Healthcare company donates iPads to autistic children

By Staff Writer

Recent studies have shown that iPads can improve communication between teachers and children who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recently, the Amerigroup Foundation donated 15 iPads to an elementary school in Virginia to serve as teaching aids for autistic children.

Officials at the elementary school reported that the devices are making a significant impact in special education. For example, the iPad contains an application that allows students who have an ASD to use their fingers to form a letter of the alphabet. Without the tablet, students previously struggled to perform this task because they could not properly grip a writing utensil.

Another application translates a child's speech into written words, which is helping teachers understand what the students are attempting to say. The iPads are giving the kids a newfound confidence, according to the school's principal. He said that their faces light up when they work with the learning devices, creating an enthusiasm he had never seen from the autistic students.

The emergence of iPads in special education classrooms has prompted some software developers to develop more applications that are designed specifically for children who have an ASD.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that an average of one in 110 children in the U.S. have autism.