Whatever can help

With the event of being blessed with some money at the end of the financial year specifically tagged just for Josiah we had some money that we could spend on something that would help him with his treatment. After some thought and a considerable amount of research we decided very apprehensively that we should get him an iPad. They are not cheap and the risk is high with a young child that he might find it hard to look after it, but the benefits totally outweighed the risk (insurance for accidental damage is essential).

Through facebook I found a great group called A4cwsn who's mission is to help "provide parents and educators with more information about apps for the iPad and other such devices that can benefit children in the home and school environment." The most helpful aspect of this group which also has a website make videos of the different apps that would be helpful so that those looking at purchasing can actually see that they actually want to buy it instead of wasting money needlessly.

Once we had the apps installed it was amazing to see him using it and having fun doing things that would be helpful for his development. It's great to know that even playing a game like dexteria can develop his fine motor skills, he can practice reading or spelling, colours, speech therapy just about anything, therapy becomes fun.

The reality is as parents we would love to be able to have all the time to do everything for our kids, read to them everyday, or do all kinds of therapy have all the money to buy everything that they might need. We however are limited we get tired overwhelmed or sometimes don't have any idea on how to start. Their is a pressure and I felt that this week that everything they do in therapy or learning has to be a face to face interaction. There are only so many hours in the day and then add in the added issues of any other struggles such as challenging behaviour not wanting to do therapy or just normal developmental issues.

A part of me believes if there is something that can excite my son to learn, that will also help him master his struggles and give him support and practice. As long as we don't allow him to become addicted to the technology that is helping him and we monitor the time that he spends then what is the harm. It doesn't mean that this is the only way we will encourage his development just a sneaky one.