Have an iPad? Maybe you did not realize it can be a great help for autistic kids. Well one school has found a way to use iPads to help kids communicate…special needs students who would not normally be able to have the life enriching experience in school that neurotypical students have.
At the Lehmann Center, a school for special needs kids in Lakewood, New Jersey, an 18-year old student got the chance to play the guitar. He has a disorder that makes it really hard for him to speak…and he has virtually no muscle control. His name is Anthony Leuck. Anthony communicates primarily through eye gaze or by spelling out words by using his head to push on a switch on a device that allows him to type out words. But today Anthony gets to play the acoustic guitar.
Anthony slides his knuckles over the digital image of a guitar on the I Pad. As he touches the screen he creates music…and a big grin shows on his face.
Anthony and lots more students are beginning to benefit from iPad devices used in classrooms all over the country. For those of you not familiar with the Apple iPad, it was launched in April 2010 and is selling like hot cakes. Three million iPads were sold in the first 80 days.
Going High Tech to Help Children with Autism
The iPads can be customized to the particular needs of any given student. They are reasonably prices, very portable and light weight…a great combination for a device to move around from home to school or from classroom to classroom. With the iPads, a non-verbal autistic child, for example, can tap on a screen to tell his or her teacher what he wants, how he is feeling or maybe to just play a guitar.
"These children can access and enjoy everything a typically developing child would enjoy — they just have to access it differently," said Gina Shulman, a social worker working in the school. "We have that fine motor skill; we can take a finger and press all those tiny keyboard buttons and little tiny switches. Now, our children, with just a gentle touch, can color; they can play instruments."
The school system in New Jersey which Anthony attends bough 60 iPads to use to help special needs students this year after seeing the initial success from a few iPads last year. Robert Klein, the director of special services said that an autistic student who started using an iPad last year "initiated, really, one of his first conversations ever using the iPad with staff."
How Do Schools Use the iPads for the Students with Autism?
Many people with autism make little if any eye contact. Making eye contact is tough to teach to a person with autism. But an application in the iPad is teaching and helping students with this challenge.
Another application allows students to express emotion…to tell us how they are feeling and what they want or where they want to go. Some of these apps are free but many cost from $200 or more.
“It’s turning out to be, really, a magical thing,” Klein said. “The disability is such that (children with autism) live within themselves. The iPads draw them out.”
A clever app allows students to type then hear what they typed spoken out loud. The opposite is also true. Students can speak into the iPad and it will type out their words as text.
Teaching Organizational Skills
Can an iPad teach organizational skills? Apparently yes. One application that is especially helpful for children with autism and Asperger's teaches organizational skills. For some reason, people with autism tend to have a great deal of trouble staying organized. Having to arrange myriad tasks in a specific order can be very difficult. Changing classrooms in school and organizing homework can overwhelm many children with autism.
To teach organizational skills, the app displays a series of bubbles on the iPad's screen which are used to organize daily activities, thoughts or homework assignments. Many children with autism are very visual. Being able to see their assignments in bubbles and move them around allows the brain to understand the organization better.
Apple offered a training session to help the school system with the iPads and applications. Schools have used technology in the past to help children with autism communicate. But these devices have tended to be much bulkier and much more expensive than the iPads which run around $500.
The special needs students who have benefited, so far, from the use of the touch screen iPads include those with autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD),dyslexia and auditory processing issues.
Apps for iPhones and other Smart Phones Help Autistic Kids
If you do not have an iPad, or cannot afford one, there are applications that you can use with your children that can help them that run on an iPhone or other smart phone like a Droid. While these are not practical for school use, many of these apps can be very helpful when working with your children from home, to help them communicate in the car, or to take on vacation.
Implications for Parents of Children with Autism
We are just beginning to see the amazing advances that relatively low prices and light weight touch screen tablets, such as the iPad can do to help our children with autism. Especially for children who have limited speech capabilities, this could be a Godsend. If your school does not offer these devices, bring this to the school's attention. And check out the Apple iPad app store to find applications that may help your child communicate and learn better.
HAVE A COMMENT? SUGGESTION? KNOW OF AN APP THAT RUNS ON AN IPAD THAT CAN HELP? SHARE YOUR COMMENT BELOW
I enjoy and appreciate the information, anything to help my son and my own understanding of what life is like for Nicholas. It also helps me educate my son's teacher and EA which this process is ongoing and at times very frustrating.
My name is Matt Turner from Australia. I have a 6 y.o. with autism (fairly mild). I found your work insightful and helpful - my wife is a doctor and spent many hours wading through medical texts to no avail. Our son Finley Turner is a very bright, friendly, healthy, unconditionally loved boy who can lose it sometimes. The guide helped us understand what to do and it helps him as much as us. Thanks for the work and I have recommended you to other parents in similar situations.
I found your articles to be extremely helpful...I applaud you for sharing your story and helping others who are going through similar situations. Thank you for sharing your story.
I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency, and thoroughness of the topics. I think this is a valuable tool. I think this was a valuable tool for me because as a parent we all need a kick in the butt and stay on task, constantly fighting, updating and communicating with caregivers, teachers and finding tools for our children. Keep it up!
I definitely found your information helpful. My grandson was just diagnosed this summer. He is very smart and sweet. We will continue to be an advocate for him thanks to your information. I am including a picture of him. 
"Hi my son of 3 and a half years was diagnosed today, I had concerns so prior to his appointment I researched it and joined your newsletter. The information was so helpful and very supportive it was almost like having a counselor as I opened each email I felt like some one really understood my situation so thanks you so much for that, it's a very hard thing to accept and you do feel alone but with the letters I was given inspiration and hope that not everything was going to be doom and gloom it was and still is a lifeline.
"I have found the newsletters very valuable. I have forwarded them to teachers who work with Matthias when they apply."
I have been reading your Newsletter for a while now. Find attached a picture of my family. Joel is the little boy in glasses. Thanks for putting a smile on me. My knowledge and support is increasing. I feel more positive towards helping my son than ever.
I am Ben's grandmother and see him every single day. He is a joy. What your info does is help us to understand the melt downs that quite frankly we have always put down to the meds that he takes. We have proved your theory of a strict regime for Ben. Each letter adds to our knowledge. Keep it up dear friend. We learn from you every day and will I am sure continue to learn. God Bless you.
15. November 2011 at 7:37 am
Whats up very cool website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also?I am glad to seek out so many helpful information here in the post, we need develop extra strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
25. August 2011 at 3:47 pm
IPads for autistic kids sounds like a great idea. Now all we need to do is get Apple to donate either money or IPads for the kids who can’t afford them!
26. August 2011 at 12:47 am
Claudia, I agree with you on that! Maybe we should send letters. If they hear from enough of us parents desperate to help our kids, maybe they might just help us out! Thank you for the idea. Go write a letter…I’ll do the same!!
27. August 2011 at 2:57 pm
Why don’t you buy them?
25. August 2011 at 1:50 pm
I would love the name of the organization skills app. We are moving our son from ESE class to Gen Ed for writing. They use thought mapping and it sounds like that app would be great since handwriting is a huge issue!! Thanks!
25. August 2011 at 11:57 am
Although I think the iPad is a great device, it is not cheap. There are many families with autistic children that don’t even have internet access let alone be able to afford a $500-$600 iPad. Also there are other tablet devices that are just as good as the iPad that are more reasonably priced. I hope these apps are developed for them as well.
26. August 2011 at 4:06 am
I am a parent of a 16yr old austic son living in Kenya.The ipad, interesting development. For us here, teaching curriculum, availability of schools with capacity to teach autistic children, among other myriad of problems is where we are. Can steve jobs before he retires from Apple consider donating the technology for Kenyan autistic children? CAn reach me on agnesmarete [AT] gmail.com
26. August 2011 at 5:05 am
Frankie, i think i agree with you. Not all parents can afford iPads. Other applications should be developed for our children.
Regards.
Samuella, Accra, Ghana.
25. August 2011 at 10:36 am
Great story. I believe my son is going to be in a similar pilot group this year in CA. Do you have a list of some of the Apps they’re using at the Lehmann Center? I should have more to share in a month or so and will try to post an update.
26. August 2011 at 4:07 am
I am also interested in the APPS.
25. August 2011 at 10:11 am
What is the app called that is for organization? I would like to get it!
25. August 2011 at 11:47 am
Get the app called “AutismApps”, it reviews a lot of different apps and is well organized by subject. We have “what’s next?” for daily scheduling and “chorechart” as a behavior reward system. My son earns stars on chorechart with good behavoir and then uses stars to “buy” rewards like ipad playtime, tv time, trips etc. It is only 4.99 and really worth it. I’m using it for all 3 kids.
25. August 2011 at 9:56 am
Sometimes visual prompt could reduce anxiety of autistic children and increase their expectation about what’s going on. So some visual scheduling / social stories apps can make huge difference. You can find more information about them on http://www.iautism.info/en/2010/09/20/application-list/#table2
25. August 2011 at 11:12 am
Ame, Thanks for the link. It looks like this is a great list of apps.
25. August 2011 at 9:51 am
Can you tell us the name of the apps? We have an iPad and I would like download some of these…
25. August 2011 at 9:49 am
A great FREE App is AutismApps. It reviews a large number of apps for kids on the spectrum. I bought several apps after watching video reviews — it is great. My little guy with aspergers loves the ipad. He is only in kindergarten so he doesn’t use it in school yet. He loves dinosaur chess. I love chorechart and dexteria.
26. August 2011 at 7:45 pm
Awesome!…my son has Aspbergers and is dyslexic…he is 12 1/2 and is only reading on a 2nd grade level!!..it is so frustrating for him and depression has set in along with really low self esteem!…we have tried everything…now all I need is the money for one!..ha!..thanks for the input, I am going to talk to his school about a grant…let me know if you here of any other apps that might help…
25. August 2011 at 9:35 am
What are the names of the apps???