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Help & FAQs
Welcome to the My Penelope Help Centre.
This is where you can find clear, simple answers about how the app works, how we protect your data, and step-by-step tutorials for each tracker: sleep, seizures, meltdowns, mood and mobility.
My Penelope is built by parents of a child with additional needs, so everything here is designed to be honest, practical and easy to follow on very tired days.
Sleep
How each tracker works.
What the Sleep Tracker is for
The Sleep Tracker helps you keep a simple, realistic record of your child’s nights, including bedtime, wake time and disturbances. It’s designed to help you see patterns over time without relying on memory.
How to record sleep
1. Open the Sleep tracker from the home screen.
2. Press Start to begin the sleep timer.
3. The start time will appear in the top left corner. Edit this if needed.
How to log a disturbance
1. When your child wakes, press Disturbance.
2. A secondary timer will start above the main timer (highlighted in red).
3. When your child settles, press Sleep.
4. The disturbance is logged automatically.
5. Repeat for each wake-up during the night.
How to end the sleep entry
1. When your child wakes for the day, press Stop.
2. Select Save (or Cancel / Resume if needed).
3. Bedtime and wake time are filled automatically.
Ratings and notes
1. Choose sleep quality: Poor, Okay or Good.
2. Use quick tags to identify reasons for disturbances.
3. Add optional notes if needed.
4. Press Save at the bottom of the page.
Viewing sleep history
1. Open Sleep and tap History.
2. Review bedtimes, wake times and disturbances.
3. See total sleep time minus disturbances.
Tips
If you forget to log a disturbance at the time, add it later. Simple, consistent entries are more useful than perfect records.
What the Seizure Tracker is for
The Seizure Tracker helps you keep a clear, time-stamped record of your child’s seizures. It is not a replacement for medical care, but it gives you a realistic log of frequency, duration and key details between appointments.
How to record a seizure
1. Open the Seizure tracker from the home screen.
2. If your child is having a seizure and only if it is safe to do so, press Start to begin the seizure timer.
3. The timer will start automatically.
4. If it is not safe to use the app, provide aid and call an ambulance if required. You can record the seizure later.
Recording seizures retrospectively
1. Open the Seizure tracker.
2. Add a manual entry or use the timer retrospectively.
3. Select a pre-set seizure length if estimating the time:
0–5 seconds, 5–15 seconds, 15–30 seconds, or Custom.
Adding seizure details
1. Select the seizure type: absence, focal with awareness, focal impaired awareness, or tonic-clonic.
2. Add illness symptoms if relevant.
3. Indicate if the seizure occurred during a menstrual cycle, if applicable.
Medication logging (optional)
1. Open the medication logging section.
2. Record the medication taken, when it was taken, the dosage, and any side effects observed.
3. This section is optional and can be left blank.
Saving and reviewing
1. Press Save to record the seizure.
2. Open History to view past entries.
3. Edit the entry or add notes later if it was not suitable to do so at the time.
Tips
Safety always comes first. Even estimated timings and brief entries are valuable when looking for patterns over time.
What the Meltdown Tracker is for
The Meltdown Tracker helps you record meltdowns or shutdowns in a simple, time-stamped way. It is designed to help you identify patterns, triggers and what support strategies may or may not help over time.
How to record a meltdown or shutdown
1. Select the Meltdown tracker from the home screen.
2. Press Start to automatically begin the timer.
3. Press Stop when the meltdown or shutdown has ended.
4. You can press Resume if the episode continues, or press Save to log the episode.
5. The start and end time will complete automatically.
Adding trigger details
1. Select one of the predefined trigger categories, such as noise, environment or pain.
2. Add the location to help identify location-based patterns.
Adding observations and support actions
1. Use the optional notes section to record what you observed, such as behaviour, stimming or aggression.
2. Select whether intervention was needed.
3. Add notes about what support was used, for example sensory toys, counting methods or calming strategies.
Saving and reviewing
1. Press Save to record the meltdown or shutdown.
2. Open History to view past entries.
3. Edit the entry or add notes later if needed.
Tips
Meltdowns are not behaviour choices. Logging patterns over time can help you and others better understand triggers and effective support strategies.
What the Mood Tracker is for
The Mood Tracker helps you record your child’s mood at different points in the day using simple, visual options. Over time, this can help you identify patterns linked to locations, events or specific times of day.
How to record a mood
1. Select the Mood tracker from the home screen.
2. Choose one of the eight predefined mood emojis that best reflects your child’s mood at that moment.
3. Press Save.
Saving and viewing mood entries
1. The selected mood, date and time are saved automatically.
2. Open History to view previous mood entries.
Using mood entries over time
1. You can record as many mood changes as you like throughout the day.
2. You may also choose to log only significant mood shifts.
3. Reviewing mood history can help highlight patterns related to locations, events and certain times of day.
Tips
There is no right or wrong way to use the Mood Tracker. A few simple entries can still provide valuable insight when looking back over time.
What the Mobility Tracker is for
The Mobility Tracker helps you record physical movement, activity and milestones over time. This can support understanding whether milestones are being reached, whether physiotherapy is effective, or whether further support or treatment may be needed.
Recording a mobility entry
1. Select the Mobility tracker from the home screen.
2. All fields are optional. Complete only what feels relevant at the time.
Physiotherapy and movement details
1. Select whether physiotherapy was completed at that time (Yes or No).
2. Choose movement type: assisted or unassisted.
3. Select the level of assistance required:
Independent, verbal prompt, hand over hand, or full physical assistance.
4. Select who supported the movement: parent, carer or teacher.
Movement activity details
1. Select the movement type:
walk, roll, sit-to-stand transfer, climb stairs, step up, or standing balance.
2. Choose distance:
5m, 10m, 20m or custom.
3. Select duration:
30 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes.
Quality, safety and equipment
1. Select gait quality or control:
good, uneven, dragging, shuffling, unsteady or fell.
2. Record falls or trips:
none, stumble or fall.
3. If a fall or stumble occurred, select severity:
minor, moderate, severe, injury or help needed.
4. Select any device used:
walker, frame, wheelchair or orthosis.
5. Choose discomfort level using emojis:
none, mild, moderate, high or severe.
Context and milestones
1. Select the context or surface:
indoors, outdoors, carpet or pavement.
2. Tick the box if this movement was an achievement or milestone.
3. Use the notes field to add any additional details about the movement or event.
Saving and reviewing
1. Press Save to record the mobility entry.
2. Open History to view or edit past entries.
Tips
Not every field needs to be completed. Even small, consistent entries can help show progress, patterns and changes over time.
seizure
Meltdown
Mood
Mobility
General FAQs
Q1. What is the My Penelope app? My Penelope is a support and tracking app for parents and carers of children with additional needs, including autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other complex conditions. It helps you quickly log seizures, sleep, meltdowns, mood and mobility so you do not have to rely on memory in appointments, meetings or assessments.
FAQs
My Penelope is a support and tracking app for parents and carers of children with additional needs, including autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other complex conditions.
It helps you quickly log seizures, sleep, meltdowns, mood and mobility so you do not have to rely on memory in appointments, meetings or assessments.
The app is designed for parents and carers who are trying to keep track of what is really happening day to day. That might be seizure patterns, sleep disruption, behaviour changes, pain, fatigue or how much help your child needs with everyday tasks.
It can also be useful for professionals who support families, such as therapists, teachers or caseworkers, as a tool to recommend to parents.
In the current version of My Penelope, all of your data is stored locally on your device.
It is not uploaded to our servers or to any cloud storage. That means:
• We cannot see your entries.
• Your data is under your control on your phone or tablet.
• If you delete the app or reset your device, your data will be deleted with it.
We know how sensitive your child’s information is, so we have chosen to start with a private, device-only model.
Because data is stored locally, deleting the app or changing your phone will remove your stored entries from that device.
Before uninstalling or changing phones, we recommend exporting or writing down any important patterns or dates you want to keep.
In future premium versions, we plan to offer optional cloud backup and secure sharing, but this will always be your choice.
My Penelope is not a medical device and does not give medical advice.
It is a support tool to help you track what happens between appointments, so you can describe things clearly to doctors, nurses, therapists, schools and other professionals.
You should always contact a medical professional in an emergency or if you are worried about your child’s health.
Yes. You can use the information you record in My Penelope to:
• Talk through patterns in appointments
• Prepare for EHCP reviews
• Support DLA, PIP or other assessments
• Share examples with school or therapists
You can show the app directly from your phone, or note down key patterns and dates. In future versions we plan to make sharing easier with optional export and cloud features.
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