Autism, sensory needs, and apps that can help

Sensory differences are at the heart of many of the everyday challenges that face children and adults with autism.  The National Autistic Society has great information on how the senses work, the difficulties faced by those with autism, and who and what can help:

http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/understanding-behaviour/the-sensory-world-of-autism.aspx

But an iPad can also help, with scheduling and using a sensory diet, and with ideas.  I hope to develop a list of useful sensory apps, and here is a review of the first one:

http://special-ism.com/review-of-brain-works-app/

Could an iPad help your child too?

If you live in Britain, simply collect 165 old mobile phones and the Manchester-based charity Hearts and Minds will exchange them for a new iPad.

Details here:

Website: : heartsandmindsphones.co.uk/
Facebook: facebook.com/HeartsAndMindsUK 

Emily, her iPad, and how to prove the professionals wrong

Using an iPad, Emily is learning to write - and speak - after being "written off".  Diagnosed with autism at age two, her parents were told that she would never read, write, or focus.


Luckily the professionals are often wrong.

This is her story in her Mum's words:

On a beautiful sunny day on 13th August 1997, Emily was born and my world was complete. After a lengthy and emotional IVF journey, Emily was here and she was perfect. 

Emily developed textbook style over the next year and by her 1st birthday, she was walking and had started to say a few words. She slept well and was happy. Friends would say that she was a joy to have around, because she was so ‘easy’. Little did I know these same ‘friends’ would disappear into the woodwork just a few months later. 

One day, when Emily was about 15 months old, I went into her bedroom to get her up and instead of standing at the edge of the cot with her arms out, she was sitting with her back to me, and did not react to me entering the room. The only way I can describe Emily over the next 6 months is, it was like she had a dimmer switch on her and week by week, some unseen force was turning it down, just a little, until ‘she was gone’. My beautiful daughter now did not need anyone. She looked at no-one, she reacted to no-one and she seemed to want nothing. She would sit for hours behind the sofa in our lounge, just gazing and the words she had been using, disappeared! 

I was frantic – I tried everything to engage her, but I could run into the room, jump in the air, shout, laugh, sing, cuddle her – nothing worked and she remained switched off and locked in her own world! Over the next few months, things went from bad to worse. Emily stopped sleeping and just screamed. Ordinary, everyday activities became impossible. Emily would not eat, she was difficult to dress because she kicked and screamed, and the biting and scratching ….. I cannot even begin to explain what I felt when Emily bit and scratched me and pulled my hair ….. I honestly thought she hated me! She would literally bare her teeth and run at me – she was 2 years old! 

I would spend my day watching her line things up and flick her fingers and I would try to interact with her. I bought almost every toy and gimmick in the shops to try to engage her in some way. Friends stopped calling! I felt scared, inadequate and desperate and now very isolated and alone. Then something happened that kicked me so hard, I had to do something. I went upstairs one evening, to check if Emily was asleep and was met by the most horrendous smell!!! I turned the light on in her bedroom and saw faeces everywhere. Emily had smeared her faeces all over the yellow carpet, the walls and bed. She was fast asleep in the middle of this hell, completely oblivious to the horror of it all. I just sank to the floor and cried. 

For me, that was the lowest point in Emily’s journey and we decided to have her privately assessed, to find out what was happening. Emily was diagnosed as ‘just inside severely autistic’ when she was 2 ½ years old. I sat in the consultant’s room and listened to his every word, as he explained that Emily would never talk, never have friends, never marry, never hug anyone, never read and write, never work and really the most we could expect was that by the time she had finished school, she would be able to make a sandwich and prepare vegetables. 

I looked over at my beautiful daughter, lining up toys on the carpet and could hardly breathe! Was that it? Surely this wasn’t right? Just after Emily’s 3rd birthday, we started our ABA program, which was to be 40 hours per week for the next three years and Emily hated it and screamed and kicked and fought and bit. After 3 years, yes, Emily did know many things and had learnt that she had to do what we wanted her to do. However, outside of her therapy room, she still remained shut off and wanted nothing to do with me or Robert and did not speak. She had absolutely no eye contact and preferred to spend her ‘free-time’ lining up anything she could get her hands on – toys, cutlery, cushions, videos. We would have lines of things beautifully placed all over our home. That night, after I had finally got Emily to sleep, I sat at my computer and googled ‘autism recovery’. It was the beginning of an amazing journey for all three of us. At around 2 in the morning, I found a program called Son Rise! I noted that there was a talk on this program in London in a couple of weeks, booked two tickets and went to bed happy. I gathered a team of students who would come to the house to ‘play’ with Emily. The focus was always interaction, but it was completely at Emily’s pace and if she wanted to disappear into her own world again, this time we went with her, quietly and respectfully, until she came back to us. 

Over the next 2 years, Emily blossomed. She giggled, hugged, kissed, started to talk, read and write and gradually started to take notice of the world around her. We took her on a plane for the first time and she loved it. We took her to restaurants and she developed a taste for all kinds of foods. We started to turn her love of throwing paper into developing ball skills and we would spend all day in her playroom, just being. For the first time, I did not need Emily to conform to anything and felt honoured to share her life with her. I didn’t judge her behaviour – some days were more challenging than others – but every day was a good day! 

Life with Emily today is wonderful. She is happy and funny. She talks more each day and is starting to read and write. She loves trampolining, badminton, table tennis, racket ball, swimming, cooking and baking and gosh, how she loves cuddles. Recently we got her an Ipad, which she loves and takes everywhere with her. She plays games on it, types lists of activities on it, watches Youtube clips of her favourite Disney movies and is gradually using it to help her do the one thing she finds the most difficult, and that is talk. 

Today Emily understands hundreds of words, but uses very few of them and struggles to put them into sentences.   Currently she is using these apps to improve those skills:

Talking Tom 2 (this repeats what she says)
iSentence (sentence builder)
iQuestion (question builder)
iLanguage (language builder)
My Day ... Too! (Wh Questions and Story Builder)
TaptoTalk
Writing Pad
ABC Tracing
Kindle
YouTube
Notes (for writing lists)

This is a link of Emily reading her timetable http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE571uBiqIc&feature=g-upl


Could an iPad help your child too?

If you live in Britain, simply collect 165 old mobile phones and the Manchester-based charity Hearts and Minds will exchange them for a new iPad.

Details here:

Website: : heartsandmindsphones.co.uk/
Facebook: facebook.com/HeartsAndMindsUK

 
Note: Emily's Mum Caroline Ashby who kindly wrote this piece works at The Autism Nanny 

West Midlands talent competition for people with autism

A West Midlands College is looking for local talent to show case the musical talents of people in the community with learning difficulties, this Spring.

Jordan Statham, a student from the Glasshouse College, has been busy planning and organising an evening to showcase the talents of local people in the area who have some form of learning disability.

Jordan himself has autism and he is passionate about raising awareness of the hidden talents of people who have similar conditions. Jordan attends Glasshouse College which is a specialist independent college that supports young adults with social, behavioural and learning difficulties. The college provides a unique craft based learning environment, on the former Royal Doulton site. Students enjoy learning practical and creative skills in keeping with the heritage of the area. Auditions: Jordan recently came up with the idea as he himself is an accomplished musician and he is well aware of the talent that is within the community.

Auditions will be held on Monday 4th March from 6pm until 9pm and again on Saturday 9th March from 11am until 3pm. The auditions will be held in the Glasshouse Arts Centre which is on the Glasshouse College site. All people with learning difficulties who think they have a musical talent are urged to audition for the show as it is going to be a big celebration of the talents of Stourbridge and the surrounding area.

The final celebration is due to be on 11th May and all proceeds from the show will be donated to Autism West Midlands who are also supporting the event by helping to set up a personal display of peoples views on Autism.

Jordan says “I want to make sure that people realise that even though some one has a learning disability such as autism, they can still contribute to society in a creative and meaningful way”.

Gail Hickman, Enrichment Manager at the college says “ Jordan is passionate about this project and has already worked so hard on it. He has found funding to put on the event and has the full support of the college to make sure the event is a success. All we need now is the talent to come forward!”.

If you feel you would like to audition for this gig (or recommend someone you know) then please telephone either Gail Hickman or Ami Blakemore on 01384 399459 or 07805 304286.

Hearts and Minds supports Autism Bubble Day 2013

Autism Bubble Day will be held on World Autism Awareness Day 2013: Tuesday 2nd April and is supported by Hearts and Minds.

The initiative, aimed especially at schools, promotes friendship and autism awareness by introducing a fun activity - blowing bubbles - that all children can enjoy.

Log onto the Bubble Day website for more details and to register for an information pack:

http://www.autismbubbleday.com/

In the News: January 2013

The announcement that two of Team GB's Olympics cyclists will be joining the CycleBuddy Cycling Challenge charity cycle for Hearts and Minds in May boosted newspaper coverage in January.

The story got great coverage in the Manchester Evening News:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-united-star-will-join-bmx-star-1239888

More and more families are successfully collecting old mobile phones to swap for an iPad from Hearts and Minds, and some are getting so many donations of phones that they are getting additional iPads for other children, or sending the spare phones directly to Hearts and Minds:

http://www.shoresideprimary.org/news_detail.asp?Section=8&Ref=323

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2013/02/06/donate-a-phone-to-help-kids-just-like-kind-hemlington-girl-lucy-jo-84229-32755467/

Other families are using local newspapers to appeal for phones:

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/nine_year_old_lowestoft_schoolboy_is_calling_out_for_old_phones_1_1793079
http://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news/latest-news/help-answer-mother-s-call-for-old-phones-1-4584306

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/health/10150217.Mute_Greenwich_boy_could_communicate_with_family_thanks_to_unloved_mobiles/

And a reminder that it's not just children with autism who can benefit from iPad, they can be used to help with other special needs too, like cerebral palsy:

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/hundreds_donate_phones_to_help_st_neots_boy_2_with_cerebral_palsy_get_ipad_1_1796685

Another way to appeal for phones is through a personal blog like this one:

http://aworldofspinning.blogspot.ie/2013/01/we-need-your-help.html

If your child needs an iPad please check out Hearts and Minds:

Website: http://www.heartsandmindsphones.co.uk/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HeartsAndMindsUK
Twitter: @handmchallenge