An App

 Reading this otherwise positive story, a hard-bitten autism parent will hear alarm bells go off at the bolded passage below.  Thought bubble: "Are they going to use this doodad as excuse to cut services?"

Alison Prang reports at Government Executive:

An app has changed the way young people with autism and developmental disabilities in Mississippi can communicate and grow.

The app—called TalkingTiles—is being used in the Mississippi Adolescent Center, which is part of the state’s Department of Mental Health. Many of the center’s patients have autism and are nonverbal, Donna Horton, director of client services for the center, said in an interview. The app is a way for the children to communicate what they want without using words, like choosing what to eat for a snack.

They can use the app to develop a range of skillsets from math and reading to learning about colors and how to recognize signs, Horton said.

...

The app operates on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and is a Caretiles application from CoCENTRIX, a company that works to find solutions for the health and human services community.

The tiles surface as different pages in the app, said Bill Keyes, senior vice president of marketing and sales for CoCENTRIX. They could be videos, pictures or words and patients can use them to communicate.

The idea is to engage patients with apps that tie into their specific care plan and let’s them engage in their recovery process, Keyes said. It is also individually designed for different types of patients, he said, in order to cater to their needs. Keyes said it’s comparable to Windows 8, but with tiles.

Mississippi is getting ready to expand the app’s reach statewide and plans to implement it with the Department of Mental Health’s ALS and Alzheimer’s unit later this year. With ALS, Horton said, a person’s ability to speak decreases over time. With the app, there are hopes that more people could use it to help them communicate.

A patient’s progress is also tracked so that a patient’s group of caregivers can see their progress and determine the next step, Keyes said.

Another goal of the app is that states can save money on long-term residential care for patients which can be costly. Patients are also given the chance to become more independent. [emphasis added]

 

In The Autistic Brain, Temple Grandin explains:

Tablets, for example, have a tremendous advantage over plain old computers, even laptops: You don't have to take your eyes off the screen. Usually typing is a two-step process. First you look at the keyboard, then you look at the screen to see what you have typed. That could be one step two many for someone with severe cognitive problems. Before tablets, a therapist would have to mount the keyboard of a desktop computer on a box so that it was right below where the print was appearing on the screen.In tablets, however, the keyboard is actually part of the screen, so eye movement from keyboard to the letter being typed is minimal. Cause and effect have a much clearer  correlation. That difference could well be meaningful in terms of allowing people with extreme sensory problems to tell us what it's like to be them.

Assistive Technology

The Arizona Republic reports:

Jan Cawthorne, Mesa Public Schools’ special-education director, said assistive technology is not new for her district or many others receiving the grant money. What is new is the portability of many devices — and a coolness factor that didn’t exist before the iPad, she said.

Since the advent of tablet computers, more special-education students and their parents are requesting devices from school districts, she said.

“Assistive technology used to mean big, clunky things that kids were embarrassed to be seen with,” Cawthorne said. “Now, it is a cool thing to use.”

The story quotes  Patricia Geraghty, Mesa Public Schools’ director of training and compliance:

“When you give non-verbal kids devices, sometimes you find out they know a lot more than you realize,” Geraghty said. 

It also quotes teacher Emy Lydford:

“They are able to express so much more. We can move faster,” she said.

Lydford said the “talkers,” as she calls the vocal tablets, also help students develop better relationships with each other — and with kids they encounter on the playground and bus.

In The Autistic Brain, Temple Grandin explains:

Tablets, for example, have a tremendous advantage over plain old computers, even laptops: You don't have to take your eyes off the screen. Usually typing is a two-step process. First you look at the keyboard, then you look at the screen to see what you have typed. That could be one step two many for someone with severe cognitive problems. Before tablets, a therapist would have to mount the keyboard of a desktop computer on a box so that it was right below where the print was appearing on the screen.In tablets, however, the keyboard is actually part of the screen, so eye movement from keyboard to the letter being typed is minimal. Cause and effect have a much clearer correlation. That difference could well be meaningful in terms of allowing people with extreme sensory problems to tell us what it's like to be them.

Technology, Customized Learning, and Special Needs Students

Previous posts have discussed the use of computer technology in helping ASD people. Tom Vander Ark writes at Education Week:

A Fordham report suggests the nation can save $10 billion if districts just budget the same way. But the report didn't even consider the digital learning revolution occurring. Continued progress from primary research combined with the potential of customized learning appears to have transformative potential for special education. 

Leading venture funds have launched funds focused on iPad apps for entertainment. Given the identified potential to meet special needs it may be time for a Special Ed App Fund. .. A fund that combined philanthropic and venture capital could be just the bill. If foundations and donors extracted some of the risk, I think we'd see more entrepreneurs and investors turn their attention to meeting special needs. Heading in that direction, the Department's research arm, IES developed the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Program Manager Edward Metz pointed me to several examples:

• iPrompt from Handhold Adaptive for students with ASD
• Stories in Motion from 3C Institute for high functioning ASD

...

Feel Electric teaches kids how to modulate their emotions with a DARPA-funded version for military families.

...
Federal special education policy may also provide a force for digital education in public education's mainstream, argues Dean Millot, Managing Partner for K-12 at the investment consulting firm Good Harbor Partners. Under the Response to Intervention option, school districts are incentivized to meet the needs of special education students with the same digital technologies that offer mainstream students individualized learning. By this means, the Individual Education Program mandated by law for special needs students could evolve to a standard of individualized learning for every student.

A Plane and an iPad

Air travel can be tough for people on the spectrum, as previous posts have explained. ABC News reports:

A teenager with autism, flying on American Airlines, was nearly forced to turn off the iPad she uses to communicate.

Carly Fleischmann, who has been profiled on ABC News, was flying from Los Angeles to her home in Toronto on Aug. 10 when she was approached by a flight attendant who told her she needed to turn off her iPad during takeoff. The trouble is, if Fleischmann can't use her iPad, she can't communicate. Because of autism, she cannot speak.

Howard Dalal, Fleischmann's aide and lead therapist, was with Fleischmann on the flight. He told ABC News Fleischmann suffers from Oral Motor Apraxia, which means her thoughts are clear in her mind, but they get jumbled on the way to her mouth. She lacks the fine motor skills to use a pen, and only knows a little sign language. She types with one finger.
...
The flight attendant who approached Fleischmann was eventually overruled by the pilot, who said Fleischmann could leave her iPad on. Dalal said they met up with the pilot again at customs in Toronto, and he told Dalal and Fleischmann that the policy was "ridiculous." Further, Dalal said that the pilot said the pilots themselves use iPads during takeoff and landing.

"There is virtually no evidence that any consumer electronics can or have had any deleterious effect on the aircraft systems, and least of all would be an iPad in airplane mode," said John Nance, ABC News aviation consultant. "The slavish 'we're just following orders' response of airline personnel in the face of unusual challenges is sad at best, and reprehensible at worst."