Universally compatible with
all Apple devices
iPraiseU, R+Remind, & Working4
iPraiseU, R+Remind, and Working4 are very simple, very targeted apps. They each do a single thing and they do it very well. If an app is a small program, then Pyramid's app offerings are more like mini-apps.
Each of these mini-apps are developed by Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. That's the team behind PECS, the Picture Exchange Communication System, that has opened so many doors for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Pyramid is well-known in these realms, and for good reason.
iPraiseU
Simply put, iPraiseU gives you different expressions to praise your child or student. "Good job!" "You rock!" and "Nothing can stop you!" are a few of the expressions within this app. Tap the screen to hear the next words of praise and to see the silly, somewhat crudely animated character move.
I'm not sure why "You're almost there!" is part of this app. All the other expressions are positive and allude that the task is complete and well-done. "You're almost there!" seems to be saying, "Hey, you're doing good, but you're not quite done yet." Each time you touch the screen you'll hear one of five different voices. It's a good variety of voices, in my opinion. Alternately, you can enable the 'Shake' button so that a little nudge of the iPad will cause it to praise you. That's a cool little feature!
R+Remind
R+Remind is an app "to help educators remember to reinforce good behavior." As a parent, hey, I'm all for helping them remember! You set the amount of time (interval) and start the app. After that interval of time has passed the app makes a sound to remind you to reinforce that good behavior.
You can toggle the sound on or off. You'll want to leave it on unless you're using R+Remind with your iPhone, in which case you can use vibrate. The app will run for 60 minutes and you can stop it at any time or have it continually repeat. You can also advance past the current interval, adding more time until the next tone that follows. You can see progress bars at a glance for the amount of time until the next tone as well as an overall progress bar measured as the 60 minutes pass. Choose between intervals that split 60 minutes evenly: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, or 15 minutes. Handy for educators I'm sure!
Working4
Working4 is a nice simple app. First step: Select the number of tokens (stars) that must be earned prior to getting the reward. Next, you select an image that represents the reward. You can take a picture with the camera and import it if you like. Then, you start working. Perhaps you've decided that your child needs to be on good behavior for five minutes, then he gets a token. Understand? After he earns a token, you touch a star on the app and your child sees it move up. He knows, visually, that it was earned. He can also see that he needs to earn more before he gets the reward. When all required tokens are earned "Cash in" and give him the reward!
As the parent of child with autism, Working4 is my favorite of Pyramid's three apps. I noticed that when setting up the app, and then actually using it, Working4 switched orientation from portrait to landscape. I found that a bit annoying, but that's the only issue I see with this app.
Each of Pyramid's mini-apps do what they claim, but they don't pack many features. I think they could've combined these into a single app rather easily. Besides that, I wish they'd develop an app that somehow brings PECS to the iPad! Either way, iPraiseU, R+Remind, and Working4 are solid little mini-apps that you should consider!
