David and his iPad

Since we got the iPad for David, I've been following this blog:  http://babieswithipads.blogspot.com/  It's been my go-to source for information on using an iPad therapeutically.  She recently asked for stories and pictures about kids using their iPads.  So I wrote up some thoughts about how we're using the iPad with David and how I feel about it right now:

 My son David is four years old. He’s got no syndrome the doctors can name, but he has a bone disease and developmental delays that have him operating at about a one year old level. He can babble and make a few signs. He’s got seizure disorder and finding the right amount of the right med to control it has been very frustrating lately. So I used to be able to say he could sit, crawl, and pull to a kneel, but we don’t see much of that any more. Now he sits with support and rolls. Here’s a look at how he uses the iPad.


We use the iAssist app to let David choose from a field of four choices. He chooses between 3 songs and a “stop” icon. (He’s never picked stop. David is a music machine.) We’ve set up a field of four that lets David pick between stand, clap hands, make monkey noises, and stop. iAssist isn’t the best app in the world, but I can’t bring myself to buy ProLoQuo2Go when I’m not sure what level he can use it at right now.

We use the many musical apps to teach “When I touch this, things happen”. His favorites are Elmo’s Monster Maker, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Look Baby! and Sparkabilities.

David really likes the iPad and the sound of it has him searching to find it. This has prompted several other uses for the iPad. We use it as bait to get him to move. We use it as a distraction in medical situations. David tolerates a blood draw with much less fuss when he’s playing the iPad at the same time. He’ll wait patiently in a waiting room with the iPad. During a weeklong hospital stay the iPad was an incredible distraction and entertainment. When the nurses needed to access his IV, I’d hold the iPad on the other side of the bed and he’d play with it without seeming to notice the nurses messing with his other arm.

Which brings me to another use for the iPad, though not therapeutic. I used the iPad when he was asleep in the hospital. I checked email and kept everyone up to date with short blog posts. I checked the news and weather. I just relaxed with games. We also have found our elementary school aged kids get a lot of use from it. Spelldown Spelling Bee has ended complaints about practicing spelling words and we use it to study vocabulary for tests, too. There are tons of basic math programs, but Pop Math and Math Ninja are two favorites for learning math facts.

We’re working to get David’s iPad into his public school preschool class room and we’re meeting some resistance. Every thing is moving slower than molasses. We bought the iPad and are willing to sign papers to let them use it at school. The therapists directly working with David seem interested, but higher up the food chain they are hesitating. I think it has to do with fears that if this device is proven good for David that they’ll be expected to buy one for him or another child. And they already have an inventory of AAC devices, one of which is working well for him.

My biggest frustration is in feeling alone in using the iPad with David. I’m coming to realize the answer to this is probably to hire a private therapist to work with us on it. I feel like there’s so much potential that we’re not using. I see the way David moves his arm or his hand and I think it’s significant, but I’d like a professional opinion on what we might do to help him use it better. I just imagine that someone with a head full of OT and communication ideas would watch him use the iPad and see infinite ways it could be used in therapy and to communicate. Or maybe they’d watch him and say we’re over-reaching for where he is right now. I doubt that, but I don’t know. I was hoping the school therapists would be that source of ideas, but I think their hands are tied.

And while I was busy writing that up, I left the iPad propped up next to David.  I could hear him playing with it in the next room.  Tony called me in.  I took another picture. He's been sitting for 15 minutes playing with the iPad.  Sitting.  We haven't seen him do this in about 8 weeks.  So, yeah, I'm a fan of the iPad!