Wiggly Stories app for iPhone and iPad

Wiggly Stories

Your child will love being the star of their own animations in Wiggly Stories! Watch as they are educated and entertained at the same time.

Description:
Wiggly Stories is an interactive, personalized, animated social script app, designed by a team of Special Education teachers. It recognizes that many young children are visual learners and addresses the need for the explicit teaching of certain skills through a series of fun animations, in which your child is the star. Wiggly Stories is available with the choice of a North American, Australian or British accent.

Stories currently available:
-I can do a pee on the toilet (girl).
-I can do a pee on the toilet (boy).
-I can do a poop on the toilet (girl).
-I can do a poop on the toilet (boy).
-I wash my hands with soap.
-I brush my teeth every day.
-I may ask a friend to play with me.
-I can use my hands nicely.
-I can wait my turn.
-I can keep myself calm.
-I know what to do if I don’t like a noise.

Autism/ special needs:
Wiggly Stories addresses some of the core deficits of individuals with Autism (communication, social skills and behavior) by using the technique of social scripts to explicitly teach certain skills that some young children may not learn by themselves. Wiggly Stories is based on the use of visual strategies (Hodgdon, 2011), some components of Social Stories (Gray, 2010), relaxation techniques (Dunn Buron, 2006), positive reinforcement (Reynolds, 2012), and has also been trialed in some of Autism Spectrum Australia’s classrooms.

Toddlers/ Preschoolers:
Typically developing young children will enjoy these interactive, personalized animations as they learn how to use the toilet, wash their hands, wait their turn and so on. Each story concludes with a high five or “victory dance” which is designed to give your child positive feedback for having completed a specific skill.

How it works
Once Wiggly Stories has been downloaded, users must set it up in order to personalize the stories. This requires taking photos of the characters you may like to use in the story (for example, your child, a parent/carer, a teacher). Alternatively, you may import existing photos. You must also record the names of the characters, as these will be mentioned in the stories.

Once set up is complete, it is easy for your child to use Wiggly Stories independently. They simply click on the Wiggly Stories icon, select the icon which shows the story they want to read, then arrow along from scene to scene, as they watch themselves star in an animation.
For support on setting up and using Wiggly Stories, see our website www.wigglyoctopus.com (FAQs)

Features:
-Affordable
-Fun and interactive
-Personalized
-Includes motivating sounds and animations
-Victory dance/high five as a reward
-Easy for children to use independently
-A variety of accents from which to choose
-“How to” video on our website
-Wiggly Stories can be used without a WiFi or 3G connection
-Utilizes the iPad camera features

References:
Dunn Buron, K. (2006) When my worries get too big: A relaxation book for children who live with anxiety. AAPC Publishing: Overland Park, KS.
Gray, C. (2010) The new social story book. Future Horizons, Arlington, TX.
Hodgdon, L. (2011) Visual strategies: Valuable support at any age. Autism Asperger’s Digest, Sept/Oct 2011
Reynolds,T. (2012) http://autism.lifetips.com/tip/127889/treatment-and-therapies-for-autism/treatment-and-therapies-for-autism/positive-reinforcement.html (accessed 13.11.12)