Communication Impaired kids get free iPads

Technology is helping some Central Coast children face a really big challenge. One that prevents them from communicating with their mothers, fathers and other members of their families.

The children have communication impairments making it difficult or impossible for them to simply talk with family or friends.

Thursday though was the start of an all new way for them to express themselves.

Reid Dove will turn four years old in October. He’s just as active as most kids his age but can’t communicate like them.

The same can be said for many of the children that go to Monterey’s Central Coast Language and Learning Center.

Now, the experts at CCLLC say that can change thanks to brand new iPads.

Courtney Long is a speech language pathologist. She says they’ve worked for close to a year to get the technology through the family’s insurance but couldn’t get anywhere. After a chance meeting with the founder of Bay Area non-profit “Omar’s Dream Foundation” the iPads, worth hundreds of dollars, are now in the kid’s hands. Something Reid’s mom Anna is grateful for.

“I know my little boy and I know that there’s somebody in there that’s dying to come out,” Dove said, “This is going to be his chance to come out and talk to us.”

Not only is the technology on the iPads cutting edge, the devices are more comfortable and portable for the kids.

“Everybody has one, everybody’s able to access it and that stigma is no longer there,” Long said.

Now Courtney and the team at Central Coast Language and Learning Center are ready to coach the families on how to use the powerful new tool.

“Comunication,” Long said, “Is powerful and we take it for granted too often and today these families have been given that power.”

The families will have the iPads with them for three weeks to play around with before they get to the more serious business of how to use them to communicate.

The folks there say that the kids are already well on their way to mastering their new iPads.