Connect Cards is an iPad app designed to assist people who have difficulty communicating verbally. It is aimed at people with autism, but could be used for a variety of special needs.
There are a few other apps on the App Store that provide a similar service, but they are very expensive. We have set out to provide a free alternative for people to use.
The app syncs with the users Picasa Web Albums account (also a free service) to present a highly customizable interface. Users upload and tag pictures to their Picasa account, then use the app to sync these images to the device.
When the user taps a specific image, or touches the "I want" icon and then a specific image, the application speaks the sequence aloud.
Setup Instructions:
The first step is to create a Picasa Web Albums account, and upload at least one album of images. You will need to add a caption to each of the images that you upload, as this is the text that the device will read out when a particular image is touched.
Next go to the App Store and download the Connect Cards app.
When you first run the application, it will ask you for the credentials to your Picasa Web Albums account. Once you grant it permission to access the album data it will ask you which albums to download to the device. Its as simple as that!
There are a number of features that you can access in the app by dragging the administration bar across the screen. It is located at the bottom right of the screen. The default PIN number is 0000, but can be changed if necessary in the Settings app on your iPad. Once you have opened this up there are 3 options you can choose.
Edit Groups:
The first option gives you the ability to edit the groups that your albums are organized into. When you initially import your albums from Picasa there will only be one undefined group, with all of your various albums underneath it. The groups correspond to the Tabs at the top of the application. To navigate to the other albums under a particular tab you can swipe left or right.
The idea of this is so that you have the ability to set up 3 albums in Picasa, say Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, and group them all under one tab named Food. Or you could set it up so that Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner all have their own tabs. Its entirely up to you.
History:
This options provides the caregiver with the ability to see the history of images that the disabled person has touched.
Account Settings:
This is the same screen that popped up when the application was first run, and allows you to update the app with the most recent images that you have uploaded to your Picasa Web Albums account.