The Foodplanner app now includes a search function that helps caregivers find ingredients quickly when planning meals. Instead of scrolling through long lists, users can type to filter and find what they need instantly.
The team also conducted usability tests with participants to identify areas for improvement. These tests revealed valuable insights about how the app can better support meal planning routines.
Visual Tangible Artefacts received several important updates:
Both teams maintained close contact with Egebakken throughout the semester, conducting interviews and incorporating feedback directly into the development process. This collaboration ensures GIRAF applications continue to meet the real needs of children and their caregivers.
Thank you to all the students who contributed this semester.
]]>When planning meals for children with selective eating habits, caregivers often work with specific foods the child is comfortable with. Previously, this meant scrolling through lists to find each item. Now, typing a few letters instantly filters the list to show matching ingredients.
This small improvement can make a real difference in busy care settings where time is limited and efficiency matters.
The team didn’t just build this feature - they tested it. Usability tests helped identify how people actually use the app and where they encounter difficulties. Feedback from these tests led to additional refinements, such as clearer visual feedback when selecting items.
These improvements came from ongoing collaboration with Egebakken Specialskole, whose staff provided insights into daily routines and practical needs. This partnership ensures Foodplanner continues to evolve based on real-world use.
]]>For children who use visual communication boards, consistency between home and school is important. With remote viewing, a parent at home can see what their child is communicating at school, and vice versa. This creates opportunities for better coordination between caregivers.
The feature includes privacy controls - children can accept or decline viewing requests, giving them agency over who sees their board.
The update also introduces multi-board support. Children can now have separate boards for different settings or purposes. A child might have one board for daily routines and another for expressing feelings, each tailored to their specific needs.
Based on research and feedback from Egebakken, the team also improved the welcome screen. The new design gives children more time to process what they see, respecting the different pace at which autistic children may take in visual information.
These updates reflect GIRAF’s commitment to building tools that truly work for the children who use them.
]]>New students can find onboarding resources in our wiki.
]]>Until now, each backend managed these shared concepts independently. That means duplicated user tables, duplicated auth logic, and no single place where “Alice is an admin at Egebakken” lives as a fact. If a new app joins the platform, it has to reimplement all of that from scratch.
GIRAF Core fixes this. It’s a single shared service that owns the common domain data and authentication for the entire platform.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Mobile Apps (Flutter) │
│ Weekplanner Food Planner VTA │
└──────┬──────────────────────┬───────────────────┬──────────────┘
│ domain data │ domain data │ domain data
▼ ▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ Weekplanner │ │ Food Planner │ │ VTA Backend │
│ Backend │ │ Backend │ │ │
│ (.NET / C#) │ │ (TBD) │ │ (TBD) │
│ Activities, │ │ Meals, Menus │ │ Exercises, │
│ Schedules │ │ Nutrition │ │ Progress │
└──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘
│ │ │
│ users, orgs, citizens, pictograms │
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GIRAF Core API │
│ (Django + Ninja, Python) │
│ │
│ Auth/JWT │ Users │ Orgs │ Citizens │ Grades │ Pictos │ Invites │
└─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌─────▼─────┐
│ Core DB │
│ PostgreSQL│
└───────────┘
The idea is straightforward:
/token/pair endpoint and gets back a JWT.{"1": "owner", "5": "member"}, so any app backend can check permissions locally without calling Core again.Core handles seven areas that every GIRAF app needs:
We went with Django + Django Ninja for the API layer and PostgreSQL for the database. The codebase follows a consistent pattern across every feature: models.py → schemas.py → services.py → api.py. Business logic lives in the service layer, never directly in API endpoints.
Tests run against SQLite in-memory for speed, and the whole thing can be spun up with a single docker compose up.
The Weekplanner backend already has its own user and org tables. The migration path is to gradually point it at Core instead. New features and new apps should build against Core from the start, rather than reinventing shared domain concepts yet again.
If you’re working on GIRAF this semester and want to poke around, the interactive API docs are at http://localhost:8000/api/v1/docs once you have the service running.
Thank you to all the students who contributed this semester!
]]>This feature addresses a key need identified by our partners at Egebakken: the ability to quickly generate visual aids that match each child’s specific context and preferences.
]]>This interdisciplinary collaboration will help us build better tools for children with autism.
Check out the onboarding guide to begin.
]]>