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Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad

July 15, 2012 4:00 PM

Autistic people whose condition prevents them from speaking are making breakthroughs with the help of tablet computers and special applications that allow them to communicate. Lesley Stahl reports.

Apps for Autism: Communicating on the iPad

60 Minutes OverTimeTemple Grandin: Understanding autism

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by Mark_N April 8, 2013 5:04 PM EDT
It saddens me that CBS hypes up the iPad autism apps where the iPad itself is on the high end expensive and also the apps are upwards of $200. Parents need to know there are cheaper alternatives. Amazon also has great autism apps for the Kindle Fire which are just a few dollars and the Kindle Fire itself is only about $160. My son has really been successfully using the Autism myVoice apps for communication and it's just $2.99. Please CBS, give autism parents options!
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by wizardcomrc January 16, 2013 11:26 AM EST
http://ibackflip.com/ibackflip-studios-continues-to-help-those-with-special-needs/
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by emannyc2002 December 31, 2012 7:16 PM EST
Proloquo2go ---- the main app they were showing --- costs $189.99!!!

THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES - its a disgrace and 60 minutes should do a follow up story on how Assistiveware (the company that makes the app) is taking advantage of people who need all the help they can get.

families with autistic children are struggling out there just to get by. its a sin.
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by kmsnyder1 December 12, 2012 10:26 AM EST
My grand daughter is 8. She was born premature & has I believe some form of autism. She is about 2-4 years developmentally. I pray she can someday carry on a conversation or tell me how her day was or what she did during the day. She couldn't hardly talk but she could sing Church Hymns. She is a beautiful little girl & so sweet. She prays for people & loves Church. I saw this show about I pads & believe this could help my grand daughter tremendously. How can I get an I pad for her & the program maybe discounted because this is very expensive for me to purchase for her. Thank you so much for doing stories like this. For Christmas this would be an awesome gift!!!
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by mecoup October 12, 2012 10:50 AM EDT
Hello everyone,
I have just watched that video and was amazed by it! I am the director of a school in HAITI and the head teacher of the class for children with special needs.We have 6 non verbal children with Autism and 2 hard of hearing and non verbal. I personally own an Ipad that I introduced to them and they also loved it. Unfortunately both the parent's of these children and the school cannot afford to buy Ipads and the Apps that can help them. By the way are there any Apps in french?

So I am writing to see if any of you can guide me to ways of getting a few Ipads at really low cost of for free. Ideally each kid should be able to go back and forth from home so they can communicate with their parents (HUGE issue here because some parents do not understand their child and hit them when they "misbehave" :-( but we will take what we find.
All the school's papers, my diplomas and certifications are legal and I will make them available to whom ever needs them to help.
The school does not have a website but we are working on a facebook page that should be available soon : la petite boussole, Email add: lapetiteboussole@gmail.com
I really hope to get some great suggestions pretty soon...

on behalf of the VERY misunderstood Autistic kids in Haiti..
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by dgdamay August 1, 2012 2:01 AM EDT
I am glad to have seen this show and learn how the iPad apps are helping the autistic children learn faster and express themselves better. But when I checked the apps Proloquo2go (mentioned in this show), I was saddened to find out that it costs around $200. I understand that making apps is a business and that money is needed to develop and maintain the application, but I think pricing it at around $50 is more appropriate, especially if the true intention of the developer is to help and not use the innocent autistic child for profi'teering.
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by wbhinson July 18, 2012 8:46 AM EDT
Inspired by this piece, I have setup an iPad for Autism fund raising campaign on Indiegogo, http://www.indiegogo.com/ipadsforautism. All proceeds go to http://www.act-today.org/ with the designation they are to be used to fund grants for iPads for autistic children. Donate or share the links. Any help can be appreciated. Our goal is to fund 100 iPad purchases. Thanks CBS and Leslie for inspiring me.
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by allgoodOT July 17, 2012 12:14 PM EDT
An excellent resource for families and educators is available for free online: A4CWSN.com (also on facebook) Apps for Children with Special Needs features succinct reviews and videos of many apps that are helpful for many ages/abilities/challenges. Gary James, from Connecticut, is the developer. He is a parent of children with epilepsy and autism who has accomplished amazing feats, including donating thousands of apps, generating grassroots funding in order to donate ipads for children and families who might not otherwise have access to these resources. 60 Minutes should feature the accomplishments of this amazing and humble person!
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by ewerz July 16, 2012 2:51 PM EDT
Here's a great resource for parents and teachers with autistic kids.
www.HelpOnTheGoApps.com
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by jaavent July 16, 2012 12:37 AM EDT
I have an autistic 14 year old and I need the name of the app that has the 3-choice test. This is thee one where the student identifies the "soldier". If I could get the name of this app, it would help me a great deal.
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