Dallas has CHARGE syndrome and back in 2019, he was struggling to communicate and connect with his family and loved ones. At the time, he attended school 45 minutes away and it could be upsetting when he wanted to speak with his parents while he was on the bus or at school but couldn’t due to old technology and lack of cellular service.
Upon learning about iCanConnect through the Minnesota DeafBlind Project, his parents facilitated the application process for Dallas. Once he was accepted into the program, his local CanConnect Minnesota representative came to his home and assessed his distance communication needs. Based on the assessment, he received an iPad through the program.
After he received training through iCanConnect, Dallas used his iPad to get in touch with his parents whenever he wanted. He used Facetime with his mom during the long trips to and from school, and he used the voice-to-call and the voice-to-text features a lot to check-in with his loved ones. Dallas also really enjoyed connecting with other gamers on Minecraft, a virtual adventure game. Using his iPad, he’d communicate through the game’s chat feature to work together with his fellow players. He developed a fun hobby too – taking photos and videos on the iPad and sending them to his grandparents. It was another way for him to connect with those who were most important to him.
We recently received an update from Dallas’s mom, Jackie. She says: Dallas still uses his iPad every single day. There isn’t another item he owns that provides the kind of impact that his iPad does! He is obsessed with learning, and subsequently connecting and sharing his knowledge with others. His particular interest is world geography and history. He enjoys learning about other cultures too, mostly the types of food people eat in other countries. Dallas knows where nearly every country is located on a map, and how and when they came to be a country. He impresses anyone who will listen!
Most recently, he and his intervener spend time looking for restaurants that serve food authentic to other regions, including Indonesia, Africa, and China. Dallas searches for the restaurants on his iPad and then sends the information to share with his intervener. He relies heavily on Facetime when making calls so that he can see the person’s face and lips to help him understand and be able to successfully have conversations with family and friends over the “Phone.” We are very grateful for iCanConnect!”
