Grants for iPads?

See that black thing Conner is holding onto with his right hand?  Any idea what that is?

 

It’s his big brother’s iPad, in a case, taped to the hospital crib railing.  (This photo was taken when Conner was hospitalized with Salmonella.)

 

This iPad his been such a life-saver for many of our children, particularly our children who have special needs.  Doctor’s visits, hospital stays, blood draws, driving here and there…the iPad is always right there to the rescue!!!

 

“Our” iPad isn’t really “ours”--it belongs to our 12-year-old son, Sawyer.  He bought it back in 2010, with his own money, shortly after we gave this iPad away.

 

We’re so grateful that it’s Sawyer who owns the iPad in our family because he has such a generous heart that he always allows his mommy and his siblings to borrow his iPad.  Unfortunately, many of his siblings with special needs are super duper rough on the iPad.   As much as I’ve tried to protect Sawyer’s iPad, it’s been thrown countless times, stomped on, chewed on, even vomited on!!!

 

As our children with special needs are requiring/wanting more and more and more of Sawyer’s iPad, I finally decided to go on a mission to get an iPad for our children with special needs to share.  With Selah’s upcoming trip to Baltimore to see Dr. Ben Carson, I’d like to get another iPad QUICKLY!!!  Selah doesn’t sit still…ever…and we’ll have about 6-8 hours of travel.  The iPad will be our best bet at helping Selah survive the sitting still time required when traveling!!!  I’m sure Sawyer will let us borrow his iPad for Selah’s trip, but it would be awesome if I didn’t need to borrow his, as he uses it daily. 

 

So, my question for y’all today is:

Do you know of organizations granting iPads to children with special needs?

 

If so, please leave a comment to let me know how to apply.  (Or you may email me at BossYourHeart (at) gmail (dot) com.) 

 

I asked about this once on my Facebook (I think back in August).  I was told that Texas supplies iPads to children with communication disorders through Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.  Cooper and Conner both qualify since they’re non-verbal, but DARS apparently requires the applicant be able to push a button to communicate a thought.  Cooper and Conner cannot do that yet—that would be something many of the iPad apps would teach them to do over time.  The more they can work with speech generating apps, the more opportunities they’ll have to succeed at this, but they’re not there yet.

 

Y’all always have such great advice, suggestions, recommendations, and wisdom.  You’re better than Google!!!  I look forward to hearing from you regarding what grants might be available to our children with special needs.  Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!

 

PS  If there are eligibility requirements regarding specific types of disabilities, here’s a list of some of the disabilities in our family (we have at least 6 kids with special needs who would benefit greatly from a variety of apps geared toward special needs):  non-verbal, speech/language delays, mentally disabled/mentally challenged, learning delays, communication delays, global developmental delays, Dyslexia, fine motor delays, receptive language delays…there are more, but maybe it’s best to just get a list of all of the possibilities for grants, then apply based upon each child’s needs.