How iPads are helping children with autism: Tablets develop communication skills because they are 'predictable and neat'

Around one in 50 children globally have some form of autism, and this number continues to rise steadily each year.

While there is no cure for the condition, the use of technology in autism treatment has grown in popularity in recent years, but the reasons for its success are only just being highlighted.

Experts are finding that simple, carefully constructed apps are enabling affected children to feel safe and communicate more readily because the software is more predictable and ordered than human interaction.

Researchers have found smartphones and tablets help autistic children develop new skills. Toca Boca, for example, create apps aimed at children aged three to six. Although the games are not specifically designed for children with autism, they have proved popular among parents who have children with the condition.

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects how a person communicates, and relates to, other people. It can also affect how they make sense of the world around them.

People with autism typically have trouble communicating, looking people in the eye, and can get upset by loud noises or bright lights.

They may also have a sensitivity to touch, tastes, smells and colours.

In particular, many autistic people like order and predictability.

Autism is a spectrum condition, which means that while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition affects them in different ways.

Some people with autism, for example, are able to live relatively independent lives but others may have accompanying learning disabilities and need specialist support.

Asperger syndrome is a form of autism and people with the syndrome are often of average or above average intelligence.

They have fewer problems with speech but may still have difficulties with understanding and processing language.

Toca Boca in Sweden, for example, creates apps aimed primarily at children aged between three and six.

Toca Band encourages children to make music and learn about rhythm and tempo, while Toca Hair Salon Me lets players give their family and friends virtual haircuts. 

The firm calls the characters in the apps ‘digital toys’ and although the games are not specifically designed for children with autism, they have proved popular among parents who have children with the condition.

Toby Price from Mississippi has a daughter called Addison, 11, who has non-verbal autism. 

He has noticed a marked improvement in Addison’s behaviour and skills since learning to use an iPad, and the Toca Boca apps.

‘When you have a child with autism take an interest in something, as a parent, you have to run with it,’ explained Price.

‘Addison uses her iPad to show us things she wants, or places she would like to go. She uses it to practice handwriting and even counting.

‘As a parent [I am] happy to have found a way to engage our kids with iPads.’

Rhiannan Walton, 32, from West London has been a speech and language therapist for eight years.

She began using technology in her therapy sessions with autistic children approximately 18 months ago.

‘Technology responds in the same way every time; you press a button and it responds how you expect it to,' Walton told MailOnline. 'This particularly appeals to autistic children who can become scared and confused by unpredictability.'

Speech and Language Therapist Rhiannan Walton told MailOnline: 'Technology responds in the same way every time; you press a button and it responds how you expect it to. This particularly appeals to autistic children who can become scared and confused by unpredictability.' Stock image of Apple's iOS 7 pictured.

Many autistic children like trains, for example, because they are predictable. They follow set paths along stable tracks and their doors open and close in the same way each time.

For therapy to work, Walton believes it has to be motivating and said technology motivates children with autism in a unique way.

‘We know therapy needs to be motivating for children in general, and games are particularly motivating for children with autism because they’re visually appealing.

‘Autistic children aren't motivated by wanting to please in the same way other children are.

‘Non-autistic children think ‘this lady wants me to play this game and if I do, she'll say well done,' but autistic children aren’t interested in that at all.

'They need to be motivated in other ways - and technology helps with this.'

Autistic children typically have visual ways of communicating, and as a result have a visual way of learning and this is why apps are so effective.

In a recent study, researchers from Canada studied 12 children in six classrooms across Ontario, all of whom have non-verbal autism spectrum disorder.

These classrooms were given Apple iPads for a six-month trial.

Following the experiment, nine of the students showed a statistical improvement ranging from mild to significant in their overall communication skills.

The devices were also found to boost motivation among 75 per cent of the children, while also increasing their attention span and ability to interact socially.

Topcliffe Primary School in Birmingham recently introduced touchscreen devices into classrooms and similarly noticed an improvement among the autistic students.

‘We watched children with autism playing with the images on the screen in ways in which none of the typically developing children had done, said Topcliffe’s spectrum disorders teacher Sarah Quickenden.

‘The normal curriculum that we were offering just wasn't allowing them to demonstrate these skills to us. We never realised that the children had these skills because some of them are so locked in.’

Walton said the technology can also be used to build other communication opportunities.

'I give the children in my therapy sessions the game, let them play it for a while before taking it away.

‘We then work together to help the child show me that they want it back; they want to play more of the game.’

Once this skill is developed, Walton continued, it can be built upon to teach children about taking turns, sequencing, and so on.

It can also be generalised for other tasks, such as asking for more food or drink.

Walton told MailOnline that apps and games have the added benefit of appealing to children without autism, especially the siblings of those who do have the condition.

This means families can manage the child’s condition as a group, and helps siblings play together.

Price’s son McKade, for example, recently set up a tea party with sister Addison after she had learned the skills from the Toca Kitchen game.

Walton said many of her autistic patients pick up the games quickly, and have good memory, so will remember skills they’ve learnt when at home with their parents.

Vicki Clarke is the owner and president of Dynamic Therapy Associates with 18 years’ experience as a Speech Language Pathologist and Augmentative Communication Specialist in Georgia.

She told Autism Speaks: ‘People are messy and computers are neat. For our friends with autism, this consistency is easy to understand and comforting.

‘The iPad puts this comfortable, predictable teaching friend right in the hands of our children with autism, regardless of where they are.’

But the continued technology isn’t a ‘miracle cure’.

‘The specific needs of the child need to be the main deciding factor on purchasing any technology,’ explained Clarke.

‘These technologies are simply another tool in our box that have the potential to help meet some of the needs of our children.

‘When deciding on technology options, teams must consider the individual needs of the child and the ability of the app to meet the comprehensive needs for which they are purchased.

‘Families should consult with the professional and personal friends who know the child and can offer input on potential needs of the child.

Today marks the seventh annual World Autism Awareness Day, in which organisations get together to discuss the challenges surrounding the disorder, share advice, and look for solutions.

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