The tablet to me is not just neat technology its a deliver of miracles. While we dont own yet, I cant wait to get one for my son. I have seen what these devices have done for other kids that have autism. We use an android smart phone. To many fine motor control that prevent usage a keyboard and mouse also prevent speech for some individuals. With these devices we are seeing People that had no voice before, have one now. Now that is just something beautiful.

We use it here at work for remote support. Love it. The only think I dont like about it, is that you have to have it installed on the local machine to use. But that is just nit-picking.

And I can give a lot more detail than this. On some of the ideas I have. The final product is a AAC device for communication. But there are many programs that can be written before that, to help people get to that point. Like for example: A program that uses google images. Sends a random word to the database, an image is returned. The name is read out loud, then a game is created showing letters. The person then has choices of letters they can use. Some are right and some are wrong. Make it like a game, its fun and it teaches. Also add the ability to put your own words in to search on for the game. One of my sons favorite things in the world is hangers. And I use google images to teach him with that, because he is interested and fascinate by cloths hangers. You would not find that in a regular kids game. Just one example. Also something people not be aware of. And why I am leaning more towards the android Tablet. The keyboard gives a slight vibration when typing. I am not sure yet but if the keyboard can do that, I am thinking images on the screen might do that too.. Its feedback that a person with a development challenge might find calming to the nervous system. There is a behavior that some autistic people do. It is called Stimming. From what I understand about this behavior it is the vibration from the repeated movement that calms the nervous system. This is only a theory as I yet have a device to test this with. But I think the slight vibration of the keyboard would give an autistic individual an incentive to want to use the device.

I would be very interested in this. Not just for my own son, but for a lot of people that live with challenges in their life. I do not have a link to this blog site on me at the time. But something I read over the weekend really made me realize how important the computer can be for a challenged individual. A non-verbal Autistic boy wrote this about his life.. "Before typing my life was poor, now I am free.." People dont realize that their code can give so much for a person life. Words are important, without a way to express them, you lead a very lonely life. I am very interested in AAC - [^] Some of the problems with AAC 1. Its expensive and usually only serves one purpose. 2. A lot of them are very big and hard to lug around. 3. These devices the way they are now have no way to tailor The keyboard to a users needs. Some people respond better with pictures while others are fine with a alpha numeric keyboard. 4. They also draw unwanted attention sometimes to the person using them. Android Tablets/Phones, Iphone/Ipad answer some of the call to this. 1. Applications can be free/low cost. Market places make this application more available. 2. Keyboards interface can be modified to be tailored to the users needs. 3. Devices are so common, a person could use these without looking out of place. 4. A computer is a picture device. You can teach with either pictures/sound/text. 5. And of course portable big thing here. Would love to talk to other developers on how to do this. What kind of applications we could all make to give an important gift. Words..

The people I am mostly interested in reaching are Autistic kids, that are non-verbal. Being the father of a non-verbal kid, its something that touches my heart. I want to give my own son a voice , just in case he never develops his own. Most people assume if you cant speak there are no words in your head. Technology is showing us this is not true. AAC devices, while a help with these kids are very expensive. Most units will run for about 1.5K. Some of the good software out there runs about $225 dollars plus the expenses of hardware. So an Ipad would run about 1k, still cheaper than the 1.5k of the JUST AAC units on the market now. The smart phones, such as the droid and Iphone are great, but for this we need tablet devices. Because some of these kids also have motor control issues, where a phone device would be hard to use. A tablet the perfect size and portability to use in public. My short term goals is to develop a free AAC device on a droid platform. My long term goal, is to be able to fund raise to get these type of devices into the hands of kids that have disabilities. Android is cheap, android tablets are getting cheaper. I am thinking for the price of just one Ipad, I can produce 3 droid tablets with special software. More kids would be helped. Yup long road to get there, have to learn java, get myself a droid tablet device. But for me this seems a Financial reality with the droid, than apple or Microsoft could provide.

Thank you for that, appreciate that. I must admit that mostly I am looking at cost. Lots of special need families dont have the money laying around to afford the devices from Apple or microsoft. Google offers a cheaper solution that more people can afford. Yes java is a learning curve for me, going to take time to get there. Also want to provide these applications for free, the cost of development for me, I can afford and will allow me to make my applications free. Its a labor of love.

Thank so you so much for the suggestion and help. Got it all installed, did the hello world thing. It rocks. Now to get a better understanding of Java and android and I am ready to help some kids.

So that would be using Java and eclipse as my development environment? Android doesnt have any visual studio tools do they? I have the express version at home, and use a professional version at work. I could tackle learning java for that..

Being a father of children with special needs, I am always asking myself , with what I know how can I make a difference in my kids life and others. What I am looking for here is focus. What platform? What languages should I learn? So that I can design software that helps individual that have extra challenges in their life. We need something cheap, a lot of families that have people with special needs in them, most extra money goes to medical care, and other various expenses other have no idea of. We need something portable and has touch screen. The mouse and keyboard while a great invention, acts as a barrier sometimes to people that have disabilities especially mental. Touch is easy. What platform would met those needs, while having a low cost?

Is there anyone else out there that is doing any kind of development writing software to help Autistic kids and others with Disabilities? I would really be interested in hearing about your work and bounce ideas off of you.. No I do not work in the field, but I have an autistic son, and I am doing all of my development as a hobby, not my main job. My dream one days is to do this full time, as its my passion. I am really excited that touch-screen monitors and devices are comming more into the market so that they become cheaper. As a simple mouse might be easy for you to use, for these individuals its a barrier. Then there is also Microsoft surface, which I belief if we could get microsoft interested could really help these kids and adults that are on the spectrum. Its what I call the first real social computer as more than one person can work on it at a time. To some its like big deal, they have two people playing on it at once. But if you could design programs that teach social interaction, this could be one of the greatest tools to help people on the spectrum come more into the world. Any information your could provide where other individuals are developing software to help the disabled I would be thankiful for.. Thank you Todd