iPad boost to Jigsaw students thanks to Lions Club donation

Thanks to a fantastic donation of over £18,000 from Guildford Lions Club following their recent Charity Ball, Jigsaw was delighted to welcome President, Barry Jutsum and Andrew Henwood back to the school to see the new technology that had been purchased so far.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Aug 2014, 17:48 BST
Jigsaw pupils get iPads thanks to donation SUS-140731-165159001Jigsaw pupils get iPads thanks to donation SUS-140731-165159001
Jigsaw pupils get iPads thanks to donation SUS-140731-165159001

Jigsaw educates children diagnosed with autism between the ages of 4 and 19 years of age at their site on Dunsfold Park, Cranleigh.

Being able to utilise iPad technology with specific communication software can be hugely beneficial for many of the pupils at the School.

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Jigsaw currently has 15 non verbal pupils and of the remaining pupils, over 50% will also use different methods of communication alongside their speech.

In addition to aiding communication, iPads can facilitate learning, act as reinforcers and help increase independence.

A particularly useful addition to Jigsaw’s repertoire of teaching tools has been to use video modeling for pupils learning new tasks.

This has resulted in greatly reduced teaching interventions during the learnt task. In terms of the real value to our pupils, this can decrease their reliance upon their teacher or carer to help with basic life skills.

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One such study has been completed at Jigsaw and presented at an industry conference in the US – the paper is available on Emma Hawkins Jigsaw’s Google+ page (https://plus.googleapis.om/103767164042432832434/)posts along with a number of other research papers.

Jigsaw’s Director of Education, Emma Hawkins said “To be able to further broaden the scope and range of options to help our pupils with communication as well as independent learning is fantastic - iPads give us this additional facility and more and more of our pupils are learning how to use this technology which is becoming so valuable to them and also their families.”

Guildford Lions Club President, Barry Jutsum also commented: “Everyone at the Guildford Lions were thrilled with the result of our charity ball and it has been so interesting to visit Jigsaw and see exactly how the new equipment is actively helping the pupils of the school.

“We are very pleased to have been able to support Jigsaw in their work and it is rewarding to see exactly how much benefit will be gained from these additional funds.”

Report and picture contributed by Jigsaw CABAS® School.