Francesc Sistach uses tablets to fight autism

© Albert Armengol
Francesc Sistach, co-founder of Appically, a company specialising in applications for people with special needs.

As far as Francesc Sistach is concerned, youth is a question of attitude rather than age. Already well into his forties, this IT engineer decided to go against the grain by founding his own start-up company with the initial capital put up by his family and some friends. Perhaps it is Francesc’s seven-year-old daughter, Sara, who keeps him young at heart. She suffers severe autism, which was detected in the first few months of her life. Although she does not speak and is totally withdrawn, Sara serves as a daily inspiration to Francesc to be a better father and challenge her disease.

It could be said that the most important moment in this fight came three years ago, when Francesc bought an iPad. There was nothing deliberate about it, but the fact is that the tablet became a ray of light at the end of a dark tunnel. Francesc was stunned on seeing how Sara picked up the iPad and began to interact with it much more naturally than she had ever done with any person or object.

He started to look for information on the interaction of autistic children and other people with special needs with technological devices. He uploaded all the information he found to the www.iAutism.info site, which eventually became a reference website on the topic and received mentions in The New York Times and on CNN.

Many therapeutic apps for mobiles and tablets had already been developed in view of the spectacular reaction of autistic people to tactile screens. Even so, Francesc could not find any app that focused on recreation or leisure, i.e. one which allowed the autistic person not only to learn, but also to play and enjoy themselves, and even do so in a way that was integrated in the family environment.

He thus decided to create Happy Geese, a variation on the Game of the Goose for the iPad, which can be simplified to suit each person’s profile and increases in complexity as the autistic person gradually progresses. For example, the dice are not labelled with numbers but rather with colours, and the same goes for the squares that allow the player to “jump from goose to goose”.

The game has a freemium business model; it is a basic free app plus with different add-ons available for purchase in the Apple Store. The company behind Happy Geese is called Appically and was founded by Francesc and his partner, thanks to private investments to the value of 50,000 euros. After the success of Happy Geese, with 65,000 downloads in 130 countries, they intend to test more apps for people with special needs.

Jordi Sabaté Martí

Technological analyst for the newspaper Ara

One thought on “Francesc Sistach uses tablets to fight autism

  1. L’autisme es un gran desconegut. Qui s’implica acostuma a ser gent amb nens afectats. Fa temps demano una marato per trastorns del neurodesenvolupament, inclos l’autisme, mes que pels diners per recerca, tambe important, perque la gent conegui la malaltia i no miri malament nens que tenen una aparença fisica normal pero una discapacitat greu.

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