Goosie Cards, part one: Creation

I've never done a product review before (Ok, maybe back in high school in some class...) but I got an email from Tom over at Goosie Cards. He apparently found me through Google, and long story short, I offered to do a review. I got a gift certificate for a ten card custom set to do the review on. You can choose from ten, twenty, and twenty six card sets. Price varies. My set was a $28 value.

You start off here at their site, where you can create an account to start making your own personalized flashcards. They also offer games and pre-made sets of cards with themes like "favorite foods" or "animals". Basically, you upload your own photos, add the text you'd like, and voila! Nifty, unique cards in your mailbox a few days later. The site is gorgeous. Awesome graphics and colors, and extremely user friendly. Always a necessity for me, as I confuse easily! A useful extra is the fact that every set you make is saved in your account, so you can buy a new copy of a previously purchased set if you lose the original, without needing to re-make them.

The process of making the cards was a little confusing at first, but after about 2 minutes of experimentation, I was a pro. I think the creation process is very much something even a child could do (or my mother-in-law, who has issues turning her own computer on!) and it's a blast. I was a little disappointed that there was a photo size requirement, however it makes sense. Too small a photo would look silly. You need nice, big, bright photos for this, and luckily my digital camera makes the photos gigantic. No resizing was necessary!

Once the photos were uploaded, it was time to add text to each of my cards. One thing that I loved is that there is a spot for you to label your card set. This label shows up just above each photo on the cards. I chose mine as "Jaymes Goes..." because I was making cards to help Jaymes transition from place to place. Since the "Jaymes goes..." part was on every card, it meant more text could be devoted to whatever I wanted each card to say.

My only complaint, really, is the limited number of text characters. It made it kind of hard to decide what to write, particularly on my "Children's Museum" card. I ended up just putting "Kid's museum" instead and it worked out fine. I'd love to see them add in the ability to change text size in order to get more letters in there for longer descriptions. Text color/font would be a fun feature too. It would also be neat if the grey colored square that each photo is sitting on top of could be changed to the creator's choice of color. A bright orange or blue would draw Jaymes attention, while the grey probably will not. However, the beautifully printed, high quality, vividly colored photos will catch his eye.

Anyway, having created my cards, I forgot all about it. I think I made the cards last Thursday, got them today. Pretty impressive mailing time, if you ask me! Shipping is extremely reasonable, and you really won't have a long wait. The cards arrived in a sturdy envelope in a cardboard box. They pack foam to make sure your cards don't bend and get ruined, and my cards showed up in all their straight, glossy, waterproof glory.

I'm thoroughly impressed. The cards are the perfect size, and are nearly indestructible. How do I know this, you ask? The gift card I got in the mail to order the actual set was a Goosie card itself, and Jaymes has played with it, chewed on it, bent it, and fought with Sierra over it for over a week now. It's still like it was when it got here. I expected laminated cards. These go above and beyond, and really are more like the cases you put valuable baseball cards in. These are NOT flimsy or cheaply made, and are the most impressive cards I've seen... We've used a LOT of flashcards in the last few years, so that's saying something! The cards are big, bright, and beautiful. Glossy and durable, waterproof and Jaymes proof. The ultimate flashcard for an autistic child. And being waterproof, they can be used anywhere- by the pool, the bath, and for potty time. Just wipe them off if they get dirty.

I made cards to represent the places Jaymes most frequently goes: The car, the bath, the playground, in his swing, the children's museum, the wal mart shopping cart, to watch Elmo, outside (our home) for a walk, and to the doctor. They each have a simple sentence below. For example, the car card says "Jaymes goes... In the car, he sits in his carseat." This card will hopefully prepare Jaymes to go get into his carseat without getting horribly upset. Another card has a photo of Jaymes sitting in a shopping cart, and says "Jaymes goes... To the store, and sits in the cart." This way he'll know we're heading to Walmart and he'll have to sit in the cart. I have punched holes in the cards and put them together with a ring into a sort of mini book, so we can flip through to the card we need without losing any. It's HARD to punch holes in the cards, I'm telling you they are seriously durable little suckers.

I have not gotten a chance to try the cards out yet, Jaymes is not home from school yet.. But tonight we'll start with them and in a week I'll let you all know how Jaymes is doing with his Goosie Cards.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the quality of the cards, the ease of making them, and the quick delivery. GoosieCards.com is quite possibly the most user friendly, child friendly site I've encountered. Jaymes loved looking at the colors while I made his cards. Another nice little extra was the fancy little envelope that comes with the cards. Colorful and well made, it provides a safe home for your cards. We also got a bunch of stickers, temporary tattoos, and a magnet with the GC logo. Jaymes covered himself in stickers, and Sierra thought the tattoos were pretty darn cool. The logo is adorable, too!

I highly recommend Goosie Cards. I think these will be a godsend for us at home, and I plan on ordering more once finances permit. If you're wanting to start a pecs program that you can take on the go, you can't go wrong here.

Forgive the extremely poor quality of this video, it was all I had at the time. Nice clear shots of the cards will be coming in the 2nd half of the review, soon as my camera has charged.





Goosie Cards, part two: Implementation into an autism program



Well, I got the Goosie Cards back in November, and we've been using them to excellent result! Most useful is the one that shows Jaymes in his car seat, waiting to go someplace. He seems to very much appreciate the advance notice rather than just being stuck in the car. I think that seeing the card prepares him a little, and we've seen a lot less fighting. He's gotten to the point of getting into the car on his own and trying to fasten his seatbelt! Rarely any tears and screams, and no real resistance.

He's not too thrilled with the bath card, although I'm thoroughly enchanted with the adorable, high quality image of Jaymes in the tub. He gives me dirty looks and protests, but does accept that the card is law and slithers unenthusiastically toward the bathroom. The go for a walk outside and playground cards, though appreciated greatly by Jaymes, are on vacation until warmer days. We use the doctor's office card a LOT and he makes his displeasure known. He gets that concerned look on his face, tries to hide away in his room, or just gives me the death glare and shuffles along with me.

Unlike the Doctor and Bath cards, when Jaymes sees the beautifully vivid image on the Children's Museum card, he is ecstatic. There is no forgetting that place's brand off unique architecture. He's been known to pull that card out, put on his coat, and stare longingly at the car. Equally popular would be the "Jaymes goes for a ride in his swing" card. He will smack me with the card until I hang the swing and get pushing.

 No success with the Jaymes Goes To Walmart Card. Jaymes despises Walmart, and a picture (no matter how cute and printed in super high quality) of him looking entirely unimpressed in a shopping cart does nothing to suppress that hatred. Oh well, can't win them all.

We had been using the card that says "Jaymes goes to the couch to watch Elmo", but he is actually asking with words now! He says "want to watch Elmo", so clearly the cards have helped a lot. That particular one for sure.

All in all, the cards have made our lives a lot easier. Using them has eliminated the meltdowns that occured every time we tried to get the little guy in the car. He understands that it's a warning for him, so he knows what's coming next and that lessens his distress. He has made great strides as far as language, be that from using the cards or his speech therapy, and I'm thrilled to say that he is using his words for the Elmo card, rather than just throwing it at me. My two year old (not autistic) loves the Elmo card too, so even when your child moves past the need for the card, the littler ones can appreciate them too, even if only for the fact that Elmo is on there!

I can't say it enough. Excellent product! The quality of the images is superb, with bright and vivid colors. Waterproof, Jaymes and Sierra proof. In the months we've had these cards, not one is bent or creased or damaged in any way. Very impressive, considering my kids trash everything they come into contact with. These cards will take years of abuse and use. I would love to see the local school systems incorporate the cards into their curriculum (Did I mention they have a series of cards just for schools?), I think they would get really great results.

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