gopher321: 'Tard + iPad = broken iPad

Hate much?

'Tard + iPad = average iPad owner

gopher321: 'Tard + iPad = broken iPad

how about you eat a nice bag of flaming cock.

That's cool that they finally have an actual use.

Cause otherwise... they're pretttttty useless.

/people are so stupid

angry in here!

Flaming cock is over rated

Well that's it. They finally have an app for everything.

Stimulus App!

Why punish the handicap with apple products?

The Apple hate is getting kinda stale, guys.

I know, I know: "fanboy" or "hipster" or whatever, but still...

Gettin' stale.

They will never replace the helmet or the tricycle in my high school class !!! They are hard to bend around the ears and there is no where place the basket.

SkinnyHead uses an iPad.

Another example of journalists jumping to conclusions. All we really know is there is a corelation between mental disabilities and ipads. We still don't know if ipads cause mental disablilities or if the mentally disabled are particularly fond of ipads.

Not hard to figure out, I've seen cats go wild on those things. I'm not gonna make fun of disabled people, but my cat acts pretty retarded sometimes.

Headline fails for not specifically mentioning Farkers as the ones who have social/communication difficulties.

FTFA Headline: iPads especially helpful for special-needs students teachers.

fixed

Student with a disability and a brand new iPad. Getting a kick, etc.

/not why I bought it
//desperately wish this thing could help me with my disability
///taking over for my poor, cracked and crumbling 3GS that has been my favored media/everything device for years now

Am I the only person who thinks this is the last generation that will learn American Sign Language? In less than 10 years, deaf people will just carry an ipad (or whatever) to do text to speech and back.

Awesome. That's exactly what the internet needs: more people with intellectual disabilities posting comments.

My first ISP (Clarinet) was created by a deaf guy as a communication method.

illegal.tender: The Apple hate is getting kinda stale, guys.

I know, I know: "fanboy" or "hipster" or whatever, but still...

Gettin' stale.

It's cool, you enjoy that Venti tablet you have there. It keeps the economy flowing out to China.

What's the difference between an iPad and a disabled person? One is barely functional, inflexible and a drain on finances. The other is a disabled person

/iGot nothing

StaleCoffee: illegal.tender: The Apple hate is getting kinda stale, guys.

I know, I know: "fanboy" or "hipster" or whatever, but still...

Gettin' stale.

It's cool, you enjoy that Venti tablet you have there. It keeps the economy flowing out to China.

lol, not as much as an iPad.

gopher321: 'Tard + iPad = broken iPad

Can't disagree. I dropped mine while trying unlock my front door and sure enough the screen is chipped now.

/tard

seems obvious to me, if someone has difficulty with communication then using anything that encourages communication would probably help. Practice makes perfect. Same principle as letting kids read comic books etc... read anything, as long as they're reading. Texting, chat, im-ing, whatever it's all good.

cowgirl toffee: BurnShrike: Awesome. That's exactly what the internet needs: more people with intellectual disabilities posting comments.

Most of those people I have on my favorites. *stares at BurnShrike*

You're the one that keeps making people stupid around here? Stop favouriting everyone then!

gopher321: 'Tard + iPad = broken iPad

Actually, compared to most AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communications) devices, iPad is extremely cheap, insanely versatile and very rugged.

I remember when I was in my ed program, one student had a response board - literally just a big plastic board with pictures of things. A person nodding for yes, shaking head for no, colors, objects, ect. Turns out the board cost his family over 100$ out-of-pocket after insurance. AAC things are obscenely over priced for what they are.

An iPad can have custom Apps developed for pennies on the use, they can be responsive and they can have Adaptive tech connected to them (such is sip-and-blow controllers for people with physical disabilities).

They make for great toys, but are totally useless otherwise.
Not to say that I object to fun toys... But it annoys the hell out of me when I'm sitting in a meeting, and every damn person at the table is playing on the iPad rather than paying attention.

durbnpoisn: it annoys the hell out of me when I'm sitting in a meeting, and every damn person at the table is playing on the iPad rather than paying attention.

You sound boring.

SilentOpus: Am I the only person who thinks this is the last generation that will learn American Sign Language? In less than 10 years, deaf people will just carry an ipad (or whatever) to do text to speech and back.

No - Speech (which ASL is) is much faster then any sort of adaptive tech. ASL will continue, just as the dozens of other things that were to destroy Deaf Culture (ASL itself, Cochlear Implants) haven't.

durbnpoisn: They make for great toys, but are totally useless otherwise.
Not to say that I object to fun toys... But it annoys the hell out of me when I'm sitting in a meeting, and every damn person at the table is playing on the iPad rather than paying attention.

I'm taking notes and looking up how full of crap you are.

"I can't even read my own handwriting," Ballard said. "That doesn't help the whole note-taking process. [The tablet] promotes great learning for me and helps keep me interested."

I feel like him using an iPad is the worst possible way to help an 8th grader who can't read his own handwriting. But maybe someday soon we won't even need hand writing..

dehehn: "I can't even read my own handwriting," Ballard said. "That doesn't help the whole note-taking process. [The tablet] promotes great learning for me and helps keep me interested."

I feel like him using an iPad is the worst possible way to help an 8th grader who can't read his own handwriting. But maybe someday soon we won't even need hand writing..

Depends on the goal. If the goal is to increase the legibility of handwriting, then definitely not. If the goal is to communicate information and assess progress, then it sounds like the iPad is a beneficial choice.

dehehn: "I can't even read my own handwriting," Ballard said. "That doesn't help the whole note-taking process. [The tablet] promotes great learning for me and helps keep me interested."

I feel like him using an iPad is the worst possible way to help an 8th grader who can't read his own handwriting. But maybe someday soon we won't even need hand writing..

Yeah, no hand writing. For a tablet with touch capabilities you need finger painting instead.

Actually, I will vouch for this.

My dad has primary lateral sclerosis - basically, ALS without the death sentence. Since 2001, his motor functions and muscle tone have been degrading steadily. Along with that goes speech...the tongue is a muscle, after all. Maybe six, seven years ago, it's hard to say now, he started struggling with certain consonant sounds, and his speech slowed down some. For the last four years or so, it's been pretty difficult to understand him. The brain is unaffected, so all the words are there, but he can't get the sounds out. If you know what he's talking about, you can maybe decipher it, or he can sometimes spell enough of the word so you know what he's trying to say. Sometimes, it's damn frustrating and he'll just give up entirely. And if we go somewhere loud (we're NASCAR and ice hockey fans), you pretty much have to resort to hand gestures, because you're not going to get anything from what's left of his speech.

Of course, this was part of his prognosis from the start, so the doctors set him up with a tablet PC loaded up with big built-in speakers and a touchscreen-based application so you can type in what you want to say. Eventually, when he loses motor function of his hands, the unit can be fitted with an eye tracking camera that will allow him to choose his selections visually. I think the price tag for all of this was around $8000, less whatever insurance covered (I think all of it).

But it's a Windows-based tablet, so it's sluggish. On a battery, it's good for about two hours of use. It's heavy for him to carry around (we don't have it attached to his wheelchair yet). And it was expensive.

So maybe a year and a half ago, I was visiting with Mom and Dad, and we got on the subject of his tablet. My parents bought me an iPad a couple years ago, and so we started thinking, could the iPad be a more convenient tool for my father? My dad had done a little research, and there was a pricey app available for what they call AAC - adaptive and assistive communication. I visited the App Store, and there was a free app called Verbally. The interface was similar to the software on my dad's tablet. My dad gave it a whirl, and loved it. My mom picked up an iPad off Craigslist, and we went to town.

My dad hasn't looked back. It's the perfect tool. It's light and easy to handle (for someone with limited strength and grip), the battery lasts eight or ten hours between charges, and with the $100 optional update to Verbally this winter, he has almost all the features of his ERICA system (he can store phrases to tell my mother stories when she gets home from work, to update his doctor, or to give the kid down the street instructions on what to do with the lawn). And if he drops it in the kitchen or it gets wet, it's cheap to replace.

I still sometimes wonder how my iPad has enriched me beyond giving me a way to surf the Web from the toilet. But where my dad's tablet would never leave the kitchen table, he can take the iPad wherever he goes, home or not. It means Dad being able to tell me what song Chicago just started playing, or to share what he just heard on the scanner radio, or to tell me something funny he heard on Howard Stern's show that morning. At an IndyCar race last year, we talked to a few different fans in our grandstands about how he and I were communicating, and how they could use something similar for their disabled kids. For a guy whose brain is every bit as sharp as it was, it's the closest we can get to giving him his voice back.

/csb

durbnpoisn: They make for great toys, but are totally useless otherwise.
Not to say that I object to fun toys... But it annoys the hell out of me when I'm sitting in a meeting, and every damn person at the table is playing on the iPad rather than paying attention.

Then stop holding retarded meetings that nobody gives a rat's ass about anyway.

saintstryfe: Actually, compared to most AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communications) devices, iPad is extremely cheap, insanely versatile and very rugged.

I remember when I was in my ed program, one student had a response board - literally just a big plastic board with pictures of things. A person nodding for yes, shaking head for no, colors, objects, ect. Turns out the board cost his family over 100$ out-of-pocket after insurance. AAC things are obscenely over priced for what they are.

I should have refreshed because I knew I'd mess up AAC. It's still a codec to me.

Durable medical goods are outrageous, no question. When I heard my parents say that a slow tablet PC with a speaker dock on the back, a crappy USB keyboard and a camera cost somewhere around $8000 - and the software looked like it was designed for people who had mental difficulties as well as physical (though to be fair, it's going to be used by all sorts of people, so it has to be universal and friendly) - I couldn't believe it.

Even if you wanted to spring for ProLoquo, the other hot AAC app for the iPad last I checked, you're well under $1000 for an iPad and the app itself. Verbally is free, but the paid version has a lot of enhancements, just subtle stuff that makes conversation easier for my dad.

Last summer, we were talking (well, I did the talking, my dad did the demonstrating) to a couple about my dad's age, who were looking for something similar for their son (in his twenties, I'd say). One thing they mentioned was that their insurance provider wouldn't pay for an iPad because "it can be connected to the Internet, therefore it can be used for recreation." Seeing as insurance/Medicare covered my dad's ERICA tablet, I was a bit surprised. Particularly since turning off WiFi on an iPad is about as difficult as disabling the wireless NIC on his tablet. Oh, and the AAC applications (both on the tablet and on the iPad) can interface with e-mail clients. Curious, that.

sure haven't: That's cool that they finally have an actual use.

Cause otherwise... they're pretttttty useless.

/people are so stupid

Amazing the amount of i-hate around here. My family was dithering about whether to buy an Ipad or not and the anti-Apple sentiment made me think twice about it. But we finally pulled the trigger about 6 mos ago and it was totally worth the price.

Email or web-browse from wherever in the house without having to turn on/off your computer. Games, maps, watch TV or netflix or downloaded videos (great for kids), educational games, news, books. It's not a computer, and isn't going to replace a computer, but it's fantastic for other reasons. Maybe other tablets are better, but to call the iPad useless is just unfathomable to me after owning one for a while.

SilentOpus: Am I the only person who thinks this is the last generation that will learn American Sign Language? In less than 10 years, deaf people will just carry an ipad (or whatever) to do text to speech and back.

ASL was doomed long ago when implants were approved by the ADA.

bingethinker: BurnShrike: Awesome. That's exactly what the internet needs: more people with intellectual disabilities posting comments.

Sort of like the iHaters in this thread.

I don't hate Apple. I hate tablets. They're toys.