Debbie Drennan, an Assistive Technology Specialist with Parents
Helping Parents, holds an iPad Mini with the Model Me Going
Places app at the San Jose Debbie Drennan, an Assistive
Technology Specialist with Parents Helping Parents, holds an
iPad Mini with the Model Me Going Places app at the San Jose
Mercury News photo studio in San Jose, Calif. on Friday, June
28, 2013. The app helps individuals prepare for expected
behavior. (LiPo Ching/Bay Area News Group)   Many of the apps,
used primarily on iPads and other tablets, help children process
information as well as social cues through games and instant
audio rewards (think clanging bells and applause). Others are
designed to give parents and teachers tools to recognize
behavioral patterns and schedule and coordinate care.  According
to the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, the
number of California children in special education programs
who've been diagnosed with autism or autism-spectrum disorders
rose from 17,508 in 2002 to 71,825 in 2012, an