iPads in therapy can help children with autism to develop their speech
2nd July 2014
An article about the recently published research by Kasari in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry suggests that adding an iPad to traditional therapy helped children with Autism to develop their communication skills.
61 children took part in a study to compare language and social communication treatment either with or without an iPad. The iPad prompted the children to comment on what they were doing whilst they were engaged in play and therefore helped them to initiate conversations. The iPad was used as a tool within a treatment aimed to improved the children’s communication skills.
The children were assessed across 14 different measures to ascertain their number of spoken words and use of new words.
- 78% of the children who had used the iPad as well as the treatment had improved by 25% or more on at least half of the measures
- 63% of the children who had just received the treatment had improved by 25% or more on at least half of the measures
The researchers also found that using the iPad from the beginning of treatment was more beneficial than introducing it at a later point.
The children in this study were between 5 and 8 years old, all of them were speaking fewer than 20 functional words. If other research supports the finding’s of this study it could be the beginning of schools and therapists actively using technology to help improve the communication abilities in children who have autism.