The Activity Timer.
A visual time management aid for autistic people.
Photo by Stuart Roberts
Just like everyone else, people with autism must change from one activity to another and from one setting to another often several times a day. Whether at home, at learning centers, or out in the community, transitions occur naturally and require one to stop one activity and start another one. Sometimes, people with autism have difficultly shifting attention from one task to another, or face challenges in understanding what activity will be coming next, or experience difficulty when their routine is disrupted.
Compounding the issue, people with autism often have difficulty understanding the verbal cues, directives, or explanations that a teacher, parent, or support worker is providing or in understanding the relationship between verbal information (cues) and the expected sequenced activity. For example, where a caregiver announces that an ongoing activity (such as playtime) is finished and directs for the next one ( e.g class time) to start, an individual with autism may not be able to comprehend the verbal information and be inadequately prepared to transition.
The Activity Timer is a brilliant innovation that was developed in 2013 to assist autistic individuals to manage their time by preparing them for activity transition before it occurs and during the transition event. This iOS-based mobile application was designed to help caregivers of persons with autism reduce the amount of transition time, increase appropriate behavior during transitions, rely less on adult prompting, and encourage greater participation in life-enriching activities.
Photo by Stuart Roberts
Using a purple-colored disk whose size gradually decreases, the Activity Timer presents changes in time visually and more importantly, in a manner more comprehensible and relatable to people with autism. The size of the purple disk, representative of the sections of an analog clock, indicates the time set aside for a particular activity and disappears as this allotted time runs out. This App works by continuously reinforcing the concept of elapsed time, pre-empting change of activity, and allowing the user to gauge time consumption visually.
Photo by Stuart Roberts
The Activity Timer also uses images or photos as visual cues of transition from one activity to another. The app allows caregivers to utilize specific images familiar to the individual with autism to illustrate the subsequent activity that will start when the purple section disappears. The caregivers can in so doing, customize the user experience to suit the needs of a particular individual.
This has been proven to be beneficial to autistic people as emerging research indicates that the use of a visual cue during the transition between activities by children with autism can decrease challenging behavior and encourage acquiescence to transition demands. Using just one piece of visual information at a time is preferred as it ensures the effectiveness and relevance of the visual cue to the upcoming activity while at the same time reducing the chances of sensory overload.
Simplicity is at the heart of this App’s design as it does not require one to register to use the App, nor does it require an internet connection to function. Caregivers can use pictures already stored on their device’s gallery or use preselected images representative of the upcoming activity. Adding images to the Activity Timer is easy, just select the pictures you’d like to use and click on the Done icon. The App does not use the device’s Bluetooth, microphone, or internal clock components.
Photo by Stuart Roberts
The Activity Timer is now available for use on the Apple iPad and can be purchased from the Apple iTunes Store for a very affordable sum of ninety-nine cents USD (0.99$)