Goally: A Tool to Help Kids with Autism…An Honest Review

No one gave me Goally, in exchange for a review.  We paid for it with our own money and I just wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Edit as of 11/7/22: Goally has moved to an app in addition to a tablet you can purchase. We’ve not downloaded or used the app, so this review is a bit outdated. However, I’m sure many of the basic premises are the same. I can definitely see value in the concept, but since X is older now, we’ve been able to navigate his executive function in different ways.

Executive Frustration

I’m always on the lookout for products and services that have the potential to make life easier, either for me or for my kids. A few months ago, an ad for a device called Goally kept popping up on my Facebook, boasting of its ability to help kids with autism and ADHD improve their executive function (more on executive function in a minute).  I largely ignored it, until one night when X-man’s bedtime routine went way off the rails and he and I escalated to a point where both of us cried in frustration.

Delays in executive function cause much of his struggle. “Executive function…is the mental process that enables us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully.” For X-man, this means that in order to clean his room, he has to be able to organize the necessary steps in his brain, and then carry them out.  Since delays occur in this area, we accommodate that delay by breaking down the task of “clean your room” into several steps. For instance, cleaning his room would look a bit like this.

CLean Your Room

1. Completed creations in the yellow bin
2. Tiny pieces into the tiny piece box
3. Spare large LEGO pieces into matching color box
4. Large toys in the blue bin 

I’m not going to blow smoke and say that this process is seamless at this point. It’s still very much a work in process. But we’ve been focusing on other routines that are a bit more accessible in a shorter period of time. Enter Goally.

Executive function is the mental process that enables us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully.”

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/

What is Goally?

Goally is a handheld device with a touchscreen. It is essentially a smartphone that the company has programmed to only do one thing. Developed by BCBAs, clinical psychologists, and autism specialists, Goally seeks to improve executive functioning. In doing so, Goally takes the pressure off parents to constantly serve as “the enforcer.” The parent app allows you to set up multiple routines, give duration to the tasks included in the routines, and assigns point values to certain behaviors. Then, once you set the routine to run, you can automate it to start at a certain time each day or set it to start manually, Goally keeps a countdown, as well as periodically “knocking” to make sure the child stays focused on the task at hand.  As the child completes each routine, Goally awards points based on how promptly the child completed the routine and each of its tasks. The child can, then, cash in the rewards agreed upon by you both.

My motivation

Relieved of their nagging duties due to Goally initiating the routine and prompts, this concept should appeal greatly to parents. This is probably the idea that finally sold me on the whole concept. I have three autistic kids. My whole life revolves around prompting someone to do something at pretty much any given moment. Since X-man is old enough to understand the concepts surrounding Goally, the idea of handing off my nagging duties really appeals to me. X-man was excited about the prospect of earning rewards, and, at the time, there was a sale.

Some things to consider…

We’ve had Goally for the better part of three months. I want to give you my honest opinion, so here are my thoughts on Goally.

Pros:

1. IT WORKED. Almost immediately, X-man started following the routines. It was like magic. Goally would act as his alarm clock in the morning. Suddenly, he was showing up at the breakfast table, fully dressed, earlier even than the routine stipulated. It was the same with the after-school routine involving homework. It was like seeing a brand-new kid.
2. The rewards system is great. Not only does Goally reward him for completing his routines on time, but you can add points for specific behaviors. Examples of such behaviors include staying on green all week at school or helping Mommy without prompting. At this age, extrinsic rewards are still the way to go. Goally helped remind me to positively reinforce good behaviors.
3. It’s easy to use. The parent app is very easy to use, and setting up routines is simple.  It’s not fancy; it’s very stark in appearance. However, it does what it set out to do in an uncomplicated manner.
4. It feels solid. The child’s device is in a very tough case, complete with a Pop Socket, so it’s easy to hold and can be propped up for better viewing. It feels like if you drop it on a tile floor, both floor and device will survive the incident.  
5. It’s kid-friendly. The app that runs on the child’s device is very straightforward.  They cannot access any settings from the app and the app is all they can access.  There’s no way to get to any other part of the device, like Google Play or Facebook, or anything else. This means, unlike a phone or a tablet, there’s nothing else to distract a kid from focusing on the task that Goally has set forth (read: NO FORTNIGHT. Cue celebration). There are probably several apps out there that could do some of the same things that Goally can, but the fact that Goally is a single-function device is actually one of its strongest features.

Cons:

1. The cost is prohibitive for many families. At the time of this post, one can only purchase Goally through their website. It costs $189 there (what we paid). It’s a solid product, with the potential to help a lot of kids. But for many, it may just not be worth the price tag.
2. It got a bit annoying. The constant “knocking” prompt quickly got on my nerves, and there was no way to disable it. For X-man, the constant prompting got to where it almost gave him anxiety. I’m not entirely sure how the developers could improve on this because any noise made that frequently would get old quickly.
3. X-man got wise. There is a “pause” button on the child’s device. I’m sure it’s for those occasions when a child needs a bathroom break. It makes sense not to have the countdown going when they’re in a situation like that. However, my little smarty-pants figured out that, if he was taking longer on a task and could see he was running out of time, he’d hit that pause button and it would stop. If Dr. S and I are busy with the twins, there’s no way for us to monitor these situations.
4. He got to the point where he didn’t need it anymore very quickly. A quick caveat about this: I haven’t added new routines since the initial set-up, and I need to. This month has been extremely difficult for us. He’s been sick more than he’s been well. So, at this moment, we haven’t even plugged in Goally to charge. If you’re not willing or able to tweak the routines to grow with the child, you may find yourself with an expensive paperweight.  Ideally, you WANT them to not need it anymore. The last thing you want is for your child to head out into the real world needing this thing that annoyingly knocks every 90 seconds. And I’m sure with some kids, it’ll take longer.
5. The parent app is buggy. Part of the reason I haven’t added any new routines is that I’ve not been able to get the app to load. When it does load, the manual start buttons may or may not work. When it does work, it’s fantastic. It’s just kind of hit or miss recently. EDIT: Apparently, there was an update, because the parent app has been working just fine. I almost omitted this part of the review. However, it’s worth noting that the tech end might be a bit slow on the uptake with getting updates out. One did eventually come, though, so you have to be patient.

The verdict is in!

In summary, I think Goally has the potential to be a really great tool. I took it to my last IEP meeting and all the SPED folks went nuts. The price is a bit steep, especially if you’re not sure it would help or not. I can definitely say that it’s geared toward kids who are higher functioning. It would mean absolutely nothing to the twins. But for X-man, yes, it helped, and when I have a chance to tweak it some, we’ll go back to it. Go to goally.co and research it, if Goally interests you. Let me know if you take the plunge and what your thoughts are. Thanks for reading!