Looking for advice. Stroke patient

[Underwhere]

A few days ago I got word that my dad had a stroke with some right side paralysis. He has very little movement in his right arm and let (he is right handed).

It occurred to me that maybe something like the iPad would be a great way for him to rehab so I scrambled today to find him one and picked up a 16GB iPad 2.

I'm not an iPad guy and much prefer laptops and desktops (and PC's) but I think there is a true need for this right now.

I'm looking for some advice on setting up this device as I have very little experience with it.

Constraints:
1. My dad has never used a computer. Ever. He doesn't know how to type. This is going to be a huge learning experience for him. What people consider "intuitive", he is not going to. I have to make this as simple as possible.

2. I have to configure here in the US and send the iPad overseas so I want to set up everything I can so the he doesn't have to. I'd hate to have this thing go to waste and introducing something too complicated will be discouraging.

3. He has limited use of his right hand and arm at the moment. Hoping to use the iPad to assist in rehabbing motor functions.

4. He is on the other side of the world and it will be difficult for me to provide support for him.

What to do:

1. I loaded some pictures and videos for him but am wondering how to somehow load vids and pics up to the cloud, have him hit a button and see the the new ones we upload. Any applications allow you to do that?

2. Facetime. I don't have any apple products, and neither does my sister. We have webcams. Is there a way to easily get connected to the iPad for video conferencing? Some sort of video conferencing application that can interface with say gmail or some 3rd party that will work with a PC?

3. I've moved most of the icons to a second screen so the first screen he sees only has 5 icons on it (safari, mail, videos, photos, facetime). Are there ways to organize the icons any better? Perhaps in some folders?

4. Can you guys recommend other apps that would be useful for me and him being across the world?


Any recommendations and suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[JJK]

Q1 for photos you could upload them to Picassa. Then with the application on the Ipad you can browse them. I do not know if this works with videos as well.

Q2 you can use Skype. You can download it from the Itunes store for free.

Q3 press and hold one icon until it starts to shake. After that drag it on top of an icon you want to put in the same folder. Folder name will be created according to the Itunes category

Q4 Maybe search Itunes for physiotherapy exercises. Download some simple games that he can practise his right hand. Use Skype as much as possible. Seeing friends and family is often the best medicin.

All the best.

 

[Underwhere]

Q1 for photos you could upload them to Picassa. Then with the application on the Ipad you can browse them. I do not know if this works with videos as well.

Q2 you can use Skype. You can download it from the Itunes store for free.

Q3 press and hold one icon until it starts to shake. After that drag it on top of an icon you want to put in the same folder. Folder name will be created according to the Itunes category

Q4 Maybe search Itunes for physiotherapy exercises. Download some simple games that he can practise his right hand. Use Skype as much as possible. Seeing friends and family is often the best medicin.

All the best.

Awesome thanks for the advice.

 

[twerppoet]

You could go to the Apple site in Safari, and pick the most useful help and or tutorial pages. Use the Add to Home Screen to make icons that he can tap and get to them quickly. Choose the names wisely, because the icons will probably look all the same.

I recommend this site as a starter: Apple - iPad - Guided Tours

You could do this with other important internet destinations as well.

Secondary important destinations can be set up as links in Safari's Bookmarks Bar, so that they are more obvious than scrolling through endless lists of bookmarks.

If you know his book tastes, get the iBooks app and stroll through the iBooks store. See what free books you can find by his favorite authors.

What are his creative interests? Music, art, look for apps that will let him play and he may use the iPad a lot more.

Puzzles and casual games will keep him swiping and entertained at the same time. Us older people can be fond of classics. Start with games he is familiar with and add a few of the most popular casual games as spice.

 

[DrHouse]

One of the most useful game for people not really comfortable with computers is a card game. Thinking about Solitary... That is something also that people knows how to play, so he won't have to learn the rules of the games, but just manipulate the cards.

Skype is good, sad thing is the display is made for the iPhone. But it's better than nothing.

There is a pretty good scrabble game that is free (lite version), and you can even play with him using Facebook since this is the same game. Chess, checkers, poker, reversi are other ideas...

I don't know if he is into bingo, but I found one that is free and pretty cool. Darn, I hate bingo, but I enjoyed the app...

Facebook could be an interesting way to share photos, videos and comments with him...

And for music, try shoutcast, Surely he'll like it, not having to manage mp3 files.

Oh and finally, news apps... CNN, news papers, there are tons of them for free...

VicoPad addict!

 

[Underwhere]

Thanks for all the great advice. Time to search for more in the app store.

 

[Futurebird]

Flipbook has an option where you can link an rss fed to create a magazine. You would set this up before you send it to him, then you can change what's on the rss feed by writing blog posts and posting links and photos just for him, all he will need to do is press the flip book button then press the button to open one of his "magazines" ... Then all of the photos and news stories come up formatted nicely.

I use this method for my husband, who's not that in to computers, I've made a bunch of magazines for him, that link to feeds of websites he would enjoy about his hobbies, my pictures, twitter and facebook, my blog, etc.

What's nice is that, as he learns more he can start responding to tweets, and facebook posts... Leaving comments on blogs etc. All without leaving the flipbook application.

You should create a Facebook, google and twitter account for him, make the username and passwords all the same and very simple... That way, if he says he wants to respond he can just type in the same username and password for **any** of these things and leave comments.

Just don't put too much identifying personal info on those accounts, I manage accounts like these for my grandma, I keep and eye on them remotely, and now and then she'll say she wants to log in to some site, then I just go and set up her same username and password for her there.

This is not secure, but I don't use real names so I'm not concerned. if she had to remember more than one username and password, shed give up on the Internet right there.

She has this random username, and when she leaves a comment we all know it's her and it makes us so happy!

 

[Tom811]

Excellent advice from everyone. I just want to add, that I hope your dad gets better real soon.