Making a difference in our lives! – iReward Review

I can't say enough about iRewards! It is absolutely the best thing I've found for my son (and my own sanity)! His behavior issues, lack of self control, his "learned" shirking of responsibility, inability to understand that his choices = consequences, as well as his processing and memory problems are some of the biggest issues we face all day, every day, in our home. However, iRewards is quickly beginning to help us with these issues! One of the greatest benefits for us while using iRewards is that it is helping my son control his behavior when we are out in public, running errands, etc. For example, if he sees something in a store that he wants and cannot have, all I have to do is pull up the app on the phone, show him the stars he needs to earn (and keep) and he sees the picture of the reward right there below the starts and immediately he either calms down, or at the very least I can see him trying desperately to control himself. Before we found iRewards, he would go straight into a total meltdown. What is even better is that we are focusing on positive reinforcement and he feels SO PROUD when he earns a reward! (I do take away stars for serious issues but I try to focus on the positive). It is building his self esteem and teaching him that he CAN do things he didn't think he could. Anyone who has a child with a disability such as autism (especially at this age), would probably agree that is is SO difficult to find a tool, teaching method, etc., that actually works for more than a day or two, or at all! I've become so disappointed over the years with failed methods or tools that may work for some but just didn't work for Ty and now, the fact that I can see how using iRewards with my son is actually helping HIM learn, change and control himself, is a huge victory for us. One of the best features is the ability to completely customize the app for yourself. So no matter what age or skill level someone is at, you can choose the behavior or action you want, how many stars will be needed to earn it and use any picture you want to show the reward! It is great that you can go in and change one if it needs tweaking too! While I use this mainly for my son with autism, I've also started to use it with my (neurotypical) teenager just so I can keep track of whether or not he has done his chores before letting him go out, etc. It truly can be adapted to be used by anyone! If you get creative, I would imagine that you could even use it to motivate a spouse (lol). Seriously though, I am so grateful for this app and cannot wait to share it with other parents that I know. I will say that the most difficult part for me was being creative and coming up with behaviors/actions that I wanted Ty to learn and choosing how many times (stars) he needs to do something to earn a reward. Also, choosing a reward that is fitting and interesting to him at his age is challenging for me because everything he wants costs money. I highly recommend this app for both children with autism, ASD, ADHD, etc. If at first you think it looks like it was created for only younger children, don't let that stop you from trying it! There is absolutely nothing like it out there for persons with a disability such as this. Kudos to the creators of this app! I would love to talk to others who use it to share ideas for rewards at different age levels, etc.
Review by thekatsmeow1969 on iReward.