Quiz

This program was originally conceived to teach my autistic son various concepts. Autism had left him with no receptive language and eye contact and tactile stimuli were negative reinforcements to his learning. However, he was able to learn through watching television and computer monitors. The program, typically, consisted of a grid of images and a column of answers presented in text. When the answer was selected the text was spoken through an audio clip. If he dragged and dropped the answer on the correct image the image would disappear with a random special effect. This was the primary positive reinforcement. An audio clip of random praise would also play. This was a secondary positive reinforcement. He discovered that the strange noise people made with their mouths meant something and developed receptive language. He learned to read using this program and became hyperlexic at the age of three. He learned to associate verbal praise with positive reinforcement. Of course he also learned to tell time, verbs, common nouns, the names of his relatives, numbers, math skills and many other positive skills.

The program was originally written circa 1994 utilizing a multimedia programming language that was driven by a de-featured 'C' type language. I've re-written it in Java and Swing and given it even more "Play Value". Many of the features tailored to children and Autistic individuals can combined or turned off to suit other audiences.

Send comments to: jsreisch

Tell Time

(teach children with autism how to tell time)

Please be patient it takes a little while to load. When one test is finished click the program to move to the next.

My other son is studying Fitness and Health Promotion at Algonquin College. This program can be adapted to one of his key courses (Structural Kineseology).

Anatomy

My Autistic son attends an Autism Unit in school. His school also caters to other disabilities and he independently learned the alphabet in American Sign Language and taught me :). He giggled with delight when I presented him with this application.

ASL Letters

Quiz is an educational application that allows the user to architect sets of multi-media quizzes through a scripting language. The applications behaviour has a lot of "Play Value" and can be customized to wide variety of users.

The application presents a column of Answers Cells and a grid of Questions Cells. An Answer Cell can be dragged and dropped over a question cell and a match is evaluated and tallied. The tallied scores can determine if the user will move on to the next test, repeat the test or repeat a previous test, through programmable thresholds of correct/incorrect matches.

Multiple Questions are defined in scripted Question Definitions. Tests are assigned these Questions to form Questions Sets. When a new test is generated, the Question and Answer Cells are selected randomly from the Question Set for that test.

Each matching transaction consists of three states. Questions and Answers are first in a Presentation State. This state consists of two sub states of Intro and Finale. When a drag and drop match is attempted the question may move to the Correct State, Incorrect State or remain in the Presentation State. These three states also consist of two sub states of Intro and Finale. All states and their sub state multi-media behaviour can be programmed.

Questions in the Presentation State may consist of two images; one in the Intro Sub State and the other in the Finale Sub State. One is taken randomly from a Question Image Set and the other from a single image defined in the Question Definition. The image source for each Sub State is programmable. Intro and Finale images can have programmable special effects behaviour when they first appear. Questions also have a text string associated with them. The string is used to match with answers. Whether the text appears in the Question Cell is programmable.

Answers have a text string associated with them. This string is used to match with Questions. Note that Question and Answer text strings must be exactly the same (case and white space sensitive) in order to generate a match. Also, multiple questions may have the same answer text string. Answers may have an Answer Audio Clip defined in the Question Definitions. If present it will play as the Answer is dragged and dropped.

Questions in the Correct State may consist of two images, taken from two sources; one in the Intro Sub State and the other in the Finale Sub State. One is taken randomly from a Praise Image Set and the other is a single image defined in the Question Definition. The image source for each sub state is programmable. Intro and Finale images may have programmable special effects behaviour when they first appear. Correct Answers also have a text string associated with them. Whether the text appears in the correctly matched Question Cell is programmable. Correct Answers may consist of two Praise Audio Clips, taken from two sources; one in the Intro Sub State and the other in the Finale Sub State. One is taken randomly from a Praise Audio Clip Set and the other is a single audio clip defined in the Question Definition. The audio clip source for each sub state is programmable. Praise Audio Clip defined in the Question Definitions. If present the audio clips will play as the Answer is dragged and dropped.

Questions in the Incorrect State may consist of two images, taken from two sources; one in the Intro Sub State and the other in the Finale Sub State. One is taken randomly from a Regret Image Set and the other is a single image defined in the Question Definition. The image source for each sub state is programmable. Intro and Finale images may have programmable special effects behaviour when they first appear. Incorrect Answers also have a text string associated with them. Whether the text appears in the incorrect matched Question Cell is programmable. Incorrect Answers may consist of two Regret Audio Clips, taken from two sources; one in the Intro Sub State and the other in the Finale Sub State. One is taken randomly from a Regret Audio Clip Set and the other is a single audio clip defined in the Question Definition. The audio clip source for each sub state is programmable. Regret Audio Clip defined in the Question Definitions. If present the audio clips will play as the Answer is dragged and dropped.

Tests also may have a Reward Image associated with them. The images are typically revealed as the questions are answered, grid element by grid element but other behaviours can be programmed. Reward Image Sets can be scripted and the image is randomly selected.

All state and sub state images, for a test, can have their Question Grid Element Presentation programmed. The image or text string associated with the state/ sub state can appear or be suppressed (Background Reward Image will be revealed). Also the image may be masked i.e. the grid element appears as opaque (background reward image will not be visible).