[url]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575547971877769154.html[/url]
[release]The rise of mainstream tablet computers is proving to have unforeseen benefits for children with speech and communication problems—and such use has the potential to disrupt a business where specialized devices can cost thousands of dollars.
The rise of mainstream tablet computers like the iPad is proving to have unforeseen benefits for children with speech and communication problems-and such use could potentially disrupt a business where specialized devices can cost thousands of dollars. WSJ's Jennifer Valentino-DeVries discusses on Digits.
Before she got an iPad at age two, Caleigh Gray couldn't respond to yes-or-no questions. Now Caleigh, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, uses a $190 software application that speaks the words associated with pictures she touches on Apple Inc.'s device.
"We're not having to fight to prove to people that she is a smart little girl anymore, because it's there once they see her using the iPad," said Caleigh's mother, Holly Gray, who said her daughter can use the tablet to identify colors or ask to go outside.
The software, called Proloquo2Go by a company called AssistiveWare BV, is one of a growing number of apps aimed at people with speech difficulties developed for Apple's gadgets. Some of the apps offer images that users can press to make the sound of a word; others lead students through stories to teach them basic speech patterns.
Companies are also planning such apps for upcoming tablets that run Google Inc.'s Android software.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in an interview that he hopes the easy-to-use design of the iPad has helped children with special needs take to the device more quickly, but that its use in therapy wasn't something Apple engineers could have foreseen.
"We take no credit for this, and that's not our intention," Mr. Jobs said, adding that the emails he gets from parents resonate with him. "Our intention is to say something is going on here," and researchers should "take a look at this."
Specialized speech devices from companies like DynaVox Inc. and Prentke Romich Co. range from about $2,500 on the low end to $15,000 for a device that uses the eye movements of people who are paralyzed to allow them to select words on a screen. Most are about $7,000, near the amount that Medicare covers for such hardware.
The price of the devices covers the materials required to make them durable; extensive service that is often needed for disabled patients; as well as complicated software, said Ed Donnelly, the chief executive of DynaVox.
He said the iPad might be an alternative for a "very small segment" of people who buy his firm's devices, but noted DynaVox this month released a new touch-screen product, called the Maestro, that resembles consumer tablets. That device costs $7,820.
"Like any specialist device our problem is we just can't get economies of scale. We maybe sell thousands a year," said Russell Cross, the director of clinical applications for Prentke Romich. He said his company's business hasn't suffered as a result of mainstream devices.
"It's not like people have suddenly stopped buying [these] products," he said. "We've always been very aware that the need for [speech] devices is far greater than actual supply."
The dedicated devices are covered by most government and private insurers, but the iPad—which costs between $499 and $829—and other computers generally aren't.
Medicare doesn't cover mainstream tablets, even though they might cost less than dedicated devices, said Andrea Abramovich, a speech pathologist and instructor at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
"There's a hotbed of problems it would open up" because tablets could be used for nonmedical purposes, she said.
Many of the speech apps have been available on traditional computers and smaller touch-screen devices, but parents and therapists said tablets offer more options for children.
"It's portable and something he can carry, and yet it's large enough to be accessible," said Shannon Rosa, an advocate and writer whose nine-year-old son, Leo, has autism and uses an iPad. "There's no cursor analogy he has to work through; it's a direct connection."
The iPad also helps remove some of the social stigma. Devices that are made specifically to help people speak tend to be "bulky," said Bill Thompson, a school psychologist in California with the Orange County Department of Education, who has made several apps to help children with speech problems.
[I]“We were an early adopter of this technology for our middle school age child with multiple disabilities. He LOVES his iPad! We're waiting now for publishers to catch on and create apps that focus on life skills and social stories for older kids with disabilities. Hurry up!”
—Randi Sargeant[/I]
"But now you might have a kid who struggles with bridging the social gap have kids come up and want to see what they're doing. It really has a 'norming' quality," Mr. Thompson said of the iPad.
Speech therapists said there are a few changes they'd like to see to the iPad to make it more friendly for children with disabilities, including the ability to have parents lock the apps so that children can't delete them, or adjustments to make it less likely that people with motor problems would open apps accidentally.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are planning to study what else could be done to make such tablets better for people who have either autism or speech difficulties.
The devices, for example, could use location data to deliver options for speaking that depend on a particular place—say, a restaurant or a church. Or they could take advantage of technology that can simulate speech based on just a few syllables of a person's voice, said Matthew Goodwin, the director of clinical research at the MIT Media Lab.[/release]
Cool how tech today can do this.
Also incoming shitstorm about egomaniac android users vs egomaniac mac users
It also cures cancer and AIDS.
Thoght this was going to be about facilitated communication and was ready to write a long rant about how that's bullshit and mainly a result of the idiomotor effect. Was pleasantly surprised.
It seems like this would be a good option for people who don't have medicare or can't otherwise afford the more specialized devices. In some cases, the iPad combined with these apps may be just as good as the specialized equipment, but probably not in most.
It's amazing- with today's technology, children who would normally never even learn to speak can grow up to live with their parents and publish their crudely drawn Sonic the Hedgehog recolors on Deviantart.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;25444899]It's amazing- with today's technology, children who would normally never even learn to speak can grow up to live with their parents and publish their crudely drawn Sonic the Hedgehog recolors on Deviantart.[/QUOTE]
How do you crudely draw a recolor?
The tech itself is pretty good, it's just stupidly over priced for what it does.
You can play minecraft on it.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;25444984]How do you crudely draw a recolor?[/QUOTE]
You draw sonic and recolour him to be a different hedgehog
$190? The fuck, greedy pieces of shit.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;25444899]It's amazing- with today's technology, children who would normally never even learn to speak can grow up to live with their parents and publish their crudely drawn Sonic the Hedgehog recolors on Deviantart.[/QUOTE]
Chris-chan is a shining example of what you can make of your life when you overcome your disabilities.
Apple are known for making products they want to use
Damn, I better stop buying them to use as drink coasters then.
i have asperger's can i get a free i-pad to help with it
[QUOTE=Nerts;25445358]Chris-chan is a shining example of what you can make of your life when you overcome your disabilities.[/QUOTE]
Chris-Chan's a stereotype, a really loud and obnoxious one. But, there are a few shining examples of people with Autism:
[img]http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060821MR_breakfastBYLIZ_230.jpg[/img]
Temple Grandin, for instance, she's become a major player in the cattle industry because of the machines she's designed-almost all the cattle in the US go through machines designed by her. On top of that she's a college professor, AND has an HBO movie about her life that won 17 academy awards.
[img]http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/pv/David%20Gallagher-11.jpg[/img]
David Ghallegher, an actor who's famous for playing Simon on the show "7th Heaven", and did the english voice for Rikku in "Kingdom Hearts", has autism.
I just wish more Autistic kids would actually push their abilities forwards. Nowadays they've become too comfortable where they are and are using the whole "I'm special" deal to get away with stuff. I mean, Albert Einstein was autistic, for fuck's sake, and look what he was able to do.
[quote]cerebral palsy[/quote]
"Which I consider to be the sexiest of palsies"
Remember that? :v:
[QUOTE=KnightLight;25446104][img_thumb]http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/20060821MR_breakfastBYLIZ_230.jpg[/img_thumb]
Temple Grandin, for instance, she's become a major player in the cattle industry because of the machines she's designed-almost all the cattle in the US go through machines designed by her. On top of that she's a college professor, AND has an HBO movie about her life that won 17 academy awards.[/QUOTE]
That movie was pretty damn great.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;25444985]The tech itself is pretty good, it's just stupidly over priced for what it does.[/QUOTE]
I like mine. I got it as a gift and it's one of the coolest pieces of technology I've had so far, as well as being my first apple product (besides a 5th gen ipod, the first ipod to play a video)
Apple
I've been with you since birth
People made fun of you and said "you aren't a gaming machine"
Now you're over 50
And you have finally began running games like the others
But more importantly
You have a gift
You can help poor autist children
I....
I love you
And it's a hassle to place a period on your devices
[QUOTE=Wii60;25444807]Also incoming shitstorm about egomaniac android users vs egomaniac mac users[/QUOTE]
Are you implying that we, Android users, have Android tablets ?
[editline]16th October 2010[/editline]
because fyi there are none
Yes, there are, check the Augen Gentouch, its cheap crap but it still runs Android.
[QUOTE=chrishind10;25447126]Yes, there are, check the Augen Gentouch, its cheap crap but it still runs Android.[/QUOTE]
Oh god
"We took a tablet and installed stock Android on it"
Regardless, it still exists. And it still has a dodgy SD port!
[QUOTE=geel9;25445226]$190? The fuck, greedy pieces of shit.[/QUOTE]
Newsflash, niche medical software is expensive
It doesnt sound like a paticularly complicated program either.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;25444899]It's amazing- with today's technology, children who would normally never even learn to speak can grow up to live with their parents and publish their crudely drawn Sonic the Hedgehog recolors on Deviantart.[/QUOTE]Don't forget the possibility to build anything they can imagine... in Minecraft!
[QUOTE=KnightLight;25446104]
I just wish more Autistic kids would actually push their abilities forwards. Nowadays they've become too comfortable where they are and are using the whole "I'm special" deal to get away with stuff. I mean, Albert Einstein was autistic, for fuck's sake, and look what he was able to do.[/QUOTE]
Many other actors and famous individuals are not autistic, what is your excuse for not pushing your abilities as far as them?
It seems you are implying that almost all autistic kids, teens and adults are lazy for not being more well known.
My sister is autistic, and she nas had a PDA with a stylus, pointing at what she wants to say with pictures. She has also had a keyboard text to speech program device, separate from the PDA. I don't see why people think the Ipad is so fucking revolutionary.
EDIT:
Maxof3DS, mind telling me WHY you rated me dumb? Or are you a stuck up autistic apple fan boy?
So they have a minecraft app for it?
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