After watching the 60 Minutes segment last night on "Apps for Autism", I realized how happy I am for the invention of the touchscreen iPod/iPhone/iPad suite of products and what a difference it has made to the Autism community as a whole.
The story about the young man with autism using the iPad to use PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) to communicate when he used to be non verbal touched me dramatically. Lex's second form of communication (first was sign language) was using the PECS pictures. His therapists who came to daycare, twenty hours a week from the age of two to three, laminated approximately 50-70 different pictures and velcro'd them in a book to make him communicate his wants and needs and he took to it like a fish to water. It made us realize that he knew a lot more than we actually thought he did. It was the first time he was able to tell us specifically what he needed (such as a specific food or drink or what he wanted to play with).
Watching the segment, the thing that caught my attention and hit home the most was the focus on the inability of autistic children and adults to look people in the eyes when communicating with them. This is one of Lex's main issues that I try very hard to work with him on. With the use of the iPhone, Lex and I use the FaceTime program to video chat with my parents every other day. When we started using the phone for this about ten months ago, Lex would never look at the phone. While he still isn't looking at them 100%, he is much less distracted now and will occasionally make eye contact. He will always do so though if he knows that they are watching him perform a task, such as pouring water over his head in the bathtub which makes them laugh, and will always watch for their reaction.
The comments that the therapists and parents made on the segment about how autistic children had the vocabulary but just couldn't share it also rang true. The use of the iPad to help bring out that knowledge was eye opening for some that watched the program that I talked to. At school, Lex gets 9-12 new vocabulary words a week, along with a picture to associate with the written word. At the end of the school year last year, I decided to test Lex on all of his vocabulary words, which were over 350 words. Not only did he know every one of them, he could use them in associated manners, such as "The helicopter flies in the sky" and "the bus drives in the road". This from a kid who at two years old could say 7 words. Seven.
The use of iPads for school children was also focused on, and there was a bit of discussion on the difference between the kids being fascinated by the technology and actually learning to communicate. Personally, I think that if the children are showing enthusiasm and a tendency to work more if using the iPads, then it is totally worth the investment. I hope that more programs embrace the implementing of technology in the classroom and that more non-profits start donating iPads to schools because we all know that there is a big issue with budget, even for special needs programs.
Two years ago, I won a charity auction for a iPod touch, thinking how I'd love to have this cool new technology. Little did I know that a month after I brought it home, my son would commandeer it. From the minute he got his hands on it, he was obsessed. I realized quickly not only did he teach himself how to open the apps, but also how to get back to the home screen and flip back and forth between pages. I quickly searched for educational apps for him and loaded them up for him. Then I just sat back and watched in amazement. The kid just taught himself everything. To this day, I have never taught him how to use one app on the iPod. From tangrams to Angry Birds to Flash Cards to Piano Teacher....he's mastered them all (including Angry Birds, he kicks my ass). For fun, he watches educational videos on YouTube, using the "Favorites" category to mark his Thomas the Tank Engine sing a longs and random Japanese Sesame Street dubbed episodes (don't ask me how he finds them, but they make him laugh hysterically and he loves watching it).
So whenever you hear me joke about Lex asking for the "pushbutton", now you might understand a bit better about the benefits these types of technology can have for kids and adults like him. Any way to make communication happen is a wonderful thing for these people who previously were "lost" to the world. Donate to your schools if you can. Find out if they have iPads and if they do, donate an iTunes gift card because "Apps for Autism" aren't cheap. The PECS app alone is $185.
As always, thanks for reading.
