PictoStick

Introduction

Care givers, parents and health care professionals of people with a mental disability and/or an Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or previously refered to as 'autism', often make use of visual pictograms to give people a clearer understanding of the world around them.

One of the biggest advantages of using pictograms (or pictos) is that in one easy to grasp visual form the activities and their sequence that are planned for the day ahead are presented. This provides understanding and prevents stress and miscommunication.

Often the pictos are presented on a board on the wall (as in picture above) or simply on a wooden plank (as in picture below) on which the pictos are added (or even removed during the day) showing the activities and the order in which these take place. While this low tech way often works fine in practice it is not portable and often only used in either the users' household or the (work) places during the day.

PictoStick

The PictoStick offers a method to present a scrollable sequence of pictos for the user in a portable way, either as a small device that can be carried around or a watch-like option with a wrist band. The device can be referred to by the user as to the daily activities and even to check off the ones that have already been completed.