie