When Marc Zimmerman’s twins were given an autism diagnosis, he decided to create something to make their lives better. By Jamie Pacton Courtesy Marc Zimmerman Marc Zimmerman has been a rockstar, composer, real estate broker, and software startup entrepreneur. But his latest project—founding and running the company responsible for the incredible social situation simulator The…
Chantal Sicile-Kira Founder of Autism College and Award Winning Author, Endorses The Social Express
The Social Express is a great program in many respects. First, the aesthetics: Often programs have so much going on visually that it is too distracting from the actual lesson – but not Social Express. The background is a beautiful calming yet happy blue, with only the necessary visuals for the lesson at hand. The quality of the images are amazing – just like a Pixar movie. The music and the voices are very enjoyable to hear as well – and we all know how important these sensory aspects are to our loved ones on the spectrum.
Secondly, the lessons are interesting and move at a nice pace. They cover social skills that many of our children and students do not pick up by osmosis, including identifying emotions, self-regulation coping strategies, perspective taking and reading non-verbal cues to name a few. The lessons all contain visual cues, and teaching tips, learning points, pacing controls, and preference options – all easy to use by a parent or professional without prior training on the program.
Thirdly, there are worksheets or printables – so the lesson can continue off the computer, and provides the opportunity for the parent or professional to generalize the lesson to other possible situations before practicing them out in a real social context.
I wish this program had been available when my son Jeremy was younger (although he enjoys this program now). I can’t wait to see the teen and young adult version!
I highly recommend this program for parents and professionals.
Author of 5 books on autism including A Full Life with Autism
Founder, AutismCollege.com