Review: Pic-See by Pic See Pty Ltd.

Pic-See ($29.99 at time of review, iPad only)


I love the included library of images- very clean and simple.  At first I thought the image library hadn't downloaded properly, as when I tapped on the Pic-See Library icon, there weren't any images.  As it turns out, this is where you can add your own images to the library.  The standard Pic-See images are accessible through the Choice Board icon.  Your custom images will show up there as a tab option as well.

In addition to the really clean interface, I like the nice subtle tones heard when selecting an image or button.
There are four main buttons in Pic-See: Pic-See Friends, Pic-See Library, Emotions Centre*, and Choice Board . 

*(Not a typo!) This app is written in Australian English, and there a few instances where the vocabulary in the library is different, but it is not drastic- Dressing gown (bathrobe), pack up (clean up), swimming costume, and a few instances of different spellings: moisturise, pyjamas .

Pic-See Friends :
Edit Profile,"See-quences", User Reports
This is where you access and edit different users' profiles. You can have two different users in this version of the app. If you need more users, there is a Multi User version of this app called Pic-See Collective.  This is also where you can create, edit and save "See-quences" to load for later use.  The "See-quences" are a series of images or steps that can be checked off one by one. A reward can be incorporated into the sequence as well.  In addition, you can review and send reports with usage patterns for each user!

Edit Profiles

To edit a profile, tap on the User's image from the Pic-See Friend's screen, then tap on the Edit profile button below the User's image.  From here, you can take a new photo, browse the iPad library to add an image, and fill out data for the User, including name, age, M/F, and email for reports.  You can also delete a user through the Delete this user button at the bottom of the screen.

Create and Edit a "See-quence"

To create a sequence, enter the Pic-See Friends screen and tap the user you want. A screen will pop up showing any existing "See-quences" saved for that user.  In the top right-hand corner, select the New See-quence icon.   You will be brought to a new screen with categories tabs for all the included images in the app, plus a tab for your custom photos as well.  Scroll through the images and simply hold and drag an image to an empty square below to create each step in the sequence.  If the Reinforcement button is turned to on, you must select a reward as the last square in the sequence.  That square will be marked with a star icon.    Tap the blue Edit button to the right of the sequence title to edit it. This will bring you back to the same interface that you use to create a sequence. You can change the images, or rename the title of the sequence, turn the reinforcement (reward) on/off. You can delete a sequence by tapping the red Delete button to the right of a sequence's title.



Load a "See-quence"

To load a sequence, select the User you want, then choose a sequence from the playlist by tapping the green Play icon to the left of each sequence's title.  A strip at the top of the screen will show each step in the sequence, and the first step will take up the bottom half of the screen. When the large icon indicating the current step is tapped, a star will be awarded and shown under each step of the sequence strip. The reward is displayed to the right of the screen.  When the last step in the sequence is completed, a short reward video plays, after which you can give the User the promised reward (an image of the reward does not remain on the screen- this would be useful as a visual reminder to the User.)






User Reports

This is a great feature! After selecting the Pic-See Friends icon, select the user you want, then select the "View Reports" tab under the User's image.  This will bring up a list of dates and what See-quences were completed, along with a time stamp for each sequence. You can send a report to your email for today, or reports for the last 7 days.


Pic-See Library:

Custom Images

Add custom pictures to the library:

Tap the Pic-See Library icon, then tap the Add Item button in the upper right-hand corner.
Wish List

Edit existing pictures in the library:

You can delete a custom picture by tapping the red Delete button to the right of the image title. It will take you to a new screen confirming whether you really want to delete the image or not. If you tap the blue Edit button to the right of the image's title, you can rename the image, take a new image through the iPad's camera or from your iPad's library, and record a new message. There is also a handy Flip image option directly under the image. If you tap the image itself it will open up the iPad's camera to take a new shot quickly- tap the cancel button to exit out of the camera and retain the original image.

Emotions Centre:
Emotions choice board/Emotions gauge 

The Emotions Centre has 6 emotions a child can select to show how they are feeling- Angry, Excited, Happy, Sad, Scared, Surprised.  There is also a button to select whether a boy or girl character will be used for the emotions images. What I really love about this is when the child selects an emotion, a new screen pops up which allows the child to assign a degree of emotion- for example if the child selects Angry, three images of varying degrees of angry will appear: Neutral, Angry, Very Angry.  Above the 3 images is a slider scale from 1 to 10.  The child can use the slider or tap a number to indicate exactly how angry he/she is.  This could be very useful for helping a child be aware of his feelings, and how to find ways to cope and calm down when at a 5, not a level 10 angry, for example.  I would love to have an option for Pain/Hurt included in the Emotions Centre. 

Choice Board
Create the Choice Board:

This is so easy! When you tap the Choice Board icon, it will automatically load whatever choice board you were using last.  To edit, tap the Edit board icon in the top right-hand corner.  There will be small blue tabs for all the categories of the included library images, as well as a tab for any custom images you have added to the app. Below is a number line with empty squares numbered 1 to 8.  Tap a tab to bring up all the choices in that category- you can use a swiping motion to scroll through them.  To add an image to a new choice board, just hold and drag the image you want to any empty number below. If you realized you forgot a step, you can rearrange the images in the order you want by holding them and dragging them to a new spot.

  

Use the Choice Board:

Tap the Choice Board icon from the main screen. The last Choice Board used will pop up on the screen.  The interface is a little different from what I've used in a choice board.  If you tap an image it will disappear and show an empty square.  I'm not sure if the goal is to choose the item that you tapped and that has disappeared, or if the goal is to tap and "hide" all of the images depicting choices you do not want, leaving the one choice you want remaining on the screen.  In my experience, typically one image is tapped, and that image then fills the screen for the User to view.

 

Wish List

* I had a chat with the developer recently and am happy to say that there is an update planned to address some of these wants, so stay tuned! *
I'd like to clear up confusion on how to use the Choice board in this app.  I also feel the amount of users for this app could be upped to at least three or four, to cover the needs of more families who have more than 2 children.  There is a Pic-See Collective version, which will allow up to 10 users, but at $189.99 it is much pricier and more suited to an educational setting.  I really like the ease of the use with this app, and it's clean interface, but I still think there is room for improvement when it comes to the editing process without sacrificing this. When adding a custom image, I would love to be able to crop an image from within the app, or pinch to zoom in or out to center the image the way I want.  There is a 12 character limit for the titles, which is not enough for titles like "Toca Boca Kitchen" for example. I would prefer the option to use a slightly smaller font and less margins in cases where a title is longer than 12 characters.  I would love to be able to edit the title of the built-in images  (this would be of great benefit to users of all different language backgrounds) or delete a few of the built-in images that I won't be needing (coffee, for example).  Lastly, I would love to sort my custom images among the categories provided for the included library of images- currently any custom images stay in their own tab, Custom.

BehaviorLENS - a behavior data tracking app

BehaviorLENS by SuperPsyched, LLC (iPad only, $29.99)

BehaviorLens is now BehaviorSnap- there are some changes, so please read the App description carefully, as it is accurate- it has changed to a subscription model with a yearly subscription, although when you purchase you can make up to 12 reports,  plus there are also some additional features that were added after this app was reviewed that may be of value if upgrading to subscription.  (link above should still work)-Special Apps, Special Kids

For an overview of BehaviorLENS alongside other data tracking apps, see here.



My new favorite for data tracking with students! Simple (as in straightforward) yet powerful. The charts are visually appealing and easy to understand. I could also see this working for most parents who are interested in focusing on a few main behaviors to track- say for example the same behaviors set in your child's Behavior Plan at school. For those of us tracking special diets/allergies and a zillion possibly related specific behaviors or symptoms, this will not be the best fit. The decision to allow tracking of a small number of key behaviors instead of unlimited behaviors was a very conscious one- this focus is clear when you start the app and are able to effortlessly navigate, add students and school sites, begin an observation, view data, send a report- all within a few minutes.
Setup is super easy for this app. I did not need to read any manuals to figure anything out, which is much appreciated!

BehaviorLENS allows data tracking of four different types: Interval Recording, Frequency Count, Duration, ABC. In Interval Recording mode the behaviors are already preset, and all you need to do is select the behavior that matches from the list of choices that pop up during the interval tracking.  I didn't find this to be a problem for recording data in a classroom setting- everything I needed to record was already there!  However for tracking specific behaviors like a certain kind of vocalization- for example if you want to see if there is a reason for humming versus squealing, you will need to use one of the other three types of data collection, where you can add your own behaviors you wish to focus on  (Frequency Count (up to four behaviors), Duration (up to four behaviors), and ABC).
Another useful feature is the ability to add notes that are attached to the reports. They also show up in the observation itself, with a time stamp. I find this super helpful.

One capability of BehaviorLENS that is not currently pictured are Line Graphs to show data over multiple observations (as opposed to the Bar Graphs for single observations included in this review. You can also generate graphs that include multiple observations on one graph, which can be very useful for looking at behavior trends over time.

ABC Tracking

 The ABC (Antecedent Behavior Consequence) Tracking also has built in choices to select from, but you can add your own as well.  The built in choices make it really easy for you to "classify" these antecedents, behaviors and consequences, which is awesome for anyone, but especially for someone who may not be as familiar with the concept of ABCs. This really breaks it down for you.  For example for Antecedent, which is simply whatever occurred immediately before a behavior- are the choices Demand/Request Given, Difficult Task Presented, Transition, Alone (No Attention) (I may have added the last example).  I use this section at home a lot, so I also added "brother provoked verbally", "brother provoked physically"- so that I can keep an eye on how my son is responding to teasing or bullying from his sibling, when it is happening and help both of them put a stop to it! Under Behavior (the behavior your child is doing) are the choices Verbal Outburst, Physical Outburst, Avoidance Behavior; you can add your own here as well.  Under Consequence (which is whatever happens immediately after the behavior) are choices divided into subcategories "Perceived Functions" and "Actual Consequence".  Under Perceived Functions are the choices Get Desired Item/Activity, Get Self-Stimulation, Avoid Demand/Request, Avoid Activity, Avoid Person.  Getting on my soapbox now: I appreciate the term "perceived" because sometimes we really can only take a guess as to why a child is engaging in a behavior.  I know my own son moves his jaw from side to side when he has eaten something he is allergic to.  (One of the benefits of being a mom who like my son also has food allergies and the same symptom- as I know exactly why he is doing that!) To an outsider the Perceived Function might be "Get Self Stimulation", when actually I recognize it is a sign of pain or discomfort.  Something to consider.  Under "Actual Consequence" are Attention, Redirection, Task/Demand Removed.  Again, you can add your own.   You can view each separate behavior and what antecedents and consequences are correlated with it, or view all behaviors together, and so on.









Frequency Count

The frequency count feature is as straightforward as can be. Select or add up to four behaviors to observe, and press the corresponding buttons for each to record each instance.  Here is a screenshot of a Frequency Chart from a report.

Duration

Duration simply records how long each behavior is occurring, and displays the total time for each of those behaviors as well. It also allows behaviors to overlap.  For example you can track a child "not attending the teacher" as well as "vocalizing" at the same time.  If you look closely as you record, you may be able to notice another neat feature of duration tracking- every time you stop the recording button for a behavior, a thin white line will show.  This is useful because you can visually assess how long a behavior is lasting. You can see whether there are long periods of time without that behavior (few white line "breaks"), or whether the behavior is occurring much more frequently (many white line "breaks" spaced closely together- look at the behavior Vocalizing in the screenshot) The app also keeps a count for each instance a behavior occurs, but only through this observation screen.  When viewing it as a report, the frequencies of behaviors are not shown, although a list of each change recording during the tracking automatically is shown in the Observation Notes section of the report. 

Interval Recording

If you have keen eyes you will have spied the time on some of the screenshots- I did not observe students at 10:00 p.m. or 1:30 a.m.  but in the interest of protecting my son's and students' privacy, the late night recreation and screenshot won out.  Another plus- you'll notice along the top of the screen that "Teacher" "Student" and "Setting" have been left unassigned.  You can start recording data before selecting the student, teacher etc.  This is very helpful when you walk in to a room and want to start immediately recording data.  At any time during the observation, you can tap the corresponding buttons at the far right of the screen to fill in the data.  You can also end an observation earlier than planned- which works really well when the fire alarm suddenly goes off (true story).

One of the visual features I admire: the green/red coding for On Task and Off Task Behaviors.  When it is time to record a behavior, the recording symbol will show.  When you tap it, a pop up will display with On Task Behavior in green, and Off Task Behavior in red. Select the correct color, and a new pop-up with choices will come up. Record the appropriate choice(s), and the bar will turn to either green or red to show whether the behavior was On Task or Off Task. After doing interval recording, the reports for On Task Behavior vs. Off Task Behavior are also shown in green and red. This makes it really easy to glance at a chart and get a clear picture of what is going on. You can either focus solely on your child, or take comparative data for a typical peer as well. Even better, you can decide how often you want to take data for that peer- do you want to take data each interval, as you are taking data for your child, or every other interval, or every third or fourth interval.














You can also hone in on what situations a child is having On Task Behavior versus Off  Task behaviors, for either your student, or a typical peer (On Task and Off Task Student reports shown below).  I find this really useful for seeing what is working for a child and what is not.

Wish List

(I always have one)

I thought my wish list would include the ability to track a whole bunch of behaviors at once, but I'm finding the interface is wonderful just the way it is in that regard- I fear if that capability were added it would not be so easy and uncluttered as it is now. As for the Interval recording- I would love to see an option for higher interval lengths. Right now you can set an observation to last anywhere from 5 minutes -increasing in 5 minute increments- up to 60 minutes, which is perfect.  The Observation Interval Lengths to choose from are 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, and 60 seconds.  A 5 minute interval would be a really desirable option to add, in my opinion.  One thing I will need to check with the developer about - deleting old behaviors from the list of choices.  Deleting students or reports from the main page is easy, however- just swipe and confirm delete.  Perhaps a tab with our personalized choices could be added to the main screen and the same swipe/ delete function could be used? Also, a lite version would be wonderful, so parents can try it out to see if it best meets their needs.  

Apps for Data Collection

There are quite a few apps for collecting data on behaviors, several of which are highlighted below. At the bottom I have included some apps for collecting language data as well.

Apps for Autism and/or Behavior Data:

My Autism Day

This is a good choice for a parent and allows for tracking for multiple children. It also has a place to store contact information for various caregivers, has a calendar view (alas no reminder feature) and lots of built in areas to fill in your observations about your child on a daily basis- including what they've eaten, the activities they have done, their behaviors, and sleep patterns etc.  I really like how this gives you a framework to look at when looking for patterns in behavior- for example do tantrums always occur after a specific activity, or are they more frequent on days with the least amount of sleep?
See a full review here: My Autism Day review by SASK

Behavior Tracker Pro (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, $29.99)


Track behaviors down to every last detail! This is great for a school setting and allows for video recording and tracking of ABCs (Antecedents, Behaviors, Consequences) etc.  In the past I've had stability issues with this app but it hasn't been a problem recently.  However, there is no way to enter a PAST event/behavior.  So this is not useful for filling in information about behaviors or events AFTER they have happened- like when I come home for the day and my husband fills me in on what my son ate, any problems he had and what set him off.
I would love to see a Parent version to address this shortcoming.

FYI, Behavior Tracker Pro is also available for the Android Platform.  I also appreciate that is universal and looks fantastic on either the iPod or iPad.  Free training at behaviortrackerpro.com/support/btp


School Psychology Tools (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, $34.99)

Again, very thorough tracking down to every last detail, and similar features to Behavior Tracker Pro. What sets it apart from BTP is that is designed with school pyschologists in mind and has a feature to include assessment and report dates and so on within the app. Just like with Behavior Tracker Pro, filling in incidents after the fact this is a no-go.  I appreciate the interface and ability to add photo icons for each child. If you need very detailed information about multiple behaviors, frequency and duration, antecededents and consequences- both School Psychology Tools and Behavior Tracker Pro will do this.

AutismTrack



This has so much potential but I find myself frustrated with it. There needs to be a way to enter whether a behavior is positive or negative. It is confusing when you are measuring something like hyperactivity with a 0% to 100% scale- with the slider bar showing more and more green the closer it gets to 100%.   Also each goal says 0% (least desirable) under the slider bar. If I am measuring a negative behavior, I want the slider bar to show red as the behavior increases in intensity.

BehaviorLENS (iPad only, $29.99)
Full Review here:

My new favorite for data tracking with students!  Simple (as in straightforward) yet powerful.  The charts are visually appealing and easy to understand.  I could also see this working for most parents who are interested in focusing on a few main behaviors to track- say for example the same behaviors set in your child's Behavior Plan at school.  For those of us tracking special diets/allergies and a zillion possibly related specific behaviors or symptoms, this will not be the best fit.  The decision to allow tracking of a small number of key behaviors instead of unlimited behaviors was a very conscious one- this focus is clear when you start the app and are able to effortlessly navigate, add students and school sites, begin an observation, view data, send a report- all within a few minutes.  


On the wish list:

Autism Tracker Pro: Track, analyze and share ASD daily  ( iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, $9.99)
I can't say much as I haven't tried it out, but I like how you can track as many behaviors or symptoms as you want. 

Apps for collecting Speech and Language Data:

Super Duper Data Tracker (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, $1.99)



An inexpensive way to track speech and language goals- I really appreciate the update allowing us to record an "approximate" response, in addition to correct or incorrect. 

Vocabulary Tracker (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, 99 cents)


 This allows a parent to easily account for the vocabulary his/her child is using. An awesome update has accounted for the fact that parents often have multiple children - up to 5 kids can be tracked!


Vocabulary Tracker Pro (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, $8.99) *
* Disclosure- I provided some help/feedback in the development of the pro version



As an educator providing speech therapy services to multiple special needs children, I had some needs not met by Vocabulary Tracker and asked the developer if some additions could be made.  Vocabulary Tracker Pro was born.  Beyond keeping an inventory of  a child's expressive vocabulary (unlimited children actually), this app lets me record sentence/utterance length, and percentage of mispronounced and unintelligible words. All data, word lists and utterances can be emailed and printed out!

Another great thing about this app is that when a copy is purchased $1 goes toward helping a child with special needs secure an iPad for communicative or educational needs through iHelp SN Kids.