For families living with autism, connecting with children can sometimes be challenging. On top of daily routines, occasions like the holiday season or getting ready for birthday party can be overwhelming for some. With these families in mind, a new app has been created.
Developed by Samsung, along with a dedicated team of clinical psychologists, cognitive psychologists and psychiatrists, The Look at Me App hopes to:
- help children with autism improve their ability to make eye contact and interpret facial expressions through an engaging, interactive and fun experience.
- create a shared community to connect families with similar autism experiences.
- build a community of 200 Canadian families living with autism
“Connecting with our son is something our family has to work on every day, and some days can be quite challenging emotionally,” said Cheryl Ertel, one of the first families to join The Look at Me Project in Canada. “With The Look at Me Project from Samsung and Autism Speaks Canada, we’re looking forward to more meaningful connections, but also the opportunity to engage with other families living with autism across the country to share our experiences and bring greater awareness to autism.”
The app aims to keep children motivated with features that often appeal to kids. It features themed missions, point system, various rewards and visual or sound effects to keep children engaged. Levels can be customized based on the child’s achievements. Each mission in the app requires interaction between parents and their children to encourage positive relationships. The app will also give feedback to parents on their children’s daily performances.
Canada has been chose to pilot the Look at Me Project and Samsung will donate 200 GALAXY Tab S devices pre-loaded with the Look at Me app to Canadian families living with autism. The interactive camera based app is intended to help families and their children living with autism improve the communication and social connections.
For more information or to apply for The Look at Me program, Canadian families can visit Samsung.com/LookAtMe . Applications will be accepted until January 16, 2015. Selected families will be notified by February 20, 2015. The Look at Me app is available on Google Play.
Leave a Reply