Autism Intervention - Tabs for Developing Communication Skills

It is believed that at least one in every 50 children in the world suffer from some type of autism. And the number is steadily rising with each passing year.

Thought there are no cures for the condition, popular technology for autism treatment has increased lately. The reasons behind the success of technology to treat autism are only being highlighted recently. Experts are finding simple and carefully designed apps can enable affected children feel safe to communicate readily, because the apps are more ordered and predictable than human interaction.

Several leading software companies create apps, targeting autistic children aged three to six. For instance, a particular music app can encourage children to play music and learn about tempo and rhythm. Another app lets children give virtual haircuts. The developers prefer to call these apps 'digital toys'. Though the games are not especially designed for autistic children, they have proved to be popular with parents and kids having this condition.

Take the case of Samantha Williams of Florida. Samantha has a 10-year old daughter, Amanda, who has non-verbal autism. Samantha says that there has been a noticeable improvement in Amanda's behavior, ever since she took to autism apps. As a parent you have to run with something in which your autistic child takes interest, Samantha says, adding that Amanda uses the tab to show them things she wants and the places she wants to visit. The girl even practices handwriting on one of the autism apps for tablets. I am happy as a parent, because I have finally found something that interests my daughter, says Samantha.

Aaron Taylor, 44, is a practicing language therapist from New Jersey who has been imparting speech and verbal communication lessons to autistic children for nearly two decades. Aaron began using autism apps for tablets for speech therapist in baton rouge sessions with such children about a couple of years ago. The results, he says, has been encouraging. The response of technology is always the same every time you press a button. It's how you expect it to behave. This, he says, is especially appealing to children with autism who often become confused and sacred because of unpredictability.

Many children with autism like trains, for instance, because of their predictable response. Trains follow a set path on stable tracks. The doors always open and close the same way all the time.

For any behavioral therapy to work for autistic children, Aaron believes that it must be motivating. Any autistic children therapy must be inspiring, he says, adding that games are especially motivating because they are visually appealing. Autistic children in most cases are not motivated in the same way like other children. A non-autistic child may think that this person wants me to do something and if I do it, he/she will be pleased. An autistic child, on the other hand, will be interested in the outcome of the activity, which has to be the same every time. And this is exactly where autism apps for tablets fixes the attention of these kids.