A donation from the Tasmania Police Charity Trust will help change the lives of children who are challenged by limited communication skills.

The Police Charity Trust and St Giles have been working together to provide assistive communication technology available to more families.

St Giles has a library of iPads with the Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP) application.  LAMP aims to give children who are non-verbal or with limited communication abilities a method of expressing themselves.

One family described how the LAMP iPad has helped their child;

“She is talking so much better and can get her message across to most people if she simplifies her language. 

We are currently tweaking the use of her Talker in the class room to help her learn to read and to help her get the amazing stories she has out of her head into paper as she still has trouble with writing.

Without the continuous support of the PAT (Participate Assistive Technologies) team, people wouldn’t see what an amazingly funny and bright girl my child is.”

Today the Police Charity Trust will hand over a cheque for over $4,000, to enable the purchase of iPads with the LAMP application.

“The work of the Participate Assistive Technology team is changing lives and we’re only too thrilled to support them,” said Inspector Michael Johnston.

“Communication is key in what we do and to be able to help others on their path to verbal communication; and to hear about the long term benefits is amazing and incredibly rewarding,” he said.