Back in March, Fox News asked if the iPad is a miracle device for autism. Yesterday, after the announcement of the passing of Steve Jobs, autism parent and blogger Kristina C. offered up thanks to the tech giant because of the great benefit that her son has gained from the iPad in spite of the fact that he did not use it as an augmentative communication tool. Is it too early to speculate on the Jobs legacy from the perspective of those of us who care for people with autism and others with communication challenges?
Steve Jobs’ genius will remain evident in the products that he conceived and brought to market as well as future iterations of these products. The iPad will continue to serve as a tool to support some of the most basic needs of our children with autism–still, it may make sense to proceed cautiously and resist the temptation to get caught up in the excitement.
The Fox article quotes Steven Shore, author of Understanding Autism for Dummies, as saying that the iPad might be the difference between communicating with the outside world and being locked into a closed state. He goes on to say that it might be the first of several gadgets that actually free a child from some effects of autism. I’d like to get a better sense of what he is talking about here. After all, although my son has taken a liking to a couple of cool iPad apps, I’ve found that an $8 battery-operated massager and a talking Wiggles book work very well to keep him (temporarily) soothed and engaged.
Certainly the advent of communication apps, like Proloquo2Go is a promising development. However there are still kinks to be worked out. A speech-language pathologist whom I like and respect says that students and school staff find the layout very confusing, making it difficult to find and remember where the vocabulary is located. You don’t currently get the level of customer support that you will from vendors of AAC equipment, however I expect that support will improve over time. My guy can effortlessly navigate his more expensive piece of AAC hardware, so while he is getting the feel of the iPad he is not currently using it to communicate.
Kristina C., in yesterday’s blog post says that the Pictello app has allowed her son Charlie to listen to social stories, personalized picture schedules and picture books. Although Charlie is not using an AAC app, Kristina points out that she can get a sense of Charlie’s thinking by noting the pictures that are attracting his attention. That’s really great. Our plan, which was reinforced at the 2011 Forum, is to continue to expose our son to the iPad in school (and soon at home as well) for the purpose of allowing him to get the “feel” of how it functions and to expose him to new applications (including AAC functionality) as it makes sense to do so.
RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks for all of the stuff you made.
Photo Credit: Sean MacEntee’s Flickr Photostream
