Eight iPod Touch devices boost communication

February 1, 2010

Wisconsin Branch of the King's Daughters and Sons Fund within the Community

Foundation for the Fox Valley Region pays for kids with autism to use an Apple

iPod Touch

For The Post-Crescent

APPLETON - A charitable society born in the 19th century is providing 21st

century technology to assist Appleton middle and high school students with

autism disorders.

A $2,000 grant paid for eight Apple iPod Touch entertainment devices and

accompanying software that will help students with autism disorders communicate

better, track incentives for good behavior and know what the day ahead holds for

them.

The grant came from the Wisconsin Branch of the King's Daughters and Sons Fund

within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.

It was among $16,745 in grants awarded from the Wisconsin Branch fund in

November and $4 million awarded from various Community Foundation charitable

funds to 276 charitable organizations during the last quarter of 2009.

" I am very excited, " Hall, a speech and language pathologist with the

Appleton Area School District, said of the support for a pilot project using

iPod Touch technology.

The devices can use 34 software applications specific to assisting with autism

disorders, and more sure to be written by therapists, teachers and parents, she

said.

Devices costing at least $2,000 have been required to translate a nonverbal

child's keystrokes into spoken words. They can be replaced by a $200 iPod Touch,

which also does many other functions, Hall said, among them, a compact way to

provide students with a record of their day's schedule.

" Kids on the autism spectrum do better if they know what's coming, " Hall

explained. Many carry around bulky binders that reassure them about their

schedule, but make them stand out even more as different. The binders can be

replaced with a device popular with their peers. " The 'socially appropriate'

factor is huge, " she said.

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