Devices to help kids through lockdown
An Aberfeldy group for families with special needs youngsters has bought tablet devices to try and help with the lockdown situation.
Aberfeldy Plus, a local group working with Friends of Breadalbane, supports ASN (additional special needs) families in the Breadalbane area which covers Aberfeldy, Kenmore, Rannoch and many settlements in between.
Seven up-to-date Samsung 10.1 tablets costing £200 each have been financed with a micro grant from the Griffin Wind Farm Community Fund.
The tablets will be loaned out, enabling online family meet ups, access to quizzes and special activities.
Aberfeldy Plus chair Jane Carmichael said: “For families with children who have additional needs, this time comes with so many difficulties.
“Families with children with ASN needs are a resilient bunch and have had to cope with isolation and loneliness, and being on the fringes of society for years.
“Many families never receive the education they need for their children or the social friendships that their children deserve.
“This lockdown has many components that families like myself face every day for years, but in addition, it causes immense stress on these families as well.
“The added stress comes with not being able to visit our special places we have had to create, or not keeping to our outside routines or go to the clubs we have managed to access.
“Many of our children cannot read, write, tell the time or know what day it is without routines and activities to hang the right day on and this causes immense confusion and stress in our children and young people.
“They cannot access the computerbased learning and are left with no alternatives.
“Lockdown puts unbearable stress and concern upon our families with ASN needs. The constant care and supervision our families have to give our children 24 hours a day can bring some to breaking point.
“So I ask if you know a family with a child who has ASN needs, then reach out and offer support or even just a word of encouragement.
“They have been left to get on with it with virtually no input from statutory services, no alternative education or support plan.
“I really welcome the arrival of these tablets for use by our community.”
Jane’s son Dylan got a boost when he was able make use of one of the new tablets to perform a live show for others in his PAMIS Tayside group which supports his special needs.
Dylan had an audience of 18 others like him who enjoyed his performance of an entertainment show based on ‘Justin’s House’ on CBBC.
The 13-year-old used Zoom with his Alexa device to line up a playlist of music which was woven around jokes and songs transmitted from his bedroom.
Dylan ended his show with a funny custard cream pie joke on his parents.