A Boy and His iPad

I love that Isaac can "read" the Kung Fu Panda 2 storybook five times a day on his own. (I never enjoy those movie synopsis books.)

The iPad has had a big impact on Isaac's life, but not in the way that I had foreseen.  I thought it might simply help him learn new things.  It's gone beyond that.  It's helped him become more independent.

Before purchasing one, Mat and I went back and forth about whether it would be worth the money.  The touchscreen we'd purchased for our computer hadn't been a hit, it just frustrated him as does the computer mouse.

Isaac hates technology and is the only kid in his special ed class that didn't want to play on the classroom iPads.  His teacher even loaned one to us over a school break, to help us decide whether or not to get one for him.  There are so many wonderful educational applications that are exactly what Isaac needs.  She hoped that he would grow to like it if given more time with it, but he lost interest quickly, not wanting to play much beyond that first day.

The day we finally decided to make the purchase, I thought a lot about the reason I felt that Isaac hadn't wanted much to do with iPad.  I had seen the hubbub surrounding these rectangular wonders, and Isaac is a kid that likes to avoid hubbub.  He even has trouble standing in line for the slide.  If someone comes up behind him, he moves back to let them go first until he is finally back so far that he isn't close enough to be considered "in line" anymore.  He doesn't like being in the middle of anything like that.  At school and at home, everyone vied for a turn with the iPad and you really had to be assertive to get your hands on it and keep it.  I was hoping if I could stop the clamor, Isaac would want to play.

After going to three stores to find the iPad 2 with just the right amount of memory and staying up late to get it all set up with Isaac's iTunes playlist and "Monkey Preschool Lunchbox" loaded on, Mat went to work and I was left with the task of introducing the iPad to Isaac.  I was nervous he would look at the $700 educational toy and refuse to play with me.  That is almost how it went down, but as I spoke with him about it, inspiration came:  "This is your iPad, Isaac," I told him. "The boys have their DS and Josie has her Leapster and this is yours to play on.  If anyone wants to play, they have to ask you.  Here, see, it has your favorite game on it already and your playlist."

I began punching "buttons" and his favorite song issued from the speakers.  This caught his interest.  He loves music.  As whomever it is who sings Dynamite told us to "throw our hands up in the air" he reached for the iPad, started exploring, and somehow found an episode of Backyardigans that I hadn't realized Mat had put on there.  He was liking this!

The other kids started waking up and coming out to see what was going on.  As they gathered around, I told them that this was Isaac's.  Just as they all had their own hand-held screens, so too did he.  I could see Isaac feeling important instead of nervous as the other kids gathered around him.  I felt so excited to see that instead of shying away, he was feeling confident.  He shared it a little, but mostly he kept a hold of the iPad himself as he slowly learned to use it.  His best teacher was Josie who sat beside him helping him explore all its applications quickly and easily.

Mat came home and I told him excitedly about the day and how much Isaac loved the iPad.  I concluded with the admonition that we mustn't put other people's games on it, so that he would continue to feel like it was his.  (Mat has only struggled slightly with this idea.  The next day he put a basketball game on, but has only been in trouble with Isaac one day for hogging the iPad.)

A great iPad moment occurred soon after we got it.  I took Josie and Isaac to Hobby Lobby, the dreaded store where Mom and Josie look at things and boys get bored and into trouble quickly.  I put Isaac in the cart with his iPad and he played with the "ABC Flashcards" app the whole time.  This was especially awesome because kids with Down syndrome need to see things thousands of times more than other children before they actually learn it.  For example, Isaac has known his letters since he was two.  Truly--he has, although, at that point he used only sign language.  Still, he has known them for years but has yet to get a perfect score when they test him on his alphabet at school.  (I don't know why--he gets different letters wrong every time.)  Now, here I was shopping while he got to work on letters.  On the day this was his favorite app, he probably scrolled through the alphabet ten to fifteen times without feeling like it was work!  This is what I had hoped for, but the repetition was beyond what I actually expected.

Other unexpected things happened when we got home from that trip.  Isaac got out of the van by himself instead of waiting for a hand to hold from me and then turned to close the van door with the push of a button that normally had to be pointed out before he would use it.  I began to hear more "I do it myself" around the house. I saw that with the iPad had given him a taste of independence, and he craved more.

Prior to the iPad, Isaac could not run things on his own.  His MP3 player and the DVD players are too complex.  Many drawers, doors, and latches are too hard to work with his weak little hands.  So this made him feel like a pretty big man, being able to switch from music to games to movies (we are careful to only put short, educational movies on here) without any help.  As he became more independent, it reminded me to look more closely at tasks in his life that he could be successful at on his own and encourage him to do them with as little guidance as possible.

It has helped Isaac with other children too.  Although Isaac is talking a lot now, he can still be difficult to understand and the iPad has given him a new way to socialize.  First, he has something other kids are interested in right off the bat.  Second, it is something they can talk about while engaged in the same activity.  Isaac is much easier to understand if you have a reference point as to what he's saying.

There have been too many times when Isaac would sit back, suck his thumb, and watch life going on around him.  Too many times when he would follow me from room to room and watch me hoping I would stop and put on a movie, no matter how many times I'd tell him to go play with something.  He has learned to play by himself more this past year, but now he has something that can entertain him for longer periods of time when everyone else in the house is busy.  The best part of all is that, at least so far, he hasn't become too attached to it.  He definitely prefers to take it with him if we are going somewhere, but he doesn't play it as constantly as this post makes it sound.  It has helped him to experience life more without becoming his life.  I love it!