iHaveAVoice
Technology is no longer a tool to aide laziness when it comes to reading and writing. Technology is continuously changing and bettering the world. Though, this time around, technology is becoming revolutionary. In his piece “Why Technology Matters To Writing” Jim Porter asks, “Why should we get excited about the computer as a revolutionary literacy technology?” (Porter, 2002). Well, I also have a question, what if you were unable to speak?
It is said that over thirty percent of individuals with Autism are unable to speak or are “non-verbal.” The introduction of the iPad has given these individuals a voice. Though iPads are known for fun and games, they have recently become a successful interactive tool to helping students with Autism learn. With the invention of “Autism Apps”, users are able to download tools to help individuals with spelling, comprehension, scheduling, interaction, and even social skills. Individuals are able to put their finger on a single button on the iPad and communicate to another person how they are feeling at that moment in time.
The brain of a person who has Autism is very different from someone who doesn’t. One of the signs of Autism is when individuals cannot differentiate facial expressions. For example, there is no such thing as sarcasm. Everything is just as it is said, word for word. In the article “The iPad: A Useful Tool For Autism,” the author explains that Autistic individuals “may activate the same visual systems for faces as for intimate objects” (Karen, 2011).
In a 60 minute interview conducted by CBS News aired on October 23, 2011, twenty seven year old Joshua Hood shows the world that he too has a voice and wants to be heard (CBS News, 2011). Before receiving an iPad, Joshua spent his whole life communicating by pointing to letters of the alphabet on a laminated piece of paper. Word by word Joshua would have to spell out his wants, needs, feelings, and thoughts. Joshua’s mother, Nancy, stated that Joshua would usually “give up and retreat to himself” when becoming frustrated with the laminated paper (CBS News, 2011). Nancy states “I always had said when he was younger it was like he was a computer and I was computer illiterate and I didn’t know how to press the right keys to get him to communicate. That was the hard part, you knew there was more in there, but you didn’t know how to get it out” (CBS News, 2011). Now, with the introduction of the iPad, Joshua is now able to communicate with his mother and start making relationships that were long over due with his family.
Communication is not the only benefit that comes from the iPad. Writing is also being taught by this revolutionary technology. I have chosen this video to explain what I mean by early “writing” on the iPad.
Leo Playing FirstWords on His iPad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m9U9U1cPi64
In this video, Leo is forming words by dragging letters to the correct boxes. When the letters are all in the correct box, the iPad repeats each letter individually and then finally says the word aloud for the child to hear. In the video, you can see that Leo is dragging his fingers along the words on the iPad while it is talking for him. Leo is writing.
Working at Bankbridge Development Center, I personally have come across many students who use iPads just as Joshua and Leo do. My students use them as communication and learning devices. While in the classroom, I have noticed a certain pattern in students with Autism and the way they react to paper and pencil writing. Scribbling is the best way to put it. There is something about the utensil that they have to hold and place on a paper that makes them frustrated and give up easily. One of my students, while writing his name, still forms the “n” in his name incorrectly. While looking at other students “n”s I noticed a pattern. Most of the students wouldn’t write letters correctly where the pencil had to be picked up and placed down again. For example, the letters “n” “k” “t” f”. You have to physically pick up your hand from the paper and place it back down again to form the other line to make the correct letter. These students did not comprehend, but when placing an iPad in front of them, they were able to tell you a story with words. Words that they had formed by simply touching and dragging letters to the appropriate places.
While doing research on the correlation between Autism and the iPad, I wrote up a few interview questions for my friend Jeanette Walden. Jeanette is parent of one of my Special Needs Cheerleaders, John. John is autistic and also attends Bankbridge Development Center. Before receiving his iPad this summer, John would communicate and learn on his iPod Touch. Before his iPod Touch, John, like Joshua, was a pointer. When John first received his iPod Touch, Jeanette had to ease him into it by only allowing him to use it as a “reward”. He would play games on it as a reward for good behavior. Some may ask, “how is that benefitting him?” Well Canadian Professor Rhonda McEwen states, “For them, learning to swipe, and touch, and tap, and move things around – it looks like just random playing, just as listening to a child’s babbling could sound like random words and letters. But they’re getting to the point where they can actually start letting you know what they want” (CBS News, 2011). Once John got the hand of the iPod Touch, Jeanette received a grant for John’s iPad. Since having the iPad, there has been a significant change in Johns ability to comprehend, listen, and learn. Jeanette states, “I feel this tool has opened the bridge of learning for John. He is a visual learner and to see is to understand. We use apps for dexterity and hand eye coordination. We use the chore app for waiting. He earns the puzzle pieces for rewards. He has learned reading, practicing writing, and math concepts. We video him and us modeling appropriate behaviors and take pictures in the natural environment for social stories. We use the visual timer for fifteen minute intervals for Church! He can sit through a whole service now!!”
There is no doubt in my mind, and now hopefully yours, that the iPad is a revolutionary tool for individuals with Autism. As I asked before, what if you were unable to speak? Would you rather point to letters on a piece of paper or touch a screen and have a machine speak for you? For most of us, communication is learned first before writing. In some cases, like those of Joshua, Leo, and John, writing comes before communication. Their form of communication directly relies on the ability to “read and write”. With the invention of the iPad and specially designed Autism Apps, individuals with Autism can communicate, comprehend, and write just as other individuals without Autism do. They just use a more advanced technology to do so!
REFERENCES
CBS News (2011). “Apps For Autism” Retrieved from: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385686n
CBS News (2011). “Studying Autism and iPads” Retrieved from (Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCyidQrYN9I
Karen (2011). “The iPad: a Useful Tool for Autism” Retrieved from: http://www.squidoo.com/ipad-for-autism
Porter, J. (2002). “Why technology matters to writing: A cyberwriter’s tale.”
Computers and Composition, 20, 375–394.
Walden, Jeanette (2011). Personal Communication via Email Interview.
Youtube (2011). “Leo Playing FirstWords On His iPad” Retrieved from (Youtube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m9U9U1cPi64
It is said that over thirty percent of individuals with Autism are unable to speak or are “non-verbal.” The introduction of the iPad has given these individuals a voice. Though iPads are known for fun and games, they have recently become a successful interactive tool to helping students with Autism learn. With the invention of “Autism Apps”, users are able to download tools to help individuals with spelling, comprehension, scheduling, interaction, and even social skills. Individuals are able to put their finger on a single button on the iPad and communicate to another person how they are feeling at that moment in time.
The brain of a person who has Autism is very different from someone who doesn’t. One of the signs of Autism is when individuals cannot differentiate facial expressions. For example, there is no such thing as sarcasm. Everything is just as it is said, word for word. In the article “The iPad: A Useful Tool For Autism,” the author explains that Autistic individuals “may activate the same visual systems for faces as for intimate objects” (Karen, 2011).
In a 60 minute interview conducted by CBS News aired on October 23, 2011, twenty seven year old Joshua Hood shows the world that he too has a voice and wants to be heard (CBS News, 2011). Before receiving an iPad, Joshua spent his whole life communicating by pointing to letters of the alphabet on a laminated piece of paper. Word by word Joshua would have to spell out his wants, needs, feelings, and thoughts. Joshua’s mother, Nancy, stated that Joshua would usually “give up and retreat to himself” when becoming frustrated with the laminated paper (CBS News, 2011). Nancy states “I always had said when he was younger it was like he was a computer and I was computer illiterate and I didn’t know how to press the right keys to get him to communicate. That was the hard part, you knew there was more in there, but you didn’t know how to get it out” (CBS News, 2011). Now, with the introduction of the iPad, Joshua is now able to communicate with his mother and start making relationships that were long over due with his family.
Communication is not the only benefit that comes from the iPad. Writing is also being taught by this revolutionary technology. I have chosen this video to explain what I mean by early “writing” on the iPad.
Leo Playing FirstWords on His iPad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m9U9U1cPi64
In this video, Leo is forming words by dragging letters to the correct boxes. When the letters are all in the correct box, the iPad repeats each letter individually and then finally says the word aloud for the child to hear. In the video, you can see that Leo is dragging his fingers along the words on the iPad while it is talking for him. Leo is writing.
Working at Bankbridge Development Center, I personally have come across many students who use iPads just as Joshua and Leo do. My students use them as communication and learning devices. While in the classroom, I have noticed a certain pattern in students with Autism and the way they react to paper and pencil writing. Scribbling is the best way to put it. There is something about the utensil that they have to hold and place on a paper that makes them frustrated and give up easily. One of my students, while writing his name, still forms the “n” in his name incorrectly. While looking at other students “n”s I noticed a pattern. Most of the students wouldn’t write letters correctly where the pencil had to be picked up and placed down again. For example, the letters “n” “k” “t” f”. You have to physically pick up your hand from the paper and place it back down again to form the other line to make the correct letter. These students did not comprehend, but when placing an iPad in front of them, they were able to tell you a story with words. Words that they had formed by simply touching and dragging letters to the appropriate places.
While doing research on the correlation between Autism and the iPad, I wrote up a few interview questions for my friend Jeanette Walden. Jeanette is parent of one of my Special Needs Cheerleaders, John. John is autistic and also attends Bankbridge Development Center. Before receiving his iPad this summer, John would communicate and learn on his iPod Touch. Before his iPod Touch, John, like Joshua, was a pointer. When John first received his iPod Touch, Jeanette had to ease him into it by only allowing him to use it as a “reward”. He would play games on it as a reward for good behavior. Some may ask, “how is that benefitting him?” Well Canadian Professor Rhonda McEwen states, “For them, learning to swipe, and touch, and tap, and move things around – it looks like just random playing, just as listening to a child’s babbling could sound like random words and letters. But they’re getting to the point where they can actually start letting you know what they want” (CBS News, 2011). Once John got the hand of the iPod Touch, Jeanette received a grant for John’s iPad. Since having the iPad, there has been a significant change in Johns ability to comprehend, listen, and learn. Jeanette states, “I feel this tool has opened the bridge of learning for John. He is a visual learner and to see is to understand. We use apps for dexterity and hand eye coordination. We use the chore app for waiting. He earns the puzzle pieces for rewards. He has learned reading, practicing writing, and math concepts. We video him and us modeling appropriate behaviors and take pictures in the natural environment for social stories. We use the visual timer for fifteen minute intervals for Church! He can sit through a whole service now!!”
There is no doubt in my mind, and now hopefully yours, that the iPad is a revolutionary tool for individuals with Autism. As I asked before, what if you were unable to speak? Would you rather point to letters on a piece of paper or touch a screen and have a machine speak for you? For most of us, communication is learned first before writing. In some cases, like those of Joshua, Leo, and John, writing comes before communication. Their form of communication directly relies on the ability to “read and write”. With the invention of the iPad and specially designed Autism Apps, individuals with Autism can communicate, comprehend, and write just as other individuals without Autism do. They just use a more advanced technology to do so!
REFERENCES
CBS News (2011). “Apps For Autism” Retrieved from: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385686n
CBS News (2011). “Studying Autism and iPads” Retrieved from (Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCyidQrYN9I
Karen (2011). “The iPad: a Useful Tool for Autism” Retrieved from: http://www.squidoo.com/ipad-for-autism
Porter, J. (2002). “Why technology matters to writing: A cyberwriter’s tale.”
Computers and Composition, 20, 375–394.
Walden, Jeanette (2011). Personal Communication via Email Interview.
Youtube (2011). “Leo Playing FirstWords On His iPad” Retrieved from (Youtube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m9U9U1cPi64