Learn with Rufus: Categories

Have fun learning colors, shapes, and other groups of common objects!

As they develop, children learn "typical" or "more common" examples of category members (e.g., red apple) before they learn "less typical" or "less common" examples of category members (e.g., yellow apple).

Learn with Rufus: Groups and Categories aims to help children learn groups and categories such as colors, shapes, fruits, and other common objects. Children will learn a variety of typical and less typical examples to help them form broad categories and to increase generalization. The game is highly customizable to meet the needs of children with varying skills, ability levels, and learning styles.

This game was designed by Dr Holly Gastgeb, a clinical and developmental psychologist with over ten years of experience working with typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her research has shown that children with ASD have difficulty forming categories from an early age. Since this ability is developed throughout childhood, the game is also beneficial for a wide range of children including those early achievers without any diagnosed learning difficulties.

Learn with Rufus: Groups and Categories is organized into three parts, a learning phase and two separate games.

• Learning - A preview of the category is shown to the child before the game starts.

• Find It! - Shown a number of category members, the child is directed to select a specific item.

• Name It! - Shown a single category member, the child is asked to name the item.

To keep children interested and motivated, the following features are included:

• Reward sets - Choose from nine different colorful child-friendly reward sets including bugs, cars, cats, dinosaurs, and more.

• Toy break - The child is given periodic breaks with a fun on-screen spinning top that draws on the screen while responding to both touch and tilt commands. This feature can be turned off if the child does not need breaks or finds them distracting.

• Positive reinforcement - Rufus does a "happy dance" and gives positive verbal reinforcement when the child answers correctly. If the child answers incorrectly, the correct answer is restated.

• Music and sounds - Child-friendly music and sounds are included throughout the game. This feature can be turned off if the child is sensitive to or distracted by sounds and music.

• Text - For children who enjoy reading, the word that corresponds to each picture is presented above the picture. This feature can be turned off if the words are distracting to the child.

Additional customizable features that are present include:
• Multiple category sets - Colors and shapes category sets are included. Periodically, new category sets will be made available either for free or for paid download.

• Level of difficulty - The level of difficulty can be adjusted to match the child's ability level:
Easy - All typical examples of category members
Medium - A mix of typical and less typical examples of category members
Hard - All less typical examples of category members

• Training - The practice session before the games may be disabled to increase difficulty.

• Group Size - Choose from a group size of 2 or 4 for the Game phase depending on the child's ability level.

• Languages - Choose from English and Spanish.

For parents, educators, and therapists:

• Profiles per child - More than one child can play the game and all data is stored under each child's name.

• Track data and statistics - At the end of the game, a graph of the child's data is presented. Touch the graph to enlarge it, and then touch each data point to gather information about the child's performance.

For Ages 3 & Up