At HandHold Adaptive, we are thankful for many things and one of those is being able to work with so many individuals who either have special needs, work with those with special needs, or are parents of special needs children.  It is great to be able to see how are products are able to help so many! We are grateful for the support and give thanks during this holiday season.

To highlight a family that we are thankful for, Lani Blackburn shares her story of how iPrompts has helped her son and her family.  Thank you Lani for sharing your inspiring words!  Here is her story:

My name is Lani and my husband and I have a son with Autism. He was diagnosed at the age of 7. We have taken him to the doctors since he was 2 trying to figure out why he still was not saying many words. But they would just say that he was developmentally delayed. When he first was diagnosed with Autism – there were many feelings of frustration and disbelief. It took a bit to calm down and see why the doctor diagnosed Autism. He is now 12 years old and every day is a new day where we all learn and grow.

When our son first started ABA Therapy we learned about Visual Schedules. These are the ones on paper that tell the child what to do with the help of pictures. They worked for a bit and then it was always a battle. So we got rid of them and went back to just making sure that he was doing the daily routines that he needed to do. Trying to remind him that if he did them in order it would be easier to remember what he needed to do. All we got was lots of frustration on both sides. And this frustration wasn’t what we wanted.

I started to do research on Visual Schedules and found that there were apps that you could put on a device that did much more than a paper visual scheduler. I have been very impressed with iPrompts PRO. And it makes it even better when our son LOVES it too. No more frustration. He is now able to go through his schedule on his own with a device that helps to steer him in doing his routine in order.

With this app I can create schedules. I have three children. If I choose I can create a folder for each child with multiple schedules for those children. Each schedule can have a picture. I have used some pictures from the library on iPrompts PRO and others I have had to create using the camera on device. Some actions in a schedule need a timer. There is a countdown tab and we use that a lot. Our son is able to click on the countdown tab and use one of the timers I have created for him. For example he has a reading timer, a shower timer and a brush teeth timer. That way he doesn’t get frustrated trying to figure out how many minutes he has to set the timer for.

I am still in the process of learning more about this app each day. I haven’t even looked at the choices tab. Also, our son found the VideoPrompts – all on his own. He loves watching these videos. And he learns a lot on how he should handle a situation. I can’t think of better videos for him to watch.

We as a family love this app. There is less yelling and more peace at home. Our son gets to be more responsible and self-reliant all on his own. Thank you so much HandHold Adaptive. We needed you and you were there for us. Thank you for all you have done for our family.

–Lani