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Location App to Keep Students Safe and Sound

By Charles Fox

AbleLink Technologies today announced the release of Community Sidekick, an innovative iPhone application designed for individuals with special needs who wish to provide automated location updates to friends and family members as they travel in the community. Sidekick can provide travelers that sense of security that comes from knowing "someone is watching over you," as well as peace of mind to their caregivers.

 

Community Sidekick sends automated email messages containing Google Map links which show the user's location to the person the user has chosen to receive the messages as he or she travels in the community. As soon as the user starts a trip and launches the program, automated emails are sent every few minutes to let a friend, family member, or other caregiver know precisely where he or she is located. These updates can be sent while on the bus, on a school field trip, or simply when walking to the park.

Community Sidekick also provides an easy way for the user to send simple, prescribed email messages with the press of a button. These messages read ?I am OK,? to whoever is monitoring his or her trip, or ?Please contact me,? if he or she has a question, needs assistance, or wants to speak with someone directly.

Dan Davies, AbleLink Founder and President, describes Sidekick as "our latest cognitive technology designed to help provide people with special needs increased freedom in accessing the community independently, while still providing caregivers peace of mind by knowing where their loved ones are and when they are back home safe."

Sidekick is great for parents of children with autism, spouses of people with traumatic brain injuries or other cognitive injuries, support staff for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities... basically, anyone wanting the comfort of knowing someone is watching over them while they are away from home. The program is designed for use on an iPhone and requires no additional service costs. Community Sidekick will also operate on an iPod Touch or iPad and will send messages when those devices are connected to the internet. Sidekick joins AbleLink's growing family of iPad/iPhone applications designed to be used by individuals with special needs. For other cognitively accessible titles from AbleLink, visit Apple's App store and search for "AbleLink Technologies."

 

Pricing/Purchase in iPhone App Store

Community Sidekick is available now in the iPhone App store at the introductory price of $9.99.

Full post as published by Special Education Law Blog on January 12, 2011 (boomark / email).