Victor Pauce communicates with others by using iPhone app his Dad made

No parent wants to hear a diagnosis like the one the Paucas heard but Paul Pauca has taken the challenge to heart and found a way to improve his young son’s life.

Paul and his wife sensed there was something wrong when their son, Victor was just one year old. The diagnosis of the rare developmental and cognitive condition known as Pitt Hopkins Syndrome at the age of 2 and a half years old was heartbreaking.  It meant their son would continue to have delays in speech and motor skill development. Only 18- cases are known worldwide.

Paul, a Peruvian born software engineering professor, describes the news as world shattering, plunging the family into darkness. His wife, Theresa, a special education teacher, helped him focus on what was important by explaining that he could let the diagnosis make him bitter of better.

Back in his classroom at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, Paul enlisted the assistance of his students in developing an iPhone app that would help kids like Victor. Other devices that help kids with speech development issues can cost from $300 to more than $8000.

The Verbal Victor app developed by his team sells for just $6.99 in the Apple iTunes store. A child can hear a familiar voice, usually that f a family member, talking to him. Like the buttons on a mobile phone, the app has buttons – pictures of familiar items. When the child presses one, they will hear the voice say a word of short sentence like “I want to eat.” The messages can be recorded on any language too.

Four years after the app hit the market, Pauca’ life has taken an expected turn. Working as an international advocate for Pitt Hopkins, he is also working on developing other mobile apps for kids and adults with a variety of disabilities. It has changed the lives of his family too. He and his wife have since started a foundation and his daughters are doing what they can to make a difference in the world too.

The app has transformed Victor’s life too. After learning to walk at the age of two, Victor, can now ride his trike, and play on the swing set. Lively, social and very curious, Victor enjoys being read to. He uses the app to indicate the things he wants. He knows that pushing a button will bring a desired result. Now father and son can communicate with ease.

Robert Ford, 98, has dozens of pen pals at a school in Georgia. Photo Courtesy of Laura Gamble

The art of letter writing may seem all but lost but in schools across the United States, children are learning this older form of communication and making some grateful if unlikely friends. These kids are not using high speed internet, texting or social media to reach out. They are using pencils and paper. Among the beneficiaries of the missives are a soldier at war, some Cherokee Indians and a man nearing his centenarian birthday.

The first graders at a Georgia elementary school got wind of an email from a woman in Alaska who was worried about her father-in-law, Robert Ford, 98, who lived alone in Kansas. The man’s wish was to receive a few Christmas cards and his prayers were answered when he received 110 from the kids of Summerville Elementary in Summerville, Ga. And that was just the beginning.

First grade teacher Laura Gamble suggested he write a story about his life for the children. They returned the favor by sending him Valentine’s Day cards. He reciprocated by sending them 120 hand-folded paper airplanes. The give and take continues and the children have bridged the generation gap with a man who is more than 16 times their age. They are also learning about how much our lives have been changed by technology, in part by the stories send about his life as a boy without television or telephones.

A group of third-grade students have found a way to touch the heart of a soldier serving in Afghanistan whose comrades now call him “Glitter Man.” Teacher Debbie Wilsie of the North Rock Creek Elementary School in Shawnee, OK says her students are obsessed with glitter. When they made cards for Sgt. Jeremy Flowers, the cards were just covered in it. When Flowers would go out on patrol, his pants were sparkly and his friends gave him the nickname. He claims it serves as a reminder that there is a separate life outside of the war.

The son of a close personal friend of Wilsie’s, Flowers was so moved by the care package and card he received from the kids that he surprised them with a visit during his leave in November.  The letters and gifts continued and Flowers enjoyed reading about their Christmas wish lists and the presents they actually got as well as other events in their lives.

The kids got attached too. When reports of casualties were broadcast on the news, the kids always asked if Flowers was alright. One little boy even thought about him every morning as they saluted the flag. The class welcomed him home when his deployment ended with banners, drawings and hugs. They saw him as one of their own classmates.

The second-grade class of New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee, N.C., a school which teaches   its students only in the Cherokee language, is adept at using modern technology like iPads and MacBooks. Engaging with their sister school in Oklahoma through an iChat made the kids shy, however.

Their teacher Rainy Brake realized it wasn’t technology that would help the kids get to know one another so she implemented a letter writing program. When the first package of letters arrived it contained friendship bracelets, too. Necklaces were sent back with the return letters. The program has widened their horizons, helped with handwriting and made learning more fun and memorable, according to Brake.

Facebook Announces Much Needed Security Revisions

Facebook and user privacy have become separate ideas in the last few years as Facebook grows ever larger and security grows ever less useful. Fortunately today millions of Facebook users got the good news that some new security and privacy controls are finally being given to Facebook users. Thousands of Facebook users rejoiced publicly on Facebook today after the good news broke.

The Facebook security features announced today are not as restrictive as some people would have hoped but nearly everyone is happy to have gained at least a little control. The controls will finally give users control over who sees what which should help make it significantly easier for users to cut down on privacy loss. Analysts around the world agree that it was about time for Facebook to roll out some new privacy features and that is exactly what they are finally beginning to do.

The great news about a new security feature broke, as expected, on Facebook’s official blog. This announcement is welcome news for all Facebook users and not only are Facebook users getting more control over what is distributed; they are also getting easier control. The announced security controls are expected to be significantly easier to use than the current system which means users will in fact be able to actually control what they want to be available. At this time Facebook is rolling out the security features but not everyone will have access to them quite yet so be patient.

Facebook and Twitter Used to Clean up After London Riots

The riots in London that broke out this week were originally organized and planned through communication outlets like Twitter and Facebook. These sites are obviously not actually responsible for what was done of course but the negative impact of the sites definitely didn’t create any good publicity for the sites. Today however we know that Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks can in fact be used for good.

Facebook and Twitter were both being used today to schedule and organize multiple clean up programs around the area. The communication system used to organize the riots is clearly being used in order to clean up the entire mess as well which shows great promise for the future of social networking. The cleanup organization is also showing officials that despite the chaos people do still have the desire to make things right.

Overall experts say it is quite refreshing to see that these social media networks can be used for good and not just malicious acts. As more examples of this begin to surface it is likely that Facebook and Twitter will eventually be seen as a useful communication tool for mass messaging rather than just another network. For now few organizations base their entire communication on Facebook or Twitter but in the future it seems likely that Twitter or Facebook could become official channels of communication for officials or government agencies in times of emergency or other critical events.