Another story about amazing uses for today’s technology

I’ve written quite a bit about the iPad I use on a daily basis. I bought it last year — I think it was in May.

It’s the absolute truth that this device has changed my day-to-day life as much as any device or tool I’ve purchased in years (the fancy washer and dryer from about five years ago is a close second). I mean, the washer and dryer didn’t effectively replace my heavy laptop or my large portfolio notebook I always carried around.

So we know I like my iPad. That much is clear.

Azon Meyers presses on the screen to show he understand the letter “D” is for dolphin. Special education teachers at the Children’s Center in Bethany are using iPads in therapy sessions with children. PHOTOs BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN

But then I read Sonya Colberg’s story on Sunday about how iPads are being used to help improve the communication skills of children with disabilities at The Children’s Center in Bethany.

It was a great story that helps us see how people in all aspects of our community are using technological tools to make their lives and other lives around them better.

Scribbling helps children learn to communicate, she explained. But that early step is often lost to children like Abbagale who can’t hold a crayon or tap a keyboard.

Yet with her wrists in slings, Abbagale can draw or “turn” the pages of an alphabet book by lightly sliding a fingertip across the iPad screen.

Her teacher asked if she wanted to draw. The child turned those big eyes upward, meaning yes.

I shared those three paragraphs because it made me stop and shake my head. … And I thought my iPad changed my life.