App On iPod Touch Helps Autistic Adults Work More Efficiently

With difficulties related to behavior, communication, cognition, and sensory processing, people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a hard time not only finding a job, but keeping the job as well. In the United States, just 15% of adults struggling with ASD are getting paid for some type of work. However, according to new research, people with the disorder are able to work more efficiently with the task management and organizational features on personal digital assistants (PDAs).

The research consisted of case studies that demonstrated the use of Apple® iPod touch® PDAs as vocational supports, which was published in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Steve Jobs and Autism Community: Square Pegs in Round Holes

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- There is a poster that hangs on the wall of a room in my house. The poster features the face of a young Bob Dylan with a harmonica around his neck. It is a striking image, but over the past few days, that isn't what has drawn my attention.
What has drawn my attention is the small rainbow-striped apple in the top left-hand corner, above the words "Think different."
I tracked down and bought that poster a long time ago. I bought it long before iPods and iPads. I bought it long before the iPhone. I bought it long before I had kids, and I bought it long before I had a child with autism.

Using Touch Screen and App to Connect with Children on the Spectrum

As a commercial software expert for the financial services industry, Ted Conley was frustrated with the technology that a speech therapist recommended to help his developmentally disabled son. So he decided to build his own app.
In place of an unwieldy and expensive device with buttons that his son struggled to press, Conley developed a series of apps that allow the now 3-year-old Pierce to signal words and sentences by lightly touching a series of familiar pictures on an iPad screen, which prompts an audio program to play the words out loud.
Conley's line of "TapSpeak" programs are among scores of new apps available to help children with autism or other conditions that interfere with their ability to speak, learn or socialize.

Apple's iPad App Creates Communication Device for Children with Special Needs

Interesting segment from New York 1 News. So wonderful that mainstream companies are developing apps to help children with special needs.

For children and parents, Apple's line of iOS devices can be a great resource for learning. Take, for example, "Scene & Heard," which turns the iPad into what's called an "augmentative and alternative communication device," or AAC for short.
Essentially, it allows kids with autism to both learn and communicate with others by pushing or arranging pictures, helping them clearly communicate what they're trying to say. What makes this app different from some of the others out there is that it allows users, parents or anyone helping that child to easily upload their own pictures, videos and sounds to create their own so-called "scenes." Developers say that in doing so, the app can be customized to feel more comfortable for each user.