do you have a tablet for your autistic child to use?

[thisisyesterday]

wondering whether this is something that might benefit DS1?

I was reading a thing the other day about how certains apps can be useful for helping autistic children learn about social situations, empathy, stuff like that

i am not sure i'm convinced, but figured if anyone knew, you lot would!

iPad!! Get an iPad. Spend some money and get one with lots of memory. Loads of brilliant Apps to use, films to download. Life has been made a lit more enjoyable for my DS. You can also get different Apps for communication as well. Well worth it, that and a trampoline for keeping my DS amused, engaged and occupied.

dd1 has an ipad. we fundraised for it at her last school (each pupil there got one).

she uses it a LOT. she uses it as a structured part of school/learning - educational apps to help her ot read and write (she learned to read from her ipad, and is now working on spelling apps); she uses it to relax - some favourite apps over and over, or comfort tv/videos.

she is currently driving me slowly mad on the school run by insisting on listening to an Adele album each journey - she is learning the songs (at least she can sing nicely , and it does make a change from nursery rhymes!).

she is also working on recognising emotions using a range of apps. I haven't really explored the social/empathy side so much, as dd1 doesn't really struggle with it. I do need to update her apps though, so will watch with interest.

it has been absolutely invaluable for her (but we knew it would work, as she had used my ipod touch for a while before she got ehr ipad)

thanks both.
i know ds1 would LOVE one, just trying to decide whether it's something that will truly benefit him or if he'll just insist on playing angry birds lol

we just received our first lot of back-dated DLA so have £420 to spend, but obviously a tablet of any kind is going to eat most of that up, so need to be absoltuely certain of its benefits I think.

are there any apps you'd particularly recommend that I could look up in advance? or places you find them?

DS has HFA/AS (don't know which one yet as the dx letter contradicted the phone convo the day before!)

Dh has an ipad so we'd let him use it. Any recommendations for apps for social skills/empathy, comprehension, word maths problems, handwriting etc would be great :)

thisis The Family Fund gives grants for ipads :)

nothing worng with angry birds - good for all kinds of physics/angle awareness (or so I keep trying ot tell myself!)

erm, otherwise, haunt the apps threads. I've posted on a fair few before, but it really does depend on what your ds likes/needs/would engage with. dd1 is 7, and has severe ASD, with lots of delays. but she has a phenomenal memory, so trying to get her reading was difficult, as after only once through, she remembered the book. finding enough novel books at the right level was impossible, and so the OPen University Our Story app was amazing for us - a new picture book every day, as you can fully customise using your own photos and captions.

I have also had good use out of the Kindergarten/ABA apps, and the Grasshopper apps, but don't know if the levels would be appropriate.

you also need to decide whether you would get an ipad (therefore searching in the itunes app store) or another tablet (probably therefore looking in the android marketplace) - not all apps are available on both, although lots are.

Autism Apps give you a great varied range of Apps to use, plus reviews. Really good. DS's favourites are Injini which is a puzzle App and the Lego duplo apps.

iPad 2 16G wifi = £329. 16G should be adequate but not if you want lots of high usage films and games, but for apps generally for ASD or CP excellent. For films I would just get a portable DVD player anyway as they are not expensive. Def an iPad as the bigger screen is very accessible.

Dd2 uses my iPod touch. Well its hers now! She's only 2.5 yrs but can access all the apps, music, YouTube the lot! I'm amazed by her ability to navigate and work everything on it!! There's loads of free apps on it too, although I've put the lock on so she can't delete apps as she keeps doing it accidentally!

Another IPad user here.. Does make life a lot easier.

zzzzz don't think you can pick and choose which apps to restrict, but you can restrict them based on their age rating. Try,
Settings>General>Restriction>Allowed Content

No there isn't you can lock it so he can't delete them . What I do is drag my facebook app and other apps of mine several pages over then leave about 3 blank pages between her apps and mine so she can't find them ;)

Just marking my place as we are hoping to get one for DS over the summer.

you can enable/disable certain apps too, like youtube for eg. it's all under settings>general>restrictions (or similar)

well worth turning off in-app purchases (I tend ot disable wifi when handing over ipod/ipad, but dd1 has now started wanting a couple of things on youtube, so obv she needs it on for that), and also turning on needing password for all app purchases too.

iPad can't say anymore

silverfrog if you download the app Media burner you can download stuff directly from YouTube and it gets stored in the iPad internal memory so you can view it when there is no wifi available.

ooh, blimey, dev9, you might just have revolutionised dd1's life

thanks

although will have a think about it, as dd1 is good at waiting for her youtube videos (she likes the readings of eg The Hungry Caterpillar, or The Gruffalo etc), and not sure I want her to be able to have instant access all the time. will ponder.

You are very welcome Silver you and zzzzz have both given me very useful advice so it's the least I could do. DS won't eat without watching videos so I have a whole elaborate setup at home where I can copy stuff from Sky, burn onto a DVD and then convert into IPad/IPod video files or download stuff directly from youtube for use with Ipad so we can take his favourite videos everywhere.

ah yes, been there, done that. many, many times. thankfully dd1 i snow at a stage where she can wait for her reward really well - so I (usually) don't even take her ipad if we are out and about, and she can watch whatever she is due when we get back home.

now tell me - how do I get all the episodes of Something Special off my Virgin box and onto DVD? I have been diligently collecting them, as both dds love them, and they are often the easiest compromise on the train (usually only take ipod for ease) as both will watch. but they are still on the harddrive, and nowhere near my itunes...

once on DVD I can do all the convert into ipod and bung in itunes etc. but have not yet mastered getting stuff off the cable box...

dev9 - how do you copy from sky???!!!

silver I don't have virgin myself, but I found the instructions to record from this page Record V+
You will need a DVD recorder and a scart cable.

Step 1 - Connecting the equipment
Connect the bottom scart socket of the V+ box to the AUX scart socket of the dvd recorder.

You can connect your dvd recorder to your tv if you want but it is not necessary.

Step 2 - Preparing DVD Recorder
Insert a blank DVD that you want to use for archiving.
Change to the AUX channel - DO NOT panic there will be no picture or sound.

Step 3 - V+ menu selection
First be sure you are viewing the V+ box.
Press the V+ button on the remote.
Press Button 4 - this selects the V+ extras option.
Press Button 1 - this selects the Copy to VCR/DVD option.

Step 4 - Which programme to archive
Scroll through the list of recorded programmes and highlight the programme to be archived.
Press the OK button on V+ remote.
The programme now appears on the right-side listing.
Press the yellow button on the remote.
The programme is now ready to be archived.

Step 5 - How to record
Using the DVD recorder remote - press the record button.
Then press the OK button on the V+ remote. (It is ONLY at this point will you have picture and sound.)

While this is recording you can watch any of the V+ tv channels without interfering with the copying process.