So can smart watches, help autistic children, all that is coming up
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So I came across this really, really interesting article talking about
smartwatches and autistic children.
Right.
And I'm a huge lover.
Like I wear a smartwatch.
I've had a smartwatch now for.
About five years and I've had the Apple watch and I'm kind of like an
Apple guy, you know, I've got like the iPhone, the iPad, the Mac book, the
watch, the everything, Apple, right?
The headphones, Apple TV, you name it, whatever.
And, um, one of the interesting things is that when I, I never used to wear a watch
until I got the Apple watch and then I got the Apple watch and I found it very,
very interesting for one simple reason.
It alerts you, you can set reminders on your apps and it'll
alert you on your watch, which I found just absolutely fantastic.
And also contract kind of any movements.
So if you've not like done any exercising for a while, so like, Hey,
you've done very little movement.
Get up, you know, stop being lazy.
That was just cool.
And another thing is that it knows if you're kind of.
Heart rate increases, or if you're feeling anxious, because it has a little app on it
called breathe, which tells you, Hey, you need to slow down and, um, take a breath.
I found that amazing.
But I came across an article and researchers in the Boston area of
United States have been developing this kind of like program where
they're having the parents of the kids.
Right.
So they're taking kids who were like preschool kids or young high
school kids or middle school kids.
And then the parents got the iPhone and the parents are like texting
their kids in like, Hey, remember to eat your lunch today, honey.
And then they send the message.
And then of course the kids got a discreet, uh, you know, um, Apple watch
on, and then they kind of quickly glance at it and it says, Oh message from mom.
I have to remember to take my medicine or to go to lunch and I've got lunch
money in my bag, you know, because when you're thinking about autistic
kids, you thinking about kids who are, um, you know, overwhelmed with the
environment that they don't, you know, high school preschool, middle school,
All of these places at school, it's just a busy environment, especially
if you're on the autism spectrum.
Right?
Think about it.
You're on the autism spectrum.
You've got a million and one things going on.
It's not easy to be in that school environment.
So remembering to take lunch, when he, with you remembering to pick up your lunch
from your bag, that could be in a locker remembering to take your medication.
Remember to even, yeah.
Drink water.
These tasks can be super difficult for people.
On the autism spectrum.
And for that reason, I think that this has real good weight, but the
idea of the program is that the parents and the caregivers send the
message or the command to the watch.
And it's very discreet so that the kids can fit in.
You know, so one of the things you don't want to do is you, I don't have
like a, uh, an assistant teacher coming over and being like, Hey Dan remember
your mom's just texted you to say.
Take your medication.
I mean, you just feel like, ah, you know, you'd feel different and you'd
feel outside of that loop of friends, you know, you'd feel like, you know, you'd
feel like the kid who had additional needs, but you know, a lot of the time,
you know, people want to just fit in, you know, they don't want to kind of.
Be the sore thumb, you know, sticking out in this kind of like a sea of kids.
And so I can totally sympathize with that.
So for the kid to want to, you know, fit in a bit more and be cool with their
friends, having a discreet smartwatch that you can set to silent is actually
having really, really good results.
The parents have already started adopting this idea.
I think like 20 parents and student pairs have already started doing this
in Boston, in a certain school, then somewhere in the USA, um, And they send
like a little text messages, but what they also do is they can send it like
cartoon pictures, like with the iPhone, you can like send cartoon pictures and
send it to the watch and it'll come up as a little animation or you can save like a
GIF or a Bitmoji or something like that.
And those little cartoons will come up on the watch and you can actually
see them as images on the watch, but it's so discrete that even if somebody
saw it, they'd be like, Oh, it's just going into a GIF image from the mum.
It's funny, you know, someone in a chocolate bar or
something or a sandwich, right.
But for that kid, they know exactly what that command is going to be.
Now, this is amazing, and it's a great step forward in trying to kind of like
get, you know, uh, smart technology and technology in general or accessibility
technology, and then implementing that into, uh, you know, disability
living, you know, because yeah.
That are huge challenges that face people on the autism spectrum.
Now not being just captivated to schooling.
I've used similar systems where I've used apps that will remind me to do stuff.
Like I said, everything I have in my life runs on it on an app.
Like if I didn't have an app that had time schedules on it,
I took it to go to the dentist.
I forget to brush my teeth.
I forget to drink water.
I forget to do all of these things, but because I have my watch and my phone, my
iPad kind of shout on me saying like, Dan, you know, take your medication, put the
dishwasher on like seriously guys, like.
Every day I have to, like, my medication is one of the things
that I always forget to do.
So every single day I have to take my medication.
Like my reminders, you know, I, I, these, these are some reminders here.
Actually, these, are out of date as these two things that I've got to do.
So there you go.
See this things are showing me from yesterday.
So maybe medication like taking that is super important.
There are other apps like Tiimo and things like that, that
I've mentioned in other videos.
Um, and then I'll try and leave a link for a app video, which I've made videos
by apps that help people on the spectrum.
But this is a simple, simple technique.
All you need is the parents to have an iPhone or a smartphone,
and then the, the child to have a smart watch or an Apple watch.
And then you're able to do the functions.
What I said now, A lot of the time.
I think, you know, when you're, when you're giving your kid like
a 400 to $500 watch to wear to school, I mean, that's a big ask.
It's a big task, but then again, if you think about the parents who give their
kids iPads to communicate, you know, when they're nonverbal autistic, then
you know, it's a, a thousand dollar investment and it is an investment
it's, it's, it's more rather than just like a flashy flashy watch.
This is a, uh, an adaptive, communicative tool that they'll need that you
can get different types of straps written that this one doesn't want
I've got, which is a Velcro strap.
That I can, um, it's made by Nike and here it on the Apple store as well.
But this one actually keeps it to my wrist a lot more.
Cause they had like this rubber strap that used to fall off.
So there are security measures that you can take in place.
And there's also a pass lock on it.
So like, unless you know the passcode, you can't get into the watch.
So it's pointless anybody stealing it and people already know this anyway.
So there's not going to be that many people who are going to want to try and
hijack your kids to steal our watch.
Not trying to scare anybody.
I'm just saying.
But the principle is really interesting.
Now I have left links in the description below, so you can check
out the article that I read, but I'd love to know your discussion on it.
Let me know, drop me a comment.
I read every single one.
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I'll see you next time, guys.
Peace.