Praise and other Quotes
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"Just so you understand what I thought was so amazing...My 9 year old son really did not seem to have any friends. He always talked about his interests, then played with his toys and ignored the people. After FaceSay he was sitting beside a boy in class, looking at his face and interacting back and forth with him. It was remarkable. The teachers at school remarked that he has been talking with classmates on the playground and at lunch. The boy actually invited David to a play date. That had never happened before."
- David's Mom "He's really learned to read those emotions, like if I'm happy or if I'm angry, and then even more of the complicated ones like, if I'm worried"
- Mitchell's Mom "we certainly see a difference. we will have him use it for a couple of months every night, and then stop for a while, and when we notice he is avoiding eye contact with conversation, we go back to it, and darn if it doesn't help him get back to it!"
- Father of 8 yo (who started playing FaceSay when he was 7) "We have also used a software program with facial expressions to show and discuss with students how other people feel in particular situations (Symbionica, 2007). This helps them develop the ability to understand others’ feelings and perspectives—and to label these with the correct terminology. With increased mastery in this area comes increased confidence and independence—all supportive of furthering the good life"
- Erik Laursen, PhD, VP Learning and Program Dev., United Methodist Family Services A Special Needs Teacher tried the FaceSay free trial with a number of students and one high functioning student did not like looking at the faces. I wondered if the new personalized avatars would make a difference and she emailed me a photo of his mom and his little brother. Here's the feedback from using FaceSay with the video-realistic versions of his mom and brother.
"He thought seeing his mom was funny! When he realized what we were working on, he closed his eyes just like before. When he realized it was mom and brother he completed 2 exercises." "it was so cool to see him actually look at the screen instead of closing his eyes. I think your program is really amazing and I hope and pray that the stimulus money goes through. We need this program!" - Special Needs Teacher "The results indicate the potential value of computer-based therapies for children with ASD," says UAB psychologist Fred Biasini, Ph.D., who studied FaceSay™ in collaboration with Maria Hopkins, Ph.D."...Biasini says this research has important implications for future ASD therapies. "A primary advantage of the computer program is that it's predictable and controlled, which is helpful and important to children with ASD. Live social groups—a traditional therapy—are inherently unpredictable and can present challenges for these children," he notes."Also, the computer tasks performed by children in the study were brief in comparison to the time that might have been spent in social groups to achieve the same gains—we saw benefits that might have taken months to achieve in social groups." [emphasis added] “I learned I need to look at both halves of the face. I’ve been looking at just the bottom half, at the mouth.” “We didn’t expect the study to generalize to the playground [or elsewhere outside testing], but we were seeing more positive social interactions after children participated in the study,” Hopkins said. “There was more eye contact. The children were avoiding social situations less.” Parents also reported changes in their children after the study, said Fred Biasini, a UAB assistant professor of psychology and co-conductor of the study. They used social skills more readily.” "I had Nick's tutor try the gazing exercise [ a "live person" version of "Amazing Gazing"] and he got 7 out of 10 right. ABA does have a gazing component in some of the programs, but not in any of Nick's programs. [Nick got 10 of 10 right on this task with his Mom]" "One researcher says the improvements in facial and expression recognition carried over to social settings. Children began using more eye contact on the playground and were more likely to follow eye gazes. Parents reported similar benefits in social interaction at home." "The study found that the children with Asperger Syndrome who used the FaceSay™ program made significant improvements in their ability to read facial expressions. The children with autism made less improvement. Children in both the autism and Asperger groups, however, both improved their ability to recognize emotions." "She winked at me. I like the praise and winking".
"The kids really enjoyed the games. They played it on their own. I think you've got a hit." "An interactive computer software program called FaceSay™ has been shown to improve the ability of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to recognize faces, facial expressions and emotions, according to the results of a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The study’s results were presented recently at a meeting of the Association for Psychological Science. "Carryover is a huge challenge. This will be a great new resource." "I thought I'd give you an update on how he has been doing with FaceSay. He plays all 4 games very well. Last time I looked, he had 1270+ points. He was playing at least 4-5 times per week, but maybe more, as he is able to start it on his own." "My son has been asking when he can play more FaceSay, which I think is a good feeback for user interest" "I played the game with my autistic son and he was totally filled with glee." I was able to download the games today and it is working very well now. I like the possibility to correct the pronunciation of the names - its an important improvement!! "Thanks for your creative ideas for the improvement of social function in autism!!" "The delay time is good for kids who are having trouble and the immediate opportunity to do it again is a good feature. I have one student on the computer with headphones while I work with the others at the therapy table" "Thank you so much for investing in Autism" |