Update: Apps 

helping children 

with disabilities

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- New iPad 

applications allow children with disabilities 

to work on cognitive and motor skills in 

many different types of environments.

Michelle McClanahan is one of many 

parents nationwide caring for a child with 

special needs. 

"In the past, the things that he likes to play 

with always requires an extra hand," says 

McClanahan. 

Her son Riley developed a brain bleed at 

just two weeks old, paralyzing him on one 

side of if his body. 

"He is severely developmentally delayed," 

says McClanahan. 

Riley attends therapy one day a week, and 

the rest of the time you could probably find 

him in front of the iPad. 

"He does the matching game. That helps 

him with memory and memorization. It 

helps with his fine motor, so that he can 

push the button himself instead of using his 

whole hand," says McClanahan. 

The device offers several applications the 

12-year old can utilize, including books 

that read aloud and verbal applications 

that help teach him sentence structure. 

A website called snapps provides more 

than 30,000 apps. 

to provide 

parents with guidance on which one best 

fits their child. 

"I'm seeing more interest and drive in those 

kids when they have something to work for 

like using the IPad," says Speech 

Pathologist Brooke Harris of Easter Seals. 

Harris uses applications involving animal 

and environmental sounds to help her 

patients connect. 

Mcclanahan says it's helping her son  

connect socially as well. 

"We load our family pictures on there. When 

he goes to school, it opened a whole realm 

of friendship with his friends that he shares 

his family now, where in the past because 

he has difficulty with his speech many 

didn't know he had siblings at home," 

McClanahan says.

McClanahan says while buying an iPad is 

the most expensive thing about the 

process, she says for her child's progress 

it's worth every cent.