ipad or android for 5 year old with asd & speech & language problems

[9reenflower]

good evening,
I though people on this board might have some advice for me. we want to get a tablet pc for our son and are not quite sure which one is better. I am very much leaning towards the ipad but my husband is an android fan.
has anybody here an ipad or a tablet pc with android for their children? which one is better for a child with SN/asd? whose apps are more useful? our budget is about £400.
Thank you.

I bought the ipad as this had the my choice from makaton app the app is costly at £75 but makaton is always expensive. he is using if for choice boards which you can customise yourself, so far so good he has asd, non verbal and learning difficulties but is able to now use by himself. have no experience of tablets. Have some other great little apps ranging from pence to a few pounds which he loves.

sorry I cant help much but I'm about to do the same and was interested in others replys. My brothers a bit of an IT geek and he tells me not to buy and ipad as there are better option cheaper and you are to a large extent paying for the name. That said I have read thatsome people have kids who have struggled with an android not being as responsive as an ipad, but obviouslt this was only one model so may well be the model rather thatn the fact it was an android. I think its something to do with whether its a capacative or resistive screen with the former being better. I also wondered what the best apps may be and whether there are as many for android as ipad?

i pad, with proloque to go app.

I have an ipad for dd1 (she used my itouch for a couple of years before getting an ipad). I also have an android phone.

for overall ease, I woudl go with the ipad.

yes, you are paying for the brand name, to an extent. but you are getting more app availability with that (I know the android apps are ever expanding), and, imo, better ease of use.

finding apps via the appstore in itunes is, I think, a LOT easier than finding apps via the android market. so much so that I haven't even browsed for new apps for my phone in over 6 months.

I haven't loked at the assisted communication apps for android, but it is true there is a great range fort he ipad. proloquo gets good reviews, I can vouch for iprompts, there is the makaton one, and a whole host of others.

I have also found it easier to get recommendations for educational/useful ipad apps for children (and SN children) via websites, whereas the andorid ones I have looked at have not focussed on children's apps at all (or only games, rather than educaitonal)

finally, if there is ever a problem, the genius bar in apple stores is brilliant - very knowledgeable and helpful. you wouldn't necessarily get that kind of follow up with a tablet.

with ipad just remember the screen is very thin so it can break easily

with any other android tablet just remember to ask /makse sure its running 2.2 or 2.3 as most apps wont run on lower operating systems versions