All Hail the parents and teachers of children with learning disabilities who never give up hope! Special Ed teachers toil every day to teach students with a variety of disabilities. Some children, like the one in this news piece, may seem hopeless. Day after day, teachers teach…but may never know if they are even being heard. They may wonder, as these parents did: “Is he even in there?”. Imagine finding a way to communicate with people after being (seemingly) uncommunicative for nearly 20 years!
It is wonderful that the iPad released Watson from the prison of his disability. But it was the parents and special ed teachers who never gave up that allowed Watson to recognize and use the keyboard letters to type out a message. He obviously knew how to read and write. He was just physically incapable of doing so until the iPad. It was his teachers who taught him to be literate. The iPad simply allowed them to see the fruits of their mighty efforts! Technology, no matter how wonderful, will never replace the Annie Sullivans of this world with their relentless efforts to stream light and sound into seemingly closed worlds.
I know this comment is a little late, but our family went through this with my own autistic brother. In about 1995, it was discovered that my severely autistic brother could communicate through typing. At the time, it was on a device that had words come out on a ticker tape. He communicated quite a bit, but stopped for years. Unfortunately, my parents kind of gave up. Now that they are gone, my sisters and I are trying again. A couple of weeks ago he told my sister that he felt sad by selecting the word on the iPad screen. He did not type it out, but clearly selected it on purpose.
He does not always want to communicate. My sisters and I are trying to find a communication app to use with I’m on an iPad. He communicates best with my younger sister. He does not communicate well with me. I’m like Watson’s dad. I don’t know why.
You should read about Carley Fleischman. Google her story and don’t believe the folks that are saying it’s a hoax.