Pictello – Talking visual story creator
By AssistiveWare B.V.$30.99
View in iTunes
Everyone loves to tell fun, engaging, and imaginative stories. Go ahead and make a social story or visual schedule for a child with autism or a slide show of holiday pictures for your friends – Pictello makes it a breeze to create and share! Whether you use the included natural-sounding Text to Speech voices, or record your own voice, Pictello is the perfect tool for visual storytelling. Each page in a Pictello story consists of a photo or video and some text, which can be read aloud by a Text to Speech voice or your own recorded audio.
What we think
The app utilises the Social Stories™ approach to teaching Social Skills and behaviours. However it can also be used more generally for story telling and Literacy skills.
This app is very easy to use, and includes step-by-step instructions.
Any instances where Social Stories™ would be of use, this app can be used.
It can also be used to assist children with telling stories, relating about their day, telling news in a school setting, and for general reading comprehension.
Not applicable
Proper training is required to write proper Social Stories™, however once they are written they can be used by multiple people.
To create general stories, this app does not require any specific skills or background knowledge.
This app is incredibly customisable. Voices can be recorded, and photo and video can be taken directly form the app to use. It is also possible to input pictures and video from the iPad’s library.
A qualified person will be able to create Social Stories™, however most users will be able to access the other functions of the app for storytelling and reading.
The built-in voiceover options are not very good, and often read too quickly. This is mitigated by the ability to record voiceovers for the stories.
The level of adaptability and personalisation, especially with regards to modifying the voiceover and pictures used.
There is also a “Restrictions” mode to prevent a child from accidentally creating or deleting stories.
