Blog

When her mother, Alicia was referred to our Parent Education Program, one of her biggest concerns was that Alyssa is also a bit of an escape artist—prone to sneaking out of the house, unattended, to visit her grandmother who lives a few blocks away. Alyssa had been starting to learn sign language at school, but unfortunately the public school she attends discontinued the program, so Alicia was also struggling to communicate with her daughter. After some discussion with Patti, her Parent Ed Coach, they came up with a novel solution to both of these issues. An iPad Mini, loaded with a “touch to talk” program to help her communicate and a GPS so mom could track her if and when she snuck out of the house again.

The only problem with this plan was that there wasn’t any money in the program budget for an iPad Mini, much less the needed software to go with it—expenses totaling over $550. Fortunately, Patti reached out to her fellow TrueNorth staff members and through their generosity and other caring individuals, was able to collect enough money from donations to purchase the iPad, the touch-to-talk software, and an “Otterbox” to keep it safe in the event Alissa accidentally drops it.

Now, Alyssa simply touches the screen of her iPad, which speaks for her to help communicate with others, and since she always has it with her, Alicia can use the GPS tracking feature to locate her daughter whenever she decides to venture out on her own. This is a great example of how technology and TrueNorth’s Parent Education Program came together to make a lasting, positive difference in the lives of one little girl, her mother, and her family… because we believe that all kids should have the opportunity to grow into their best self.

You can see for yourself the positive impact the iPad has made on Alyssa and her family—made possible through the TrueNorth Parent Education Program—by viewing the video below.