What can’t the iPad do?

This amazing mobile electronic device can certainly shoot video, take photos, play music, surf the Web and send emails. It can be used for games, navigation, social networking and a mind-blowing array of functions made possible by the infinite number of applications (apps) now available.

Since debuting April 3, 2010, the ground-breaking Apple Inc. tablet computer has been a big hit with users of all ages, with its multi-touch screen, built-in Wi-Fi, virtual keyboard and light weight. The iPad’s legions of fans include parents of children with special needs, as well as teachers and therapists.

“The iPad truly is an all-in-one device,” says Gina Moore of Vilonia, the mother of a 10-year-old with autism. “My daughter has always loved the idevices, as do most children on the autism spectrum.” Not only is the iPad engaging and easy to use, it is “more consistent than any peer, so she always knows what to expect with it,” Moore says.

When it comes to special needs children, the iPad is a tool for strengthening literacy, communication and motor skills. It also has technology that benefits the hearing and visually impaired and those with developmental delays.

“Kids love the iPad,” says Ally Orsi, LCSW, a psychotherapist with Methodist Family Health, a Little Rock-based nonprofit that provides behavioral and mental health services to children under 18. “Teenagers catch on very quickly and tend to be savvier than their parents.”

Orsi provides therapy to children with a range of behavioral issues and special needs. While utilizing therapy-related apps, she also encourages her young clients to use the iPad “to follow along with their behavior charts and see how they’re doing in working toward rewards for good behavior.”

Many special needs children rely on the iPad to work on communication skills. There are apps that teach words, using a flash card-like system. Others explore categories, such as “what do you find on a farm,” and have the user point to appropriate pictures or words. Some apps help children communicate with others by having them touch a picture to communicate needs, wants or ideas. “These are replacing the costly, bulky devices of just a few years ago,” Moore says.

For a variety of reasons, children connect with the iPad. “A lot of our special ed children are visual learners. If they are seeing and hearing, then they get it,” says Jane Neely, lead teacher at Methodist Family Health’s Residential Treatment Center in Little Rock. “The iPad is great for this. The kids can also go step-by-step, at their own pace.”

Moore—who serves as president of the Parent Advisory Board for Community Connections, a nonprofit that provides a host of extracurricular activities for children with disabilities—has transformed her daughter’s interest in the iPad into a learning opportunity. “I seek out apps that answer her needs at any particular time. When she’s working on sight words, I pull up a sight word app. For memorizing multiplication facts, we use a flash card style game that allows her to use multi-sensory methods to practice those skills.”

Parents must be vigilant, she warns. “We’ve also fallen prey to the innumerable apps that, in my opinion, simply waste time like any mindless TV show. We have to be careful to limit how long she plays on those. Our idevices now have password protection so that I can more easily control how much time she spends on them.”

Some of Moore’s favorite apps have been recommended by trusted friends and groups in which she’s involved. She also draws from blogs, Facebook posts and iTunes app reviews.

In a therapeutic situation, it is important to set parameters with the child and to be consistent with rules, so the child knows what to expect and how long they will be allowed to use the iPad. “It is also important not to just let the iPad become the teacher but rather a tool in the learning process,” Moore adds. “With these children, especially, we need to ensure that there is a human element attached to the idevice interaction, that another person is engaged with the child so they are receiving the personal contact that they need to develop.”

Try out these iPad apps for children and youth with special needs.
• Grace - communicate with pictures.
• Dance Party Zoo - dance along with zoo animals while practicing gross motor skills.
• iDress for Weather; pick clothes to wear for specified weather conditions (independent life skill).
• iWriteWords - handwriting game that develops fine motor skills.
• DBT Diary Card and eCBT Mood - beneficial for children struggling with mood swings, depression and emotional overload.
• iReward; a behavioral modification app featuring rewards and consequences.

Jane Dennis is director of communications for Methodist Family Health.