PLEA FOR RETURN OF IPAD

Autistic man’s device taken from car

A young autistic Windsor man and his mother are desperately hoping for the return of his specialized iPad.

The device was stolen from Michelle Helou’s open vehicle in the 100 block of Oak Avenue late Friday afternoon as she helped her 20-year-old son Noah into the house and unloaded items. “We got home, the car was in the driveway,” Michelle said. “I was trying to get him in the house and my hands were full with bags and items to go into the house. “When I went back to the car it was gone.” Helou has filed a report with Windsor police and made a Facebook plea for the return of the specialized iPad. She is distraught over the loss of her son’s machine which he has used daily for the last several years.

The device is strictly programmed to be used only as a specialized communication tool for Noah, who is non-verbal and needs the machine in order to indicate his wishes, she said.

“It’s of no use to anybody,” Helou said. “You can’t use it for the internet or anything else. My son is non-verbal and it’s strictly a communication device for him — just in an iPad form. “If he wants to eat or is thirsty, he goes to pictures through the device. If he wants pudding, has a headache or wants his mom, he uses the machine and it talks for him.” The device is in a military-style case about the size of a normal laptop with a large black shoulder strap for its protection in case Noah drops the machine. The case is very difficult to remove, Helou said.

The mother attempted to trace the machine — which is loaded with what’s known as a specialized Proloquo2Go program — through iCloud, but it has remained off-line. The device has a serial identification # DMPSFLQVHG5D. Helou remains hopeful it will show up at a local pawnshop or the guilty party will return the machine with no questions asked to police.

“We just want it back,” Helou said. “It’s geared for (Noah) and his needs.

“It looks like an iPad, but everything in it is geared for him. This is his lifeline because he is nonverbal.”

Windsor police confirmed the theft on Tuesday.

“We can only make a plea that some nice soul will return it,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Murphy of Windsor police.

Anyone with information can call Windsor police at 519-2556700 or Crime Stoppers at 519258-8477.

It looks like an iPad, but everything in it is geared for him. This is his lifeline because he is non-verbal.

NICK BRANCACCIO Noah Helou holds an empty iPad box along with his support worker, Kristina Clark, on Tuesday in Helou’s Windsor home. Helou uses his specialized iPad to communicate but the device was stolen from his mother’s car while he was being helped into their...