Parents are learning about these apps by word of mouth and autism blogs, as well as from therapists, teachers and programs run by nonprofits like Santa Clara-based Via Services. Apple has also featured the apps in its iTunes store and some promotional materials. Apple CEO Steve Jobs told an interviewer last year that he hadn’t foreseen the appeal of Apple’s devices for the autism community, but he was pleased to hear that people found them beneficial. There are apps available, for example, to help children learn to spell by tracing letters with their fingertip. Others help sound out words. Another category lets parents use pictures to help a child understand tasks and schedules — such as getting dressed before eating breakfast and then boarding the bus for school. Dozens of apps have been created by independent developers and parents like Conley; others have been adapted by established educational software companies. But while they are thrilled by the proliferation, many advocates for children with autism and related conditions have wish lists for additional programs, such as software to help older children with disabilities, and apps for other devices besides Apple’s. “I think it’s always good to have more options and choices,” said Danielle Samson, a speech pathologist who has demonstrated iPad apps for families of autistic children, in seminars organized by Via Services. She said she’d like to see more apps for other devices and software platforms, including Android and Windows, and apps designed to help children with grammar and social skills. Rosa, a former video game producer who said Apple’s iPad has changed her son’s life, said she would prefer more choices, better quality and lower prices. “Right now it’s kind of a Wild West in terms of app development,” she explained. “A lot of people who have experience with kids with special needs are putting out apps. They have great ideas and great content, but unfortunately they sometimes have clunky designs and clunky interfaces.” The Hewlett-Packard project, called “Hacking Autism,” aims to combine the talents of Silicon Valley programmers with the expertise of groups like Autism Speaks, a national nonprofit that supports research and services for people with autism, said James Taylor, director of HP’s Innovation Program Office. Taylor said HP officials got the idea after learning that special-needs students at Palo Alto’s Hope Technology School were enthusiastic about using educational software on touch-screen computers that HP makes for desktop use. By some estimates, autism affects 1 out of 110 U.S. children and there are indications the rate is increasing; Taylor said many people in the tech community have encountered autism through friends or family members. HP recently launched a website, hackingautism.org, where anyone can submit ideas for touch-screen apps that could help people with autism. Programmers who visit the site can sign up to work on the ideas at a volunteer “hackathon” in October. The ideas will be reviewed and refined by a steering committee of autism experts, and the resulting apps may go through further rounds of improvement before they are released publicly, Taylor said. HP, of course, has an interest in promoting new apps for its own TouchPad tablet, which competes with Apple’s iPad and uses a rival software platform called webOS. But Taylor said the Hacking Autism apps will be made available at no cost, and the project won’t be limited to any tablet or operating system. “Although we love our platforms, what’s important is we get the solutions to families,” he said. Several software-makers have released Android versions of their autism-related apps. But others say they’re reluctant to work with other platforms, since Apple’s iPad was the first and continues to be the most popular model of tablet. Several parents applauded the HP project, including Rosa, who said she’s often frustrated that the iPad doesn’t play videos or animation based on Adobe’s (ADBE) widely used Flash software. Having apps for a variety of devices “will give parents and caregivers more choice to find something they are comfortable with, and have it be in their budget,” added Jeremy Robb, a technology instructor at the University of Utah who blogs about autism and his 6-year-old son, Jonathan. Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey

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