Health

14 HEALTH • Winter 2016 H andheld technology has stumped parents in this modern era. They rely upon it to pacify their children when convenient, but also lament its constant presence and struggle to set limits so that kids are playing tag as well as watching music videos on YouTube. Many parents can't live with tablets, iPhones and the like, or without them. But a sub- set of parents wouldn't be able to communicate with their children, or would have much more trouble doing so, if it weren't for these relatively new devices. How technology is changing the way autistic children learn language \\ By Emily Micucci SCREENTIME HELPS SPEECH As the rate of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis has increased markedly over the last decade, so too has the emphasis on helping children with autism communicate to their full potential. Kari Dunlop, clinical director at The Darnell School in Hudson, has seen how technology has aided this quest. Then and now With 20 years of experience in the field of special education, Dunlop remembers when clunkier speech generation devices made by manufacturer DynaVox were the tools du jour for students on the autism spectrum who couldn't speak well enough to communicate their wants and needs. They looked like an iPad, Dunlop said, but thicker and heavier, and much more expensive. Students needed insur- ance coverage to get them and if they broke, repairs would often take a long time. They were also gener- ally used only by students who couldn't speak at all. But the evolution of tablet technology led by Apple Inc. has changed the dynamics in today's classrooms. The Darnell School, owned by human services nonprofit HMEA Inc., has incorporate tablets in the classroom, where teachers use Applied Behavior Analysis to help students develop skills, including communication. iPads are owned by the school and assigned to the students to use throughout the day. A handful of apps are used to help students com- municate. Proloquo2Go, which Dunlop calls "the Cadillac" of communication apps, is used most often but there are a handful of others that teachers and students find helpful. By selecting icons from a screen, Proloquo2Go helps students build sentences conveying their ideas or wants. The app uses a voice output, and some students are able to use the output as a model so that they can actually practice speaking them- selves, said Dunlop. "It helps them expand their sentence length or use more complex sentences, or speak to someone who they might be nervous to speak to," Dunlop said. Known for their user friendliness, the iPads are easily mastered and Dunlop said students enjoy using them. Teachers use subject matter that inter- ests students to their advantage, as a way to engage students who have trouble connecting. While students don't bring their classroom iPads home, many also have their own devices, Dunlop said. Some families pay out-of-pocket for the devices but in Massachusetts, there is usually insurance coverage for tablets that help autistic children communicate, and there are nonprofit organizations that provide grants for the devices, Dunlop noted. Teacher Hallie Glassman works with a student using an iPad at the New England Center for Children in Southborough. iPads have become fixtures in schools for kids on the autism spectrum. P H O T O / E R I C G R E E N B E R G

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