AUTISM - Is The IPad A Miraculous Device

I have been following the story of Steve Jobs, and he was genuinely revolutionary in his ideas and applications. I caught wind of an unintentional result that left me in awe regarding autism and the IPad. It turns out the IPad has had an impressive effect on autistic people. Some autistic folks used to communicate via the letter chart, signaling to each letter passed over to form a sentence. This worked with some but not many, and was slow and frustrating at times.

Numerous autistic schools and teachers began incorporating the IPad as a form of entertainment, but then witnessed what could be considered miraculous to some degree. That was the reaction of some kids to the Ipad, itself, and it's ability to convey information. It turns out the IPad is a much faster and enthralling medium for communication and you can see the transformation with some of the autistic people. The chance to finally communicate with others has to be, and appears to be, an incredible breakthrough for autistic folks. You can see the joy and relief on their faces and in their body language, as if they finally can connect with the world and those around them.

Steve Jobs called it a magical device. For the parents of autistic children, it actually might be.
Experts say the Apple iPad lessens the symptoms of the disorder, helping kids deal with life's sensory overload -- in a sense "curing" the disorder, one parent says.
That's what Laura Holmquist believes, at least. Her son Hudson was having 8 or 9 violent meltdowns per day. One morning he started screaming in his bedroom -- and didn't stop until late that evening. The family of eight could not go to public events or out to dinner and had a hard time communicating with him.
"The iPad has given us our family back," Laura told FoxNews.com. "It's unlocked a new part of our son that we hadn't seen before, and given us insight into the way he connects with his world."

www.foxnews.com...


Here are some sites with the actual autism applications:
www.autismspeaks.org...
www.b12patch.com...

I hope this tech connects more families with their autistic kids, and autistic kids with the world. Blessings to these families and blessings to Steve Jobs, RIP.

Peace,
spec

I provide care for an 8 year old autistic child. He is a great kid but is low functioning in terms of the majority of life's necessary skills. It at times is extremely challenging as we can not communicate and I have to go by his body language and only the few phrases he can say independently ... the rest of the time he will just imitate whatever you say so you never really know if he wants something or is just copying you.

He attends a "regular" public school but is in a special education class with a handful of other children. They have started using ipads for all the kids this year and although I haven't witnessed the results myself first hand his mom tells me that it has done amazing things for this boy! I don't know for sure how they are utilizing the ipad, or what software they are using but knowing how cheap our school boards are and how hard it is to get funding for special needs children (I have a hearing impaired child and had to fight with the board for 4 months to have a door put on his classroom to block out hallway noise!), if the board has coughed up the money for this equipment there definitely must be something to it!

I would love to see first hand exactly how they are using the ipads and what effects it is having on the children

Michelle

reply to post by Michelle129th

Glad to hear of your experience Michelle, and there is a lot on the subject that offers promise. The relief on the families and kids faces speaks volumes. One can just imagine a first line of communication to the outside world being opened up. It is fascinating too, for us to get to peer into the minds of autistic people. Perhaps there is much to learn about ourselves from these alternative perspectives.
Thanks for your reply!

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


My son is diagnosed with moderate to severe mental retardation and autism...He lives 100 miles away and I recently bought 2 MacBooks for the purpose of using FaceTime to communicate with him on a more regular basis...it is having good results, as the ability to communicate with him more has been helpful for him and our family...His instances of violent behavior and acting out have decreased since the purchase and use...I remember during one of the case management meetings, the case worker mentioning a grant available for persons that could be specifically utilized to purchase an IPad...because of his tendency to be destructive, we, as a team, decided it might not be a good thing to risk at that point...however, this post, and the results achieved with FaceTime, have changed my mind...Thank you for this post...I appreciate it!

reply to post by jeichelberg

Thank you jeichelberg for your reply! I was blown away by this, and wanted to share it with anyone unaware. It does seem a bit 'miraculous' imo. Perhaps it will lead to a more established form of communication with those afflicted with these challenges.

Blessings to you...
spec

I'd say anything that can allow an autistic control the their threshold of over-stimulation while still being enjoyably stimulated is a miracle for them.

reply to post by satron

True true man, and the 'miracle' is for the families and teachers as well, but yes, mostly for the autistic and others with similar challenges.

spec

Technology appears to be a wonderful, exciting, promising tools for those on the autism spectrum. My son is 12 and high functioning autistic. I bought him a cheap e-reader and was surprised to see him go from not being able to read a chapter book to finishing a book report on "The Island of Doctor Moreau" in the space of two months.

Others are seeing this promise. There was a meeting in San Francisco called "Hacking Autism" a few weeks back. It brought developers and people with autism together to work on applications that may be of help. This young man (with Aspergers) wrote in his blog about attending.
blog.autismspeaks.org...

reply to post by Mountainmeg

Glad to hear of your success Mountainmeg, and let's get this info out there!
That was a great read too, and I am glad to hear of the 'hacking autism' effort.
Here is a link:www.hackingautism.org...

Thanks for your reply,
spec

Just ran across this site for families dealing with Autism. It is sort of a social network and has a plethora of information. Hope it may help in some way....
www.myautismteam.com...

Peace,
spec

Originally posted by Michelle129th
I provide care for an 8 year old autistic child. He is a great kid but is low functioning in terms of the majority of life's necessary skills. It at times is extremely challenging as we can not communicate and I have to go by his body language and only the few phrases he can say independently ... the rest of the time he will just imitate whatever you say so you never really know if he wants something or is just copying you.

He attends a "regular" public school but is in a special education class with a handful of other children. They have started using ipads for all the kids this year and although I haven't witnessed the results myself first hand his mom tells me that it has done amazing things for this boy! I don't know for sure how they are utilizing the ipad, or what software they are using but knowing how cheap our school boards are and how hard it is to get funding for special needs children (I have a hearing impaired child and had to fight with the board for 4 months to have a door put on his classroom to block out hallway noise!), if the board has coughed up the money for this equipment there definitely must be something to it!

I would love to see first hand exactly how they are using the ipads and what effects it is having on the children

Michelle

why don't you contact doctor cannell on the vitamin d council website.

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

they have found autism can be reversed and the quality of life improved substantially if you follow the protocol.

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist
Just ran across this site for families dealing with Autism. It is sort of a social network and has a plethora of information. Hope it may help in some way....

www.myautismteam.com...

Peace,
spec

the vitamin d council website has a number of case studies where autism was reversed.

i have tried to get people with autistic kids to look into it but it seems that most parents are either brain dead or stupid or just resigned to their child's fate.maybe they just want the fake sympathy and attention from every tom dick and harry.

they just don't want to spend the time to read everything.

all they do is glance at one page recoil in horror as it is too much information or the x factor on tv is more important than the few hours they need to study this in detail and follow the protocol.

i just advised michelle above to look into or better still get the boys parents to look into it.

just deafening silence from her.



no toxic drugs are involved.

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

reply to post by nobodysavedme


Hey nobodysavedme, thanks for the info on the Vitamin D council, I was unaware. Michelle has not logged in since Dec 27th, so she has not reviewed any of your suggested readings yet. This thread is a bit old too and just recently got bumped. You can U2 her to remind her to check your info.

Thanks,
spec

Originally posted by nobodysavedme

the vitamin d council website has a number of case studies where autism was reversed.

i have tried to get people with autistic kids to look into it but it seems that most parents are either brain dead or stupid or just resigned to their child's fate.maybe they just want the fake sympathy and attention from every tom dick and harry.

they just don't want to spend the time to read everything.

all they do is glance at one page recoil in horror as it is too much information or the x factor on tv is more important than the few hours they need to study this in detail and follow the protocol.

i just advised michelle above to look into or better still get the boys parents to look into it.

just deafening silence from her.

no toxic drugs are involved.

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

Well, parents may respond a bit more positively if you didn't call them brain dead X-factor fans. Just sayin' Most parents of a child with autism are overwhelmed, underhelped (is that a word?) and the amount of cure-all junk out there is immense. You wouldn't believe the number of people trying to make a fast buck from parent's desperation.

My son does take vitamin D3 as do I and my daughter. I've spoken to several doctors and therapists who have supported the fact that a large majority (one therapist claimed close to 90%) of people have a vitamin D deficiency. My son is a definite case of genetic autism - D3 showed little improvement, but I keep it in his line up to avoid any further deficiencies and due to the wide array of conditions Vit D seems to address. I also don't slather them in sunscreen if they're in and out of the house - but prolonged time outdoors between 11-4 gets the spray sunscreen.

I'll certainly be looking at your recommended site to see if I may be giving him too little D to make a difference.

Originally posted by Mountainmeg

Originally posted by nobodysavedme

the vitamin d council website has a number of case studies where autism was reversed.

i have tried to get people with autistic kids to look into it but it seems that most parents are either brain dead or stupid or just resigned to their child's fate.maybe they just want the fake sympathy and attention from every tom dick and harry.

they just don't want to spend the time to read everything.

all they do is glance at one page recoil in horror as it is too much information or the x factor on tv is more important than the few hours they need to study this in detail and follow the protocol.

i just advised michelle above to look into or better still get the boys parents to look into it.

just deafening silence from her.

no toxic drugs are involved.

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

www.vitamindcouncil.org...

Well, parents may respond a bit more positively if you didn't call them brain dead X-factor fans. Just sayin'

Most parents of a child with autism are overwhelmed, underhelped (is that a word?) and the amount of cure-all junk out there is immense. You wouldn't believe the number of people trying to make a fast buck from parent's desperation.

My son does take vitamin D3 as do I and my daughter. I've spoken to several doctors and therapists who have supported the fact that a large majority (one therapist claimed close to 90%) of people have a vitamin D deficiency. My son is a definite case of genetic autism - D3 showed little improvement, but I keep it in his line up to avoid any further deficiencies and due to the wide array of conditions Vit D seems to address. I also don't slather them in sunscreen if they're in and out of the house - but prolonged time outdoors between 11-4 gets the spray sunscreen.

I'll certainly be looking at your recommended site to see if I may be giving him too little D to make a difference.

you try to help people but apathy...

in any case clinical doses of vitamin d plus co factors are required as explained on the site.

you can ask dr cannell to forward the previous case studies for autism and for assistance.

these emails involved long correspondence between parents and dr cannell.

alternative is to sit with folded hands,despair and watch the tv.


the high dose vitamin d needs to be given for least 6 months and longer.

the vitamin d council prior to being reorganized had about 1200 scientific research papers on vitamin d.some of them were in relation to autism.

i am going to send you via private message one of the emails which i manage to find in my mailbox.

it is vital you take your time and read it and take some kind of action as otherwise there is no point.


i may have more.

ps

i have sent you 6 messages with 6 different assorted diverse case studies after i found the other emails for you.

it is best if you copy/paste to wordpad,etc and print them out and study them for a week...as it is really hard to read from a messagebox.

also contact dr cannell.




private message