Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad

Sabrina Morey: Students don't have a way to communicate with me, they don't have a way to tell me how they're feeling, what they want, what they need, what's happened to them before they've come to school.

Stahl: It's frustrating for you. What about for them?

Morey: It can be very frustrating.

[Ian Stuart: Oh look! The iPad's here.]

For the past year, Morey and her fellow teachers Ian Stuart and Stacie Carroll have been involved in the first study to find out just how effective the iPad is with their students.

Stahl: Has the iPad made any difference, Stacie?

Stacie Carroll: The iPad has made a huge difference. There's something--

Stahl: Huge?

Carroll: --about using the iPad that draws the students in. They're engaged with it in a way that we don't see with other toys or puzzles or teaching tools.

The study has found that it improves the children's willingness to socialize, something autistic kids have trouble with, and it enhances their attention spans.

[Carroll: Can you look at the numbers, Jennifer?]

In this video, recorded by the school, Stacie's trying to get little Jennifer to focus on learning to count, using the old paper method.

Stahl: So she's not-- paying attention right now?

Carroll: No, she's not looking at it.

But what a difference with the iPad.

Stahl: Oh, that's wonderful. Look at her.

Carroll: She's completely engrossed.

Stahl: Totally. I hear that autistic children often prefer machines to having an interaction with a human being. Is that what we're seeing?

Carroll: What we're thinking is that the device is constant. So the voice is constant. The pacing is constant. It waits. I might not wait as long.

Stahl: You're unpredictable?

Carroll: Right.

Stahl: And they like order and control.

Ian Stuart: Absolutely.

But the teachers are finding that as with autism in general, there's a range of ability when it comes to benefiting from the iPad.

Stahl: When he likes something, he lights up.

I sat down with Sabrina and Nathan.

Sabrina Morey: Ready? Letters. There you go.

And as I watched, he repeatedly ignored her requests...

Morey: You choose a letter.

And she stepped in again and again to guide his hand. I wondered just how much he was learning on the iPad.

Morey: Which letter would you like to look at? Sometimes I have to hold my hand over it, because otherwise he will just go in and out of programs.

Ian Stuart: What I found is that the device, the iPad isn't for everyone. It's not for all my students. But the ones who are engaged by it - it's really...it's amazing!

• « Previous Page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page »

[jelabarre59]

But the entire story kept pushing the phrase "iPad, iPad, iPad...". Are any of these apps available for Android? Android tablets are potential;ly HALF the price of the iPad, thereby allowing the technology to get into that many more hands.

I also wonder if any of these apps can help with ADD/ADHD; there can be a lot of similarity in symptoms and behavior, so why not similar tools.

[PrAACticalAAC]

Jelabarre59, there are many apps for the iPad but also several for tablets. Here's a link to a list with more info for those that have free or lite versions: http://******/MeOAPP. Hope that helps.

[PrAACticalAAC]

Sorry - it seems like shortened links don't work well in these comment boxes. Here is the full link for those interested in free/lite AAC apps for Android and iPad: http://praacticalaac.info/praactical/92-free-or-lite-versions-of-aac-apps/

[onegreen12]

We've used Touch Autism's app "Autism Apps" to find apps for the iPad. They don't have a list for the android but maybe you should ask them to compile one? I know I haven't been able to find as many apps for my android which is a shame because it's cheaper but the iPad is such a powerful tool it's well worth the money. Here's a link to a great list of Autism Apps http://touchautism.com/autismapps/

[milesrf]

I may have a lesser version of something similar - an oddball hearing problem. I initially hear a little better than average, but the transfer from the short-term memory of what I hear to long-term memory is enough slower than usual that, when listening to people speaking rapidly, my short-term memory can overflow, making me forget most of what was said in the last minute. Therefore, I often absorb information better when I control the rate, as in reading, rather than when someone else controls the rate, such as spoken words.

I suspect Asperger's, although it was never diagnosed.

[Warrior_Mom]

I am glad to see that people are seeing the good that Ipad is doing for our kids and if you do have a child that is non verbal you have so many options through insurance and medicaid and other programs to have one in your home, but if you are like us and the millions of others who are verbal or Aspergers, we do not get the assistance to have these wonderful things in our home and the aid is not as easy to come by. Our insurance does not as easily pick them up because they are not a "communication" device therefore our children are thought to not need them, yet every therapy office we take our kids to for sensory therapy or occupational or group therapy or play therapy uses them in some way usually so that leaves us as families to try and find a way to foot the bill. Now we are a military family and my sign on name is not because of that which I'm very proud to say I am a military wife always am and alway will be, but many of us have banded together to become Warrior Moms and Dads to fight for our kids to stand for them and give them voice when they have none of their own and in my son's case when he does have voice but that he still suffers from social issues, feeding issues, and sensory issues and lives in a world that scares him 24/7 and we as his parents have to help him learn how to live in that very loud and scary place, but yet because he can talk we are told he does not need one even though they use one at school and special ed and every therapy he goes to. There is a whole group of children who so need these Ipads as well and their parents struggle to get them and because their childrens have voice, they parents many times are forces to find other means to do it. The need is soooo great for these, so great, but many times the families means are so little. Thank you

[JerryWebster]

Shame on you, 60 Minutes. Are you in the business of selling Apple Products. You leave the viewers with the idea that poor Josh never had any opportunities to communicate. What you had was a community, parents and an education system that significantly let him down. The program that Josh was using on his I Pad was created by Dynovox for their supportive devices. Yes, the IPad is more easily accessible and significantly cheaper than a state of the art device from Dynovox, but that means that his district and parents failed him. Why didn't anyone use a picture exchange system? Why does Leslie Stahl keep going on and on like these avenues haven't been open before?

I was appalled as a person who works with children with autism to see that the teachers at the Beverly School seem to lack any training with children with autism: delivery seemed to be rote rather than jazzed up, rapid and engaging, as they would receive from someone who was actually trained in Applied behavior analysis. Of course the IPad is exciting, I have one that I will begin using as a reinfocer, pairing it with massed trials, discrete trial teaching and other scientifically valid methods. I fear that once again parents, school systems and states will try for a quick fix "technology program" rather than highly qualified, well trained professionals who know what they are doing. Yes, the teachers at Beverly are all very sweet and cute and young. Nothing they said or did seemed to reflect any real understanding of their specific students. The fact that Nathan, at seven, is no more responsive than that means that his parents, his teachers and his therapists have obviously not spent enough time evaluating what he finds reinforcing. Did the IPad help them explore it? Yes, doubtlessly. Is it going to fix him? For more, please visit me at http://specialed.about.com.

[FinneusBoy]

The story was well done for the most part. I am always put off when people first language isn't used, i.e."an autistic boy" rather than a "boy with autism".
But the report was also misleading because it suggested that until IPADS, there were no other alternative devices for non-verbal people to use and this is simply wrong. There are many voice output devices and picture symbols that Josh could have been using and should have been using. Yes, the iPad is more popular and the apps improve use but there are many devices Josh should have had access to as he was learning to communicate as a very young child!

[sjonge04]

I have been developing a conversation simulation over the past year that will revolutionize the way we teach ASD students conversation skills. I was really excited to see the 60 minutes story tonight about iPad apps and autism. Technology is really going to change the way we teach students with autism. Check out my progress with my ASD project at www.autismunlocked.com. I am planning on launching Sept. 1st and I think this site will become one of the biggest ASD resources in the near future. Thanks!

[sped2012]

What a great episode to watch! I just ask that you remember that people WITH AUTISM should be known as the person first and not Autism. In order to be respectful to this amazing group of people, please use people first. When I say this, please refer to them as people with Autism....they are aren't Autistic People.