Help William talk!

William is the baby of our family. both he and his big brother has autism. However while Alexander is fairly high functioning, William is not. He is nonverbal, He did develop about ten words as a baby, but then he regressed and now he says none. He doesn't answer to his name or any verbal cues, he is severely delayed in all areas of development.  He doesn't point, so his only communication are a couple of sign language words and picture cards.  He spends a lot of time in his own little world, doing silly things. he loves to watch things spin, and he loves to stare at geometric designs. He loves water play, and he love loves eating! When he turned three he aged out of the early intervention and started preschool.  He attends a self contained special education classroom, in that room they use an ipad with the autismate app, and have had success with it. His speech therapist really thinks a communication device is the key to reaching William.

 It is frustrating parenting William, he doesn't really progress anymore.  He has lost all the words he once said, and doesn't answer to his name. Most days its impossible to engage him, when we do it is with visual input, sign language and some simple PECS. I am not a lazy autism parent, I work hard with my boys.  I feel desperate to get an ipad now, after hearing of the success in the classroom. I want to connect with my son, and this seems to be a way to do it.  However they are costly, and we are a poor family, and as you can imagine multiple special needs children incur a lot of extra cost as it is, I just don't feel like I can do what they deserve to thrive. Its hard to put in words a reason why my family might be worth helping. I am sure all families feel the same, we all want to help our children thrive and live a meaningful life. But I can assure you that I work hard with my children, we have a learning center and a therapy shelf, all with stuff bought from second hand stores or made by me, I am crafty and thrifty. Any way I can find to make learning fun and easy for my kids, they all need a lot of extra help with learning life skills and also school work. I do the best I can, I would work with william with the ipad. It would be used as a communication device solely, That's his greatest need.