Birdhouse for Autism is an excellent app that offers caregivers the ability to keep track of behaviors, health and daily living tasks. Parents raising children with ASD designed this easy to use web and iPhone/Android application. It is supported by Chrome, Firefox and Safari but not compatible with Internet Explorer. Initially, the caregiver must sign up for an account on their desk or laptop computer. Information is entered on the child in terms of gender, diagnosis, etc. Once setup is complete, the caregiver can access the activity timeline, which contains categories such as sleep, moods, food, therapy, meltdowns, and bathroom activities. This app also stores information on medications and supplements as well as doctors and therapists. As data is entered, it becomes easy for the caregiver to isolate and compare as well as find patterns of behaviors. Identification of patterns then assists the caregivers to determine what is working in the child's daily schedule as well as what needs to be changed. As an early intervention occupational therapist, our reviewer frequently provides strategies to families to help regulate a child's eating and sleeping patterns. Many times parents have a difficult time associating patterns or identifying problems in a child's environment that might be a trigger for difficulties with behavior, sleep or eating. We trialed this app with a family whose 28-month-old child was diagnosed with ASD and was experiencing sleep disturbances. By logging details related to time, environment, etc. on a consistent basis, we were able to identify triggers that over-stimulated the child and made it difficult to go to sleep. We found this app to be highly valuable in assisting caregivers to identify patterns and problem solve new strategies to assist with daily living skills in children diagnosed with ASD.
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