Haddonfield resident, Brad Bono, recently donated six Apple iPads as well as purchased four interactive applications for the Child Development Program of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center to enhance the curriculum for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).



Lourdes Child Development Services provide home based services to over 270 children with special needs and their families in Camden City and throughout parts of Camden County. At any given time, at least 20 percent of children in the program are diagnosed with ASD and require a significant amount of intervention and parent training. As a way to enrich the lives and education of these children, Child Development Services began seeking donations for Apple iPads.



Bono, a Board Member of the Lourdes Health Foundation whose 11 year old son, Ben, has autism, jumped at the opportunity. He has experienced firsthand with his own son, a diehard technolgy enthusiast, how effective technology is in strengthening interactive and communicative skills in children with ASD. He wanted to help other, less fortunate children reap the same benefits.



With autism affecting 1 in 100 children in the United States, the State of New Jersey is mandating an autism curriculum be put in place for children diagnosed with ASD and those receiving therapy services in Early Intervention.The curriculum will focus on increasing a child's expressive and receptive communication, cognitive skills, fine motor development and socialization with peers and adults.



Technology such as the iPad has been found to improve socialization, develop fine motor skills, increase attention span and assist in communication by allowing a child to use pictures, videos, symbols and language applications to communicate wants, needs and feelings.



Thanks to Bono's generous donation, Lourdes Child Development Services will be the first program in the area to use this technology and utilize this innovative treatment approach to enhance its curriculum for the children in the program.



The iPad offers various applications specifically designed for children with ASD such as: Proloquo2go, which aligns pictures to represent words, AutismXpress, which helps children identify emotions and Stories2Learn, which creates social stories to assist children in completing tasks.



The iPad's easy touch and swipe screen allows children with difficulty grasping a crayon or pencil due to poor fine motor skill development to operate the device. The predictability of the device also has greater appeal to autistic children rather than the unpredictability of adults and peers in social interactions. Additionally, communication through the iPad is believed to contribute to positive social behaviors by decreasing frustration and aggression in children with autism.



Perhaps Steve Jobs' sentiment of the iPad being a miracle device rings true after all.



Pictured: Jane Femia-Baider, Administrator of Rehabilitation Services, Lourdes Health System; Brad Bono, iPad donor and Board Member, Lourdes Health Foundation; Heather Haines, Early Intervention Supervisor for Child Development Program, Lourdes Health Foundation; Kimberly Barnes, Vice President of Planning, Lourdes Health System; Ruth Cila, Executive Director, Lourdes Health Foundation.