{Special Needs iPad 101}

Ok so, I'm certainly not the expert on using the amazing technology the iPad has to offer little ones with special needs but I'm learning quickly how it can revolutionize a child's life who has impairments such as our little girls.  This winter Angela was given an iPad by an amazing blog reader who just wanted to simply give with no strings attached -- how awesome is that?  I'm kinda wondering if she knew just how much this thing has changed Angela's life?  It's just pretty darn cool.

This first thing that makes the iPad so essential for Angela is that she has severe vision impairment due to Cortical Visual Impairment, which was either the result of her birth issues or also could be in part to her genetic condition.  No one really knows.  Either way -- we know one thing -- Angela can see light. She doesn't perceive it in the same way we do, for example she can stare into a light source where people with normal vision would naturally look away.  Anyway the iPad offers a brightly lit screen, which she seems to be able to see rather well, as has been demonstrated in her ability to track the iPad across the room and also sense when someone else is playing with her very cool toy.

Since she can see the iPad her world is opened up on so many levels.  So much development comes from simply seeing.  The whole concept of cause and effect, spacial reasoning, speech, among so many other developmental keys are hindered when one cannot see the world around them.  So now that she can see the iPad screen, her development, though on a bit of a detour, can use this tool to continue to move forward.  So many children with CVI and other visual impairments use a light box -- well the ipad is essentially a much more portable light box, especially with apps such as flashlight, which simply is a plain white screen, with the option of changing the color. Of course there are so many other great apps that we use, that utilize that great white screen such as Baby Finger, which also gets her hands moving and helps teach cause and effect -- and also provides a great range of sounds including Madison's favorite the farting and toilet flushing.

Then there are the wonderful communication apps.  These range from the most basic, which we use, due to Angela's age and cognitive level, to the most amazing app Proloquo2go, which mimics a program used for many years on other assitive speech machines, which cost over seven thousand dollars.  We have been utilizing the Tap Speak program, which allows us to make prerecorded phrases and Angela hits the large button and will "speak" that phrase.  This is useful when in social situations where people ask her name and age.  Also, a friend gave me the idea to program prayers for dinner and bedtime so she can participate more in our daily family rituals.  This brand also has a choices program which we will begin to use at some point.

Angela also enjoys all the fun apps like piano, drums and lost of books that read to her and other music games.  Little does she know that every time she touches the iPad it has some sort of therapeutic benefit to her.  We also recently purchased an iPad mount for her new wheelchair, which I'll post about when we have it and have used it.

I think I could go on and on about how great the iPad is.  Socially it's cool, which sounds kinda vain, but considering our poor kids with special needs often have to carry around huge honkin ugly pieces of equipment -- it's just kinda cool to be the envy of other typical kids.  Of course this new technology doesn't replace all the other things that we need to be doing with Angela -- the hands on, down and dirty therapy, but this is a great place to start.  It's gives her some independence -- the ability to play and see, which make this mommie very very happy.