BabyTalk initiative uses iPads to help children with cochlear implants learn to talk

Accessibility, and the use of technology in helping people live better lives, has always been an important focus for Apple. A recent profile shows another amazing example of this at work: A toddler who was born deaf is learning how to talk by remotely connecting him to a speech therapist some three hours away via Facetime on an iPad. The initiative, fittingly called BabyTalk, is run as a partnership between Stanford University and the Weingarten Children's Center. From CNN Money:
The family is one of 25 taking part in a free program that uses iPads to connect children under three who have or are getting cochlear implants with a remote support network of professionals. They conduct regular speech therapy appointments over an iPad, track progress over email, and call in with questions about everything from tech support to family issues.
As tech junkies, it's easy to become obsessed with specs, updates, and features of a particular device, operating system, or app. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's just the "what". When technology can be inclusive, when it can let everyone, of every possible age, learn, engage, and achieve more than they could without it, we're reminded of the "why".
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