Smart devices, apps help kids with ‘special’ needs
Blessing ... communication made easier
KUWAIT CITY, June 13, (KUNA): Smart electronic devices and applications could be a curse for children, but they are a blessing for peers with special needs.
Numerous studies have shed light on the grave impacts of electronic devices, smart phones and tablets, on children’s health and behavior, but for children with special needs, they have proved to be instrumental in helping them better communicate and integrate into the society.
When Mohammad Omar, a 10-year-old Kuwaiti boy, was two years and eight months, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, ASD, which includes a wide range, “a spectrum,” of symptoms, skills, and levels of disability such as difficulty communicating and interacting with others; and repetitive behaviors as well as limited interests or activities.
Directly after the diagnosis, his family started a long treatment journey at home and abroad.
Firstly, Omar was sent to the United States where he stayed for two years receiving intensified therapy sessions, each takes up to eight hours a day.
Then he was transferred to a specialized medical center in the United Arab Emirates to complete treatment.
Upon returning home, his family employed to a special doctor to help the child develop required skills for his everyday life.
“Since his conception 10 years ago, I have never heard the voice of my son,” tearful mother Sara Jarragh told KUNA.
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“To communicate with him, we restored to sign language and then moved to photo cards. But when he was in the United Arab Emirates, one of his doctors advised us to use a smart application to help Omar express himself, his needs and communicate with others.”
She pointed out that the application can be downloaded and installed on smart phones and other electronic devices such as tablets.
This application includes many sections which cover different aspects of life such as colors, shapes, animals, plants, and people, from which Omar chooses what he wants to build a sentence which the app loudly utters on his behalf.
“This app has become the voice of voiceless people,” Jarragh said, describing the app as “a major breakthrough.” Jarragh said that she has read about the negative impacts of electronic devices on children, but the use of electronic devices was a blessing for the case of her son.
“I would continue using such kind of apps till I hear the voice of my son,” she stressed. Ali Al-Hadi has a bit different story from that of Omar.
Al-Hadi, two years and a half Kuwaiti boy, was diagnosed with Spina Bifida which is a birth defect where there is incomplete closing of the backbone and membranes around the spinal cord.
His mother, Ghadeer Baqer, uses smart devices applications and social networking sites to spread awareness about Spina Bifida which few people know anything about and offer counselling and help to pregnant mothers whose fetus was diagnosed as having the same illness.
“These applications and sites have also helped me create a community for families with Spina Bifida children to support each others,” Baqer told KUNA.