Tablets Are Game-Changers For Special Needs Kids

theodp writes "The rise of mainstream tablets is proving to have unforeseen benefits for children with speech and communication problems and may disrupt a business where specialized devices can cost thousands of dollars. iPad apps like Proloquo2Go ($189) aim to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy, down syndrome, developmental disabilities, ALS, traumatic brain injury, aphasia, apraxia, and more. Even Steve Jobs didn't see this one coming: 'We take no credit for this, and that's not our intention,' said Jobs, who's been touched by email he gets from parents of special needs kids for whom the iPad is proving to be a life-changer. 'Our intention is to say something is going on here,' Jobs added, suggesting that researchers should 'take a look at this.' Even though they might cost significantly less than dedicated devices, SUNY speech pathologist Andrea Abramovich explained Medicare doesn't cover consumer tablets because they could be used for non-medical purposes."

Comments

Ha your great medicare

[JonySuede]

Medicare doesn't cover consumer tablets because they could be used for non-medical purposes

Some part of the medical community have this mentality that under no circumstance should a medical treatment be enjoyable even if it cost less or it is more effective...

Re:Ha your great medicare

[codegen]

The problem is that this is not new. There have been many cases recently where custom software on a regular computer would make a world of difference and it is turned down in favour of a much more expensive custom hardware solution because the regular computer can be used for non-medicinal purposes. The inability to recognize the iPad as a fundable solution is just the latest in a sequence of such bureaucratic blindness.

Re:Ha your great medicare

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Before they could approve it, Medicare would have to some up with some reasonable way to ensure that the device is being used to do what the government purchased it to do.

No. You totally missed the point. The problem is that the cost of this "ensurance" is too high to be practical. Something like an ipad is ~$400. But a medicare approved ipad is going to be ~$4000 (just look at hearing aids for an example - components not all that different from a blutooth headset but 10x-50x the cost). The answer is to eat the waste of misuse for low cost items because the cost of ensuring that there is no waste is higher than the waste itself.

Re:Icrap is kid friendly

[Nerdfest]

It would be nice if they'd allow in one to help people learn to program. As far as I know Alan Kay/MIT's Scratch app is still rejected.

Re:Go Fuck Yourself

[jamrock]

My eldest niece is now 25 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy. It's easy to make fun of people with special needs, but it's an insulting slap in the face to their heroic caregivers. When I think about the endless love, countless hours of attention, and enormous amounts of money my brother and sister-in-law spent on their child and the heartache they endured, to have some smug, basement-dwelling maggot going for the cheap laughs enrages me to the point that I want to rip their eyeballs out through their assholes.

Oh, and fuck you too.

Re:Icrap is kid friendly

[johnlcallaway]

My kids could do that too when they were about that age.

20 years ago. Because they had parents that read to them every night and interacted with them.

If someone is saying the only reason their kids know these things is because of iPhones, iPads, or educational apps, I feel very sorry for them....