GUEST POST: 'my experiences with AAC' by Elijah

iTaalk with Elijah

by Elijah Hall (and a little help from mum)

 

My name is Elijah. I am 14 years old and in the 8th grade. I was diagnosed with Aspergers

Syndrome at 8 years old. Recently, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD),

and it was found that my working memory, the part of my brain that holds little bits of
information while a task is being done, is very low functioning.


When my mother and the school were writing my IEP, she found out that the school did not have any technology like a tablet, and was not required to buy one for me to use. The insurance
company would not pay for one because I am too high functioning. I was using a netbook, a
camera, a watch, and to PDA, to do all the functions that I needed to even begin to get organized.

Sometimes I forgot to set an alarm or where I had put my camera. Too many different pieces

were hard to keep track of.

My mother got together with iTaalk Autism Foundation and their Vice President, Tammy, set up a way for Mom to raise money to buy an iPad for me. Working through Facebook, she was able
to raise the money in less than a week. Mom bought a Clamcase so that I have a keyboard
attached all the time and it is more protected.

 

With my iPad, I keep everything in one device that I have with me all the time. I have

organizational apps that keep me on track; my calendar, my schedule, my assignments, my
chores, all in one app. I use Pages for writing any assignments and all word processing. I use
the alarms to remind me to start or stop a task.

I use the camera to photograph the board where my assignments are written, which used to take me as much as 10 minutes to write down, and photograph powerpoint notes. I can use Siri or Dragon to dictate writing. I can type at 11 words per minute now but I use typing programs to help me practice to increase my speed. I am told there are even apps that I have yet to discover to help me learn and even exercise my working memory in the future.

I began to think that other Autistic kids must have this problem too. I talked to Mom and she

said that Tammy at iTaalk told her that there was. Many kids fall in between what the insurance company will pay for, what the schools are required to provide and what the parents can afford. I decided that I would help Mom and we would keep raising money for other Autistic kids to get iPads. We spend too much of our time trying to keep up in class that it is hard to really learn.

We have set a dream goal of 500 iPads for 500 kids!! Right now we are working to get one for

Kyle, he is a Senior at our high school. Kyle has apps that work for speech therapy. You can
read more about him at www.itaalk.org/kyle.html We are more that half way to raising enough
for his iPad. Some kids are even non-verbal and will use their iPads to communicate.

 

Read more about all of us......

iTaalk Autism Foundation: www.itaalk.org 

Elijah: Twitter: @itaalkelijah

Facebook: iTaalk with Elijah

Blog: itaalkwithelijah.wordpress.com                

iTaalk