Autism?!

Hey there!!

I'm the mother of a non-verbal 10 year old child who has Autism and is going to be having a hospital stay just shortly as he's having to go in for an operation. I was wondering if there were any applications that you kind people that have taken the time to read this could suggest that may help him express his needs within the hospital to the nursing staff or doctors?

My son uses the PEC's communication cards at school however we can't get him to co-operate with them at home but I think if he was to have something that's similar to that on my android phone he may find that this is more appealing? I know I sound like an absolute cheapskate - however if it was possible to find a version that had a trial period type thing that would be a massive help too - I don't wanna go out paying for applications that he may not tolerate and have wasted my money when I could have spent it on something that would be more suitable in another form.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, hopefully you's will have some good idea's!!

Well hey there and thanks so much for the reply!!

I wasn't sure if I was taking a big stab in the dark asking in here but the worst that could have happened was I'd get no reply lol!!

I shall download that app and give it a try!! Hopefully it'll be the one that he's able to accept at home as the PECS he wont use anywhere other than school. He's certainly taught us so much about life, we've been through everything from self harming to obsessive screaming. Other people find him frustrating but we've pretty much got him figured out lol. He's genuinely the most loving child in the world, when it's all on his terms lol.

Unfortunately we've an added problem when we're going into hospital - he's terrified of doctors that don't see him at school and anywhere clinical (The Vet's surgery, Doctors Surgery, Dentists etc). This is why I thought that having something that has all his favourite pictures at hand (going through the pictures self soothes him) and a communication tool that he's prepared to work with outside school may be something that can keep his anxiety levels down. The last thing I want or need is him to go back to self harming, he's no perception of pain, no fear of anything, and now that he's older he could do a lot of damage to himself if he regressed back to those days.

I'll let you know how we get on with the application and thank you again so much for taking the time to reply!!