I am trying to raise money to buy an iPad for my Autistic nephew.

[Guest TN_Mike]

If anyone would like to help, please check this site out.

ChipIn: To buy an iPad for my Autistic Nephew

I read an article that talked about Autistic kids being helped by using iPads and I thought this would be worth a try for my nephew. The article actually says that the effect the iPad has on autistic kids is almost miraculous. My Sister-in-Law has told me that Wyatt, my nephew, has used an iPad once and she saw the same result in him that the article talks about.

read the article Is the iPad a 'Miracle Device' for Autism? - FoxNews.com

It's just Wyatt and his Mom. Mom doesn't make enough money to be able to get an iPad for him, she's doing good to keep her head above water. So I wanted to try to raise the money to get him one. I set a goal of $800. That will cover the iPad, a good protective case for it (he's 5 years old after all) and any shipping that it would require to get it to her.

So please, if you can, consider kicking in a few bucks to help out a great little guy. Here are a few pictures of him so you can see who you would be helping.

[Mike.357]

My youngest grandson is autistic. He is a wonderful little guy but like your nephew he is just not wired the way rest of us are.

I wish you the best with your very worthy cause, and I made a small donation for the little guy.

All the best to Wyatt and his Mama!

[G27]

Note - if you order it from Apple, shipping is free.

[Guest TN_Mike]

Note - if you order it from Apple, shipping is free.

I did not know that. (not an Apple guy, more of a PC guy) Thanks for the info! That may make this even easier!

My youngest grandson is autistic. He is a wonderful little guy but like your nephew he is just not wired the way rest of us are.

I wish you the best with your very worthy cause, and I made a small donation for the little guy.

All the best to Wyatt and his Mama!

Thank you very muc for the donation! It is greatly appreciated!

Edited April 8, 2011 by TN_Mike

[Guest Sgt. Joe]

That is one fine looking young man and it is a Nobel thing that you are doing.

It wasn't much but you are a little bit closer.

[Guest spoolie]

1 Question...who is paying the monthly bill on the Ipad?

[Guest mosinon]

You don't have to have a monthly bill on an iPad.

Get one from target (last years model) and you can be out the door for 330.

My kid exhibits some of the symptoms. It is true, he loved the iPad when I had one. But he loved my old iPhone more and loves his MacBook.

[G27]

Yah, hadn't thought of that - if you can still score a MB292LL/A (first gen, 16GB wifi iPad) it'll be $400 or less...

[Guest TN_Mike]

That is one fine looking young man and it is a Nobel thing that you are doing.

It wasn't much but you are a little bit closer.

Thank you so much. I greatly appreciate it! And so will Wyatt!

1 Question...who is paying the monthly bill on the Ipad?

No monthly bill. The thing that works so well with the iPad for autistic kids is that there are no keyboards or a mouse. it is all intuitive. You touch the screen where the thing is you want to manipulate is. They understand it from the moment they pick it up. It's really amazing.

You don't have to have a monthly bill on an iPad.

Get one from target (last years model) and you can be out the door for 330.

My kid exhibits some of the symptoms. It is true, he loved the iPad when I had one. But he loved my old iPhone more and loves his MacBook.

Thanks for the tip about buying one from Target! I will surely check that out. That could really bump the time line of this up!

[Mike.357]

My kid exhibits some of the symptoms. It is true, he loved the iPad when I had one. But he loved my old iPhone more and loves his MacBook.

get the kid checked out, ( there is no sort of autistic, it is all or none) IIRC one in 110 children are autistic.

My youngest grandson loves the iphone. He figured out on his own how to unlock it and how to find videos that were on it. It amazes me how smart he is. But in other ways it is hard to accept.

[Guest mosinon]

get the kid checked out, ( there is no sort of autistic, it is all or none) IIRC one in 110 children are autistic.

My youngest grandson loves the iphone. He figured out on his own how to unlock it and how to find videos that were on it. It amazes me how smart he is. But in other ways it is hard to accept.

I think six Doctors agree he isn't autistic. But six teachers agree he is. Well, they think he has aspbergers or something.

One Dad doesn't care. I'll do my bet with him and help him when he needs it. One Mom seems to really want him diagnosed. With something. It could probably rickets and she would be good with it.

A contentious issue around here. I'm wondering just how average you have to be to be normal.

[dralarms]

Mike,

I'm in but OOT right now. Get with you the first of the week.

I know you said Ipad but have you considered a android tablet? I just got a Viewsonic G-tab, 16 GB, duel core, 1 camera. Really nice. Or you can get a google tsablet on ebay but the g tab is a lot nicer machine.

[Mike.357]

I think six Doctors agree he isn't autistic. But six teachers agree he is. Well, they think he has aspbergers or something.

One Dad doesn't care. I'll do my bet with him and help him when he needs it. One Mom seems to really want him diagnosed. With something. It could probably rickets and she would be good with it.

A contentious issue around here. I'm wondering just how average you have to be to be normal.

My son and his wife were in denial ( I was too) for a long time. They had him diagnosed and there is no doubt. Everyone who checked him aggres on it.

I dunno if he will ever talk and potty training him has been difficult for them as he just does not communicate easily. He knows sign language, about 100 words I think they said. If you just saw him sitting and playing you would never know things aren't quite right. It is a very weird disease ( or whatver you would call it).

I am thankful my son has a good job and resources to help the little one along.

As for normal, who has the right to say?

[pitt2magic]

Definitely check the Apple website. You can get refurbished(still comes with the warranty) 1st Generation iPad pretty cheap right now. They are trying to get rid of the 1st Gen ones. I have two of them and see no reason to pay for the 2nd Gen version. I just checked the site for you. In the 3G models (no contract) they only have the 64GB model. That is the biggest hard drive they have right now and should hold anything he should ever need to put on it. The price is $529, free shipping.

For $499 you can get the new model 2nd Gen but the hard drive is only 16GB. hope this helps.

[Guest spoolie]

I have been dealing with Aspergers Syndrome for 17 years now...my oldest has a mild (functional) case of it.

[G27]

The refurb first gen 3g @ 64Gb is a SICK deal. the nice thing about the 3G is that you can 'pay as you go' month to month, so if they wanted to travel and use the 3G (streaming Netflix, for example), they could pay $25 for 2GB of data and use it on vacation or similar. Then, when the month is up or the data is used up, not renew, and they're done until they want more data access...

[Guest Jamie]

Been dealing with an autistic kid for 12 years now... my step-daughter. She was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome when she was 3 or 4, along with epilepsy and a few other behavioral issues.. In her case, keeping her away from television, computers, video games, etc. and keeping her more focused on people-interactive thing... and books... seems to have helped to some degree.

And no, I'm not saying that's the way to go with every autistic kid... there is no one set path, course, or treatment that'll work with all of 'em. They're all different and will require a person to figure out what needs to be done with that one individual child. And that's no quick or easy task.

These articles, that I ran across in the news a few days ago, do seem to explain why we've gotten the results that we have though:

Study Says Autistic Brains Focus More on Visual Skills"

Autistic's brain processing differs

We noticed early on that when my step-daughter was allowed to spend too much time in front of the TV and such, that one, that's all she would want to do, but also that her communications skills, interactivity with other people, and her general behavior, got MUCH worse. It wasn't until we started seriously limiting the TV and such that we started making any headway in those other areas. Evidently she needs to make a conscious, concerted effort to use the portions of her brain that control reason and decision-making, and allowing her to take the easy route of relying on the visual portion of her brain interferes with that.

I dunno... all I can say is that it seems to work with her.

Anyway, nothing really to contribute here, other than one more bit of information on someone else dealing with Autism.

Good luck with your nephew, Mike. I hope the Ipad helps.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Jamie

[Guest TN_Mike]

All good info. I like the refubed 1st gen model with the big HD on the Apple site. May have to go with that.

And the articles Jamie posted are pretty eye opening as well.

Thanks everyone!

[Guest TN_Mike]

Anyone else want to help out?

[Guest TN_Mike]

No one?? No one wants to help out a great little autistic boy? Anything that you can afford to donate will be appreciated more than I can tell you.

Please think about it. We are only $110 from the goal now.

[G27]

Do you have to reach the goal to get any of the cash?

[Guest TN_Mike]

Do you have to reach the goal to get any of the cash?

No it was just an amount my wife and I came up with that i know will cover everything that we needed to make the iPad usable for him.

I have reached the goal!! Thank you to everyone who kicked in some money! You have helped a great little boy who needed it! I will post pics of him with his iPad that you helped buy as soon as I have them. i will order it tomorrow!! Thank you again!!!!!

[Erik88]

Awesome! Glad to hear this Mike

[G27]

Rawk! Let us know what you go with!