Dan Welchman Productions

...here's some of the stuff I get up to!

Home Page
MouseTrial
The Database
Publishing
Judo
Contact

Interactive online software

I wrote MouseTrial for my son Kit, who has autism. It's a system of exercises using animations to reward the player when they click on the correct item from an array. MouseTrial is now in use by hundreds of Families round the world. It can be played directly online or downloaded and played offline. License keys are sold round the clock from my online shop. Although extremely easy to get started with, MouseTrial is highly adjustable to cope with the enormously varied abilities and needs of children on the Autistic Spectrum. The MouseTrial web site is the top-ranking Google search result for "Autism Software".

Collaborative web2.0 databases

My autism software database is a free resource for parents and professionals listing all kinds of software for autism treatment. It's a PHP / mySQL application which publishers can log in to and update their own blurbs, add new products, and so on. The database continues to expand as I get a steady stream of suggestions for new entries from the public. I also have a special purpose web-crawler (written in Java) which unearths many more interesting sites.

Publishing

I wrote, illustrated and published The Power to explain the glories of exponentiation. It was fun. A second volume in the series (on probability and combinatorics) is roughly half written and about three-quarters illustrated. I hope to get back to it and finish it one day! The Captain Astounding project is on a back-burner now, due to the success of MouseTrial (and the rather more urgent need for it).

Animation and Artwork

I like to do my own illustrations, cartoons, and animations for my works, both online and off. I get the same pleasure from producing a new animation as I do from writing a new piece of software. Besides, the prices are so reasonable! The animation opposite is "spider" from the animals module in MouseTrial. My other son, Harry, helps me to come up with ideas for the animations.

about me

My "day job" is writing GIS software for GE Smallworld in Cambridge, using C, Java, Javascript, VB and my personal favourite, magik (a Ruby-like OO language written by me old mate Arthur "Art" Chance). To keep fit, Harry and I do a bit of Judo at the Littleport Judo Club where I'm the club welfare officer and also run the club web site. My favourite "throw" is falling over and doing ground-work. I also do the occasional 5000m or 10000m Swimathon. My favourite stroke is butterfly (but not over that distance!).

Got a project I might be interested in?
-Please feel free to drop me an e-mail at