THE mum of an 11-year-old boy with autism is on a mission to provide iPads for her son and other autistic children.

Caren Taylor’s son Reiss also has language and communication difficulties, conditions which are helped by the use of an iPad.

She has joined forces with fellow mum Annette Jackson to try to collect 360 old mobile phones to swap for two iPads.

Caren said: “The amount of apps you can get to aid the communication and education of an autistic child is amazing.”

Reiss previously owned an iPad1 but it crashes regularly after an update that went wrong.

Caren said: “Reiss is devastated and cannot understand why his iPad no longer works properly.

“It has upset him that much that we have had to hide it.

“A new iPad would mean the world to him. He has not stopped asking for it since it stopped working.”

Annette, from Tyldesley, was able to buy her five-year-old autistic son Jamie an iPad a year ago but she he now wants her nephew Karl Broadbent, aged 22, who suffers from charge syndrome and has autistic tendencies among other conditions, to get the benefits of one.

She said: “The iPad has helped massively with Jamie’s communication.

“He is actually interested in the things that he is doing and he can count from one to 10 on it now.

“He does things on it that he wouldn’t do if it wasn’t on the screen. It just draws him in.”

By using iPads children with autism can work on receptive and expressive language, fine motor skills, problem solving skills and joint attention.

“Once we have provided our own family members with iPads, we would like to go on to help other families affected by autism in the Wigan and Leigh area,” Caren said.

The scheme is run by Hearts and Minds, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with autism.

Old phones can be dropped off at the post office on Johnson Street, Tyldesley and for more information email loveautismnw@hotmail.com