Once Michael started going to high school, one of the things that the Special Education program provided was an iPad, in order to help improve his communication skills. There's an app installed that has pictures of various simple objects with the name of them underneath (basically phonics), that they used. A good example was "yes" and "no". Whenever someone asked Michael a yes or no question, they would bring him the iPad, and he would tap either the "yes" or "no" card for his response. I honestly think that Michael just tapped whichever icon he saw so that people would leave him alone, but it's a great method of communication for other students who are non-verbal.
One thing that the iPad really helped Michael with was demonstrating how to perform various tasks, like vacuuming a room. The classroom aids would create a video directed specifically to Michael, and would describe the task that he would do as they were acting it out. The video would then be shown to Michael a few times, and then he would go and perform the task on his own. And it worked! He's a very visual learner, and loves watching what others do and copying them. Although some people think it's silly that the schools provide iPads to students with special needs (young and old) it's become an incredible tool.
One of the best times that we used the iPad for this purpose was for the graduation ceremony. Michael and I were to walk together to receive our diploma/certificates, but in order to do that Michael would need to follow the same directions as everyone else. During the graduation rehearsal, Michael's teacher followed us the entire time and filmed each new step that Michael would have to follow, especially the part where we would walk up the stage.
The entire day before graduation we had Michael watch the videos multiple times. And thanks to them, graduation ran by really smoothly, and we had no problems walking up the stage, which was my greatest concern. Michael really hates loud environments, and especially going up onto various stages in front of people. Thanks to the iPad, we had a fantastic time at graduation.
The entire day before graduation we had Michael watch the videos multiple times. And thanks to them, graduation ran by really smoothly, and we had no problems walking up the stage, which was my greatest concern. Michael really hates loud environments, and especially going up onto various stages in front of people. Thanks to the iPad, we had a fantastic time at graduation.