Assistive Technology for Student With Autism

Autism is a complex developmental disability. Autism is cause by autism risk genes and environmental factor that were interfered with the early brain development. Over the past 40 year autism has increased, up to a point were technology helped diagnose it and more research is recognizing autism. Students with autism develop differently. Their learning is unpredictable, a student with autism might learn things quicker than other students. Or they might be slower at learning something and have a hard time with it. The struggles students with autism might have is speech. Students with autism tend to have a delayed speech. They also struggle with is social skills. They have a hard time interacting with another socially. If the student is severely autistic they might not even acknowledge the person. 

One of the best assistive technology for autism is the iPad. The iPad is a really helpful device for students with autism. There are many reasons why the iPad is effective. One reason why is because the device is hands-on, the student can carry the iPad where ever they want. Another reason is that the keyboard is on the screen and the students don't have to take their eyes off the screen to type, some students might have difficulties with that. 

When students are using the iPad's it allows them to communicate if they aren't verbal. If they are still learning to speak the iPad can have apps that have pictures of words and letters that may help the child to learn more. Students with autism have a mind full of imagery and the iPad can allow the student to create sentences with images to help communicate to their parents, care givers, etc. The app store provides many different apps to help students with autism. The downsides of getting an iPad is that it is very expensive to get for some parents who may not be able to afford it. Also the iPad's need to be charged when the battery runs out, some students might not understand why the iPad died which can lead to meltdowns until it's finished charging.

In the near future, I believe technology will improve. Although iPad's are very helpful for students with autism right now, I believe in the future they will come up with a device specifically for people with autism. Technology has already taking over in the classrooms but teachers still have not mastered in it. In the future the teacher will understand the technology more and that will help them teach the students. 

Reference

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/symptoms

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/autism/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/teaching-technology-autism_n_6865030.html

http://www.myasdf.org/site/media-center/articles/why-the-ipad-is-such-a-helpful-learning-tool-for-children-with-autism/

http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/The-Power-of-Touchscreen