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Autism/DTT Numbers
Autism/DTT Numbers is an app by Dr. Gary Brown, and it's a good app. But unfortunately, the first thing I noticed about the app was that it feeds you ads on the bottom corner of the screen in an effort to sell you more apps and ebooks. Dr. Brown even gives you a button so you can go to another screen within the app that promotes his other apps. Ugh.
DTT is Discrete Trial Training and this is a specific method of teaching that means breaking things down into small steps and teaching them until they are mastered. It also involves lots of repetition and positive reinforcement. Discrete Trial Training is a good thing, especially when your child has autism.
Here's how Autism/DTT Numbers works; You pick which numbers you want your child to work on and even which numbers show up as the incorrect numbers. The idea here is to teach your child how to identify numbers or discriminate between the different numbers. It's not a game, and Autism/DTT Numbers may not be fun for kids either, but it is a valuable tool for teaching your child their numbers.
Once you start the "trial" your little autistic runt sees screens that contain 2 to 10 numbers and they'll hear a voice say the number that they are expected to touch. It goes from there based on correct, incorrect or no response.
You determine several things within Autism/DTT Numbers, including how many cards are shown at once (from 2 to 10), the amount of time spent on each trial (Max Trial Time), and the amount of time between trials (Inter-trial Interval).
If your child is not getting the right answer you have a couple options at your disposal. You can touch the "Fade" button which will enlarge the correct number, or you can set the app to show the incorrect answers in black and white while the correct answer will be shown in red.
The app's verbal response for incorrect answers could be improved. The app says things like, "Wrong" or "Wrong, try again" or "Wrong, better luck next time." That's fine, but I think it should offer a bit more positive reinforcement and encouragement on an incorrect answer. I'd like to hear the app say something like, "Wrong, but I know you can do it!" or "Nope, but if you really try I know you'll get it right!"
Correct answers are nicely reinforced with a happy face and verbal encouragement such as, "You are so smart!" or "Good job!" The Fade button is a cool feature, but it doesn't fade the wrong answers - it actually enlarges the correct answer.
Don't like the standard smiley faces and sad faces shown? You can change them to whatever images you think will motivate your child the best. For me, I knew I had to change the "Correct Pict" to a shot of a cuddly kitten.
Autism/DTT Numbers shows you a log of results also. It gives you a practice mode so your child can brush up on numbers. In conclusion, Autism/DTT Numbers is a quality app that could help your little one learn his numbers... now if Dr. Brown would just adhere to the ethical standard of not advertising in a paid app. But either way, I'd stand behind Autism/DTT Numbers.
