For better understanding
Nine year old develops app for his autistic brother
Thanks to the app, Adam Porter can now communicate better (symbol image)
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It is estimated that around 40 percent of children with autism have difficulty speaking. The nine-year-old Sean Porter has developed an app for this so that he can communicate better with his autistic brother.
Early childhood autism manifests itself through late communication. For example, two-year-old children cannot yet speak two-word compounds, such as “eat banana”. Six year old Adam Porter from Great Britain still has great problems articulating himself. He finds it difficult to explain even the simplest of needs. Therefore, his three year older brother Sean has now developed an app with which Adam can communicate, as reported by the British broadcaster ITV.
From school project to finished app
Sean Porter was supposed to be developing a game as part of a school project. But the nine-year-old quickly implemented an app for his brother so that he can express himself better. The application is as simple as it is ingenious: the main screen only contains images that are intended to represent the respective needs, such as a toilet or a bed.
If Adam now clicks on the symbols, a computer voice sounds that says: “I have to go to the toilet” or “I want to go to bed”. Adam also understands these simple processes. His bright big brother said on ITV: “I knew when I wouldn’t develop this app, then I wouldn’t know of anyone who’d come up with the idea. “
It’s about helping people
Although Sean Porter is only nine years old, he has already given a lot of thought to his environment and society. “People usually don’t think of other people. They think, ‘If I make this great invention, I’ll be super-famous and I’ll have a lot of money’. But they don’t focus on other people and what they might need”, says the boy in conversation with the reporter from ITV. He feels absolutely great and great that he was able to develop this app to help his family.
Father has hope
The father of the two boys hopes that the application can help many other children with autism overcome their language barrier. “Whether he wanted to eat something, hurt him a little or asked to go to the toilet – it was basically just a guessing game,” says the father.
He also hopes that this will change the sad statistic, which says that around 40% of children with autism hardly speak. The app opened up more possibilities for Adam and he would develop even faster as a result. The family has now grown closer as they have fewer communication problems, the ITV reporter summarized.
Source: ITV