Jobs and his crew draw plenty of both fire and fan support, with most arguments centering around product features, freedom vs. imposed limitations, or the company’s behavior itself. Personally, I enjoy Apple products, and the simplicity it offers suits me fine. (As the current iPad advertisement campaign states: “You already know how to use it.”) But I have no problem when folks with different needs find what they’re looking for in Windows, Android or whatever. And the most poignant scenario is when people discover a helping hand with specialized needs. This is a great thing.

So when I saw this post on autism, I couldn’t help but feel a little emotional and impressed by Apple’s ethos.

The story begins with a mother, Shannon Rosa, and her 9-year-old son, Leo, who has “intense autism.” Shannon struggled with Leo’s often violent, aggressive outbursts. She’d tried interesting him in her iPod Touch, which kind of worked, but he struggled with the small icons on the screen. But when she won an iPad in a school raffle and brought it home, Leo was hooked.

“… when Leo took it (the iPad) in his small hands as if it were an old friend, and, with almost no training, whizzed through its apps like a technology virtuoso, his mother gasped in amazement.”

His growth has been fantastic since using the device. Now outings to cafes and other venues are possible without his mother fearing that he’ll make a scene. He happily occupies himself with the device, enjoying it while developing skills that he already shows an aptitude for.

He’s not alone. Autism experts and parents have flocked to the tablet en masse, assessing its capacity to strengthen developmental areas for afflicted children. More and more, special needs apps are being cranked out, and preliminary studies are underway to gauge the effectiveness of Apple’s various iOS devices as learning instruments. The potential looks extremely promising. Equipped with these gadgets, some of these kids are finally able to express their thoughts for the first time.

Not only that, but the experts say that the tablet is even better than the purpose-made computers and other aids that are currently widely used. It’s less expensive, speedier, easier to use, more portable and fun. The iPad’s strengths as an entertainment machine are well-known, but the potential for its myriad other beneficial uses are only starting to be tapped.

Could Steve Jobs have conceived that his iPad would help autistic children? I’m not sure, but I do know this: Situations like these speak volumes about the potential of mobile technology, and not only is that good for companies like Apple, but it’s even better for the families of children on the autistic spectrum.

It appears Jobs really does have something to be truly proud of here.

Via: SFWeekly

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UPDATE: iPad Apps for Autism

GadgetsDNA did a great round-up of “10 Revolutionary iPad Apps to Help Autistic Children.”  For convenience, we list them below (with links and App Store descriptions), but visit the original article at the link above for more info. It’s worth a read. (Also, our own Amanda Dellario covered two worthwhile iPhone apps, in a review of Model Me Going Places and news coverage of Proloquo2Go, so click to see those. The latter kicks off the list below.)

Proloquo2Go ($189.99): “Proloquo2Go provides a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices (INITIALLY AMERICAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH ONLY), up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use.”

Grace ($37.99): “A simple picture exchange system developed By and For non-verbal people allowing the user to communicate their needs by building sentences from relevant images. It can be customised by the individual using their picture and photo vocabulary with the user taking and saving pictures independently to the app.”

iCommunicate for iPad ($14.99): “Create pictures, flashcards, storyboards, routines, and visual schedules. Record custom audio in any language. We include 100+ pictures(first 5 have audio) to get you started. Add pictures with your camera, or from your camera roll, or use Google image search. Utilize as audio visual prompting tool or AAC device.”

First Then Visual Schedule ($9.99): “First-Then visual schedule application is designed for caregivers to provide positive behavior support for those with communication needs. This application provides an affordable and convenient audio-visual prompting tool for use on the iPhone or iTouch. The portability of the iPhone and iTouch and ease of use of the application make it perfect for use at school, home or in the community.”

iConverse – Assisted Communication ($9.99): “iConverse is an educational tool designed for young children, autistic individuals, and individuals with other communicative disabilities, and also toddler-aged children who have yet to master language. iConverse is an Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that replaces bulky and expensive communication devices used in the past. iConverse gives users the ability to carry an AAC device in their pocket creating a means of communication that is appropriate, effective and discreet.”

AutismXpress (Free): “The ‘Autism Xpress’ iPhone Application has been created to help promote greater awareness about autism spectrum disorders. It is designed to encourage people with autism to recognizes and express their emotions through its fun and easy to use interface.”

Stories2Learn ($13.99): “Stories2Learn (S2L) offers parents and educators the ability to create personalized stories using photos, text, and audio messages. These stories can be used to promote an individual’s literacy, leisure, as well as social skills. In addition, S2L comes preloaded with a story illustrating the skills necessary to play a game with a friend.”

MyTalk Mobile ($39.99): “MyTalk Mobile for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad enables people with communication difficulties to express their needs and desires to those around them. Your purchase provides access to both MyTalk Mobile and MyTalk Workspace. Together, they represent a major breakthrough in augmentative, alternative communications (AAC) by making it easy to customize how you communicate through a variety of images, pictures, symbols and audio files including human voice.”

TapToTalk (Free): “Give your non-verbal child a voice! TapToTalk turns an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. TapToTalk makes communication fun, like another “game” on this cool device. Just tap a picture and TapToTalk speaks. Each picture can lead to another screen of pictures.”

iComm (Free): “The iComm (short for I Communicate) is an app providing an affordable, custom built and easy to use communication system using pictures and words – both written and spoken. It is ideal for children under three until they are able to express their needs through well formed speech. The iComm is also very useful for children with a broad range of disabilities who have trouble communicating such as cerebral palsy or autism.”