New behavior tracker technology available

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Gleened from today's issue of the Schafer Autism Report----

Parents of Autistic Child Find Help From iPhone

Today Apple Approved Behavior Tracker Pro

is.gd/19AzI

Today Apple approved for sale BTP, or Behavior Tracker Pro, an iPhone

application that allows behavioral therapists, aides, teachers or parents to

track behaviors and graph them. The application was specifically designed to

support the behavioral treatment plans for children with Autism however it can

be used to track behavior in any field.

The concept of the Behavior Tracker Pro grew out of a personal and

professional need. The application was designed by Maher, BCBA and her

husband Steve with the assistance of Nick Rudolfsky, 18, of Nitrex Pro Inc. Many

years of struggle preceded the development of Behavior Tracker Pro.

Eleven years ago, Liz and Steve's daughter, , was diagnosed with

Autism. They saw the difference that ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis, made to

's progress. As a result, Liz went back to school and earned her Masters

degree in Special Education with an emphasis in ABA, and then earned her board

certification as a behavior analyst. " I'm a computer geek, " says Steve. " I

always wanted to find a way to create technology to help . " Working

together as husband and wife has brought about a unique tool to help kids with

Autism worldwide.

Three years ago Liz started consulting in schools in North-East

Pennsylvania, working with teachers and their students with Autism to decrease

problem behaviors and increase communication using Skinner's Analysis of Verbal

Behavior. As Liz worked with staff in schools she found that it was difficult to

assess whether a treatment plan was working. Data, even if it had been taken

consistently, was usually not graphed. " What's the point of taking data if you

aren't going to graph it? " said Liz. " Graphing data allows everyone to see how

treatment plans are working, whether behaviors are increasing or decreasing and

you can make changes quickly. If you don't take data and don't graph that data,

you are flying blind and the kids deserve more than that. "

Moreover, as a family Liz and Steve often needed to take data on 's

behavior. The use of a timer and a clipboard was not easy or very discreet in

public. Many of Liz's co-workers lamented the lack of an easy way to both

collect and graph behavior data for kids with Autism. " The feedback has been

amazing, " reports Liz. " And to top it off our programmer Nick was five when

, now 13, was born, " says Liz laughing. " We took a few days off early in

the development process because Nick had to study for finals exams, from High

School. "

Behavior Tracker Pro is available in the Apple iPhone store.

Liz and Steve can be reached at 570-332-2285 or via email at

steve@...

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