Apps designed to help those with disabilities are all the rage, but it remains unclear how effective such new technology really is.
Hundreds of apps have come on the market in recent years claiming to help those with special needs, particularly autism. But technology is moving faster than science can keep up, experts say, meaning that it’s unknown which, if any, of the apps are truly making a therapeutic difference.
Even app-makers themselves acknowledge that anyone with a few thousands dollars to invest can bring an app to market.
Nonetheless, for some parents eager to see results, the hope that new technology offers — and its relatively cheap price point — is enough to make it worth a try.
“The challenge with iOS apps is a lot are developed by well-meaning parents but under no guidance with autism experts… The danger is that the iPad becomes a really expensive toy,” one expert from Autism Speaks told IDG News Service. To read more click here.
I think this article is extremely positive in that is shows several things. These are:
1. its very positive that CIO magazing would even have such an article, meaning that there is interest in mainstream society.
2. Apps will only improve as they are used.
3. The more apps developed the better as competition will win out.
4. The problem in the past was that there was almost no competition as few were interested in this market.
5. That we have created a market that tech firms are now interested in and think they can make money in.
6. It will only get better as Moore’s Law kicks in with more powerful computers at lower costs.
Finally, almost all innovation starts with an idea and it is only later that research can show success. New ideas almost never come from evidence. That can only come after many efforts have been tried and a few found to be successful.
Interesting. I have profound intellectual impairment and if I could speak I would be thanking my parents for my Ipad, therapeautic or not. If a tool provides a child who has limited options in the world, with something to use and enjoy and it keeps them usefully occupied and happy then that results in an improvement in the quality of life and that is definately therapeutic for them and their families, especially for children with complex and challenging behaviours as a result of their communication issues. Furthermore if it makes the child happy then what is there to critisize. As to it being an expensive toy: so what, if it benefits the child. My Ipad has given me just a few options that I did not have before. My family have spent a small fortune on working it all out and trialing apps that might or might not work, which they know is the case at the outset. I am learning and experiencing new things. My parents are very pleased that I can have a just a few of the millions of computer options that are readily available to other children my age and they keep searching for new things that work. An Ipad is a tool that makes a computer journey possible for a child who had limited computer switch options available before the Ipad came on the market. Regular computers are easity broken and if I hurled the laptop or the desktop down the hall like I do my Ipad, it would not have lasted 13 months and counting. The programmes that are available for regular computers are very expensive compared to Ipad apps. There are very good “cause and affect” apps available that can be used for people with profound intellectual impairment to have fun, just like everyone else. Of course it takes a lot of patient hands on work with the child on the parents part but eventually the child develops skills which mean less hands on involvement by the parents. It make mum cross when the press paint something that is intrinsically good in a bad light. Thank you for posting this article. Sincerely Anne O’Rourke
ASK parents first what is working for that 1 individual with Autism. Parents ARE the experts on their own child. Every individual with Au is distinctly different, so what works for one may not benefit another. That is possibly why there are so many apps. All in all, the article is good information, but looking to the “experts” are the parents!!!