You will find the answers to common questions below. If your question hasn’t been addressed, please get in touch.
A ‘Give a Quick Rating’ button is provided on the second screen of the app (when Ed asks what your problem is). The Quick Rating feature is for situations when you’re on-the-go and don’t have time to type in the problem and work through the entire Ask Ed process, e.g. at the shops. You can quickly discuss the problem with the child and ask them to select a rating. By providing an opportunity for the child to stop and reflect on the situation they can put their problem into perspective, calm down and ‘move on’ in a positive state of mind. The Quick Rating process has been designed with a smartphone in mind, it’s simple and fast.
Ask Ed comes loaded with a series of common problems that kids may experience. When you enter a description of your problem the App attempts to match it against this database of ‘known problems’. If a match is not found Ed will invite you to re-enter the problem using different words or Teach Ed your problem. Teaching Ed your problem allows you to work through the Ask Ed process and adds your problem to the database. This means the next time you enter the same problem it will be found, complete with your suggested rating and ideas. Over time Ask Ed can learn many new problems that may be experienced within your home/school environment. New problems defined by you are only stored on your devices (phone/tablet).
Over time your copy of Ask Ed will contain a combination of original problems supplied with the app and your own problem created using the Teach Ed feature. The original problems which are pre-loaded with Ask Ed cannot be deleted. New problems entered by you can be deleted on the Problem List screen by clicking the “Delete” button on the right-hand side. To delete a specific problem simply search for that problem using the relevant keywords and click the relevant Delete button.
Ask Ed looks for matching problems based on words in the problem description, e.g. ‘I have a sore head’ will be displayed in the matching problems list for any problems which contain the words ‘have’, ‘sore’ or ‘head’. Even if your problem was ‘I have a sore foot’ it will still find ‘I have a sore head’ because one or more of the words match, i.e. have, sore.
No. The process used by Ask Ed is relevant for any person experiencing a problem. Identifying and rating the seriousness of your problem, expressing your feelings and deciding on a course of action will give you a sense of control and a plan for moving forward. You’ll also feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders!
Children may volunteer information regarding problems that are serious and require additional help from other agencies. Please contact relevant authorities.
Follow the steps used in the App and ask these questions:
- What’s the problem?
- Where would you rate this problem on the Catastrophe Scale?
- How are you feeling about the problem?
- What ideas do you have for dealing with the problem?
- What will you do now?
