Childhood stories work at different levels—they become family myths, or just tickle the funny bone, while some become guiding lights for an unknown future. But a few special ones become part of collective learning, especially when uploaded to an app called AutiTales, which will be launched later this month by the Together Foundation Trust that works with people with autism. 
  
The stories are audio-visual experiences designed for autistic individuals of all ages. They are participatory exercises in which the autistic person listens, reads, types keywords, matches visuals with text, draws figures, and records voices—all of which eventually builds language and comprehension.  Step-by-step assistance is provided at every point to the neurologically challenged person who either wishes to revisit the story, or skip a step, depending on where s/he stands in the broad spectrum of autistic behaviour.  

At the outset, the stories seem sketchy and linear—Tina eats a cake on her birthday or Jordan is given chocolates by his teacher.  But the stories essentially help connect dots for those who cannot avail of the natural organic childhood joy of listening to stories. The idea is not just story narration, but to give a chance to people with autism to “show” their understanding, and “to enable them to ‘do’ things in order to fully experience a story”. Also, these stories come to life with repeated encounters, each time bringing a new dimension for the recipient.