To some, little Karl Smith is just playing a computer game, but the actuality is the game is changing his life.
"When he was about two and a half years old and my wife discovered that he had Autism read a book from a father that described Karl and then we had the diagnosis confirmed," Karl’s father, Karl Smith Sr., said.
Autism—a heartbreaking diagnosis for his father: "As an engineer I'm a problem solver, and it’s what can we do? So some of that, but I also took it pretty hard."
The Senior Karl Smith set out to do something to help his son. He created the DT Trainer, which is educational software for children with disabilities.
Jennifer Waldrop is a former Special Education teacher. She got a trial version of Smith’s software.
“I took it back and I put my most difficult child on it with Autism and he could do it,” Waldrop said.
She says the results were amazing and asked her principal to order it for her classroom.
“I started using it on all my children and just could not believe it,” Waldrop said.
After a few weeks, Waldrop was able to tell her most difficult student's mother that her child could read.
“It is incredible to take children who have such difficulties and cannot get the information out and to get it out in the format out and give that information to a parent and say look what your child can do,” Waldrop said.
And that’s exactly what Smith wanted to achieve. A way for children locked in their own minds to find a way out and to find a way to learn.
Now, the software is available for everyone. A family can buy the home version of the software for less than $100. A teacher can buy a classroom version for $250.
Smith and Waldrop now work together, with their company growing at the USC technology incubator.
"Well the biggest success with the program is it probably made the difference between him reading and not reading," Karl Smith Sr. said.
Which means little Karl's potential isn't limited as much. And with the click of a mouse, life with a disability isn't quite as hard.
