“Use your words,” I hear a parent tell their child... This augmentative assisted communication tool (AAC) helps children talk about their feelings and behaviour. Calm talk also helps children practice self-calming strategies through a variety of activities. All children can benefit from this app, including those who have ASD, ADD/ADHD, speech and language impairments and intellectual impairments. Developing children’s emotional intelligence is fundamental for life.

Calm Talk was developed by an Educational Therapist who needed a tool to help children with social and behavioural difficulties.

Unique 'Drag and Drop' as well as 'Touch to talk' on the iPad
Active participation in learning helps children’s motivation. 1. Children find the words that they need to tell their story. 2.They tap on the word and listen.
3. They drag and drop the picture into the squares at the top.
Sequencing skills are practiced as children order words left to right to make a sentence. Children with fine motor or motor planning difficulties may find the “Tap and Talk” method easier on the iPhone.

In the Eyes of A Child

I look:
Categories help me to organize my thoughts and ideas.
I have help to:
• Identify how I am feeling
• Who made me feel this way
• Decide what happened.

Listen:
To the speak all button.
How all the words connect into a sentence.
To music and sounds, it calms me.

Understand:
I can use strategies to calm me.
When I’m stressed, sometimes I can’t find my words. Pictures help me to talk.

The role of the adult: STEP
S: Support: Interact with your child through play. Give your child examples of what could happen: (Different scenarios):
“How would you feel if another child took the toy you were playing with?”
“How would you feel if your teacher didn’t let you finish your painting, when you really wanted to?”
T: Take Turns: You have a turn using calm talk, talk to them about how you would feel.
E: Encouragement: Encourage the child to say to you: “How do you feel?” (Develops empathy)
P: Practice: Calm talk can be used a method of rehearsing what to say and do in a real situation. This can assist social problem solving skills. After using the calm talk strategies, ask them if they do feel calmer.

Features:
• Assisted Augmentative Communication (AAC)
• Graphic organizer
• Pictures
• Calming music
• Interactive balloon. (Child has to hold balloon, and count to 5: (Includes visual and sound effects).
• Different drawing backgrounds for self-expression
• Interactive water play
• Imitation bubble wrap for popping
• Voice recorder and email button. Child must hold button down while they talk.
• Tap and talk for iPhone
• Tap the word and listen, drag and drop for iPad.

Research
Understanding how you are feeling, recognizing other people’s feelings and appropriately managing your emotions are some of the important parts of the theory of Emotional Intelligence.

Calm talk uses images of feelings, causes of those feelings and strategies for self calming. Sensory-cognitive theorists discuss that many children who have social - behavioural difficulties also have difficulty visualizing what they would do in a conflict situation.

Theory of Central Coherence
Leo Kanner (1944) described children who have Autistic Spectrum Disorders as being very good at understanding parts or details of events or language. The details are focused on, to the neglect of describing the whole picture. Through organizing or categorizing information together we can help children to identify feelings, relate to situations and respond in an appropriate way.

Theory of Mind
Many children who have ASD, have difficulty understanding that other people may have different thoughts, feelings and needs to their own.
Baron-Cohen (1995) discussed that children’s lack of theory of mind can lead them to experience anxiety and aggression.


Parents, teachers and therapists will find Calm Talk a valuable multi-sensory tool to use in different settings.