Cynthia Putnam
ABSTRACT
Software developers, designers and researchers have been looking to technology for solutions to help and educate people with autism for over two decades. There are many examples of seemingly successful technology-based products and prototypes, yet very little is known about how well these solutions are currently integrated into lives of children and adults with autism and their families. This paper reports on results from an anonymous on-line survey intended as a first step to elucidate information about software and technology use. Additionally, data was analyzed to aid creation of future technology-based products for people with autism that are not just effective, but that also meet important user goals and align to their interests and strengths. Major findings included: (1) very few respondents (25\%) had any experience with software or technology designed for people with cognitive disabilities; (2) when asked an open-ended question about what they desire in technology design, respondents reported three major goals (social skills, academic skills, and organization skills), and many suggestions for improvements to software and hardware design; and (3) technology was reported as both a major strength and interest for people with autism.
- Autism: Why do more boys than girls develop it? http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=3370&d=1049. National Autism Society, Retrieved December 21, 2007.Google Scholar
- A. J. Ayres, P. R. Erwin, and Z. Mailloux. Love, Jean: Inspiration for Families Living with Dysfunction of Sensory Integration. Crestport Press, Santa Rosa, California, 2004.Google Scholar
- J. Barron and S. Barron. There is a Boy in Here. Future Horizons Inc., Arlington, Texas, 2002.Google Scholar
- M. Barry and I. Pitt. Interaction design: a multidimensional approach for learners with autism. In 2006 Conference on interaction Design and Children IDC, pages 33--36. ACM Press, June 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- V. Bernard-Opitz, K. Ross, and S. Nakhoda-Sapuan. Enhancing social problem solving in children with autism and normal children with computer-assisted instruction. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, 31(4):377--384, October 2004.Google ScholarCross Ref
- V. Bernard-Opitz, N. Sriram, and M. L. Tuttas. Computer assisted instruction for children with autism. Annals of the Academy of Medicine, 19(5):611--616, October 1990.Google Scholar
- A. Bosseler and D. W. Massaro. Development and evaluation of computer-animated tutor for vocabulary and language learning in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33(6):553--567, December 2003.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. Cooper and R. Reimann. About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Wiley Publishing Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, 2003. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Dauphin, E. M. Kinney, and R. Stromer. Using video enhanced activity schedules and matrix training to teach socio-dramatic play to a child with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 6(4):238--250, September 2004.Google ScholarCross Ref
- M. Dawe. Disabilities: Desperately seeking simplicity: how young adults with cognitive disabilities and their families adopt assistive technologies. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, pages 1143--1152. ACM Press, April 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- G. Fischer and J. James F. Sullivan. Human-centered public transportaion systems for persons with cognitive disabilities: Challenges and insights for participatory design. In Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, pages 194--198. ACM Press, June 2002.Google Scholar
- O. Golan and S. Baron-Cohen. Systemizing empathy: Teaching adults with asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism to recognize complex emotions using interactive multimedia. Development and Psychopathology, 18(2):591--617, June 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- T. Grandin. Thinking in Pictures, Expanded Edition: My Life with Autism. Vintage Books, London, 2006.Google Scholar
- O. Grynszpan, J.-C. Martin, and J. Nadel. Human computer interfaces for autism: Assessing the influence of task assignment and output modalities. In Conference of Human Factors in Computing Systems, Chi '05 Extended abstracts on Human Factors in Computing System, pages 1419--1422. ACM Press, April 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. F. Hine and M. Wolery. Using point-of-view video mondeling to teach play to preschoolers with autism. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 26(2):83--93, Summer 2006.Google ScholarCross Ref
- S. J. Kerr. Scaffolding: design issues in single & collaborative virtual environments for social skills learning. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Virtual Environments 2002. W. Sturzlinger and S. Muller, Eds. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, vol. 23, pages 81--91. ACM Press, May 2002. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Moore and S. Calvert. Brief report: Vocabulary acquisition for children with autism: Teacher or computer instruction. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(4):359--362, August 2000.Google ScholarCross Ref
- S. Mulder and Z. Yaar. The User is Always Right. New Riders, Berkeley, California, 2007.Google Scholar
- H. Neale, S. Cobb, and J. Wilson. A front-ended approach to the user-centered design of ves. In Proceedings of the IEEE Virtual Reality, 2002, pages 191--198. IEEE, March 2002. Google ScholarDigital Library
- N. Pares, A. Carreras, J. Durany, J. Ferrer, P. Freixa, D. Gomez, O. Kruglanski, R. Pares, J. I. Ribas, M. Soler, and A. Sanjurjo. Starting research in interaction design with visuals for low-functioning children in the autistic spectrum: A protocol. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 9(2):218--223, April 2006.Google Scholar
- S. Parsons and P. Mitchell. The potential of virtual reality in social skills training for people with autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 46(5):430--443, June 2002.Google ScholarCross Ref
- A. M. Piper, E. O'Brien, M. R. Morris, and T. Winograd. Sides: a cooperative tabletop computer game for social skills development. In Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on computer Supported Cooperative Work, pages 1--10. ACM Press, November 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- S. Powell. The use of computers in teaching people with autism. autism on the agenda. In Papers from a National Autistic Society Conference, pages 128--132. National Autistic Society, 1996.Google Scholar
- B. Robins, K. Dautenhahn, T. Boekhorst, and A. Billard. Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: Can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills? Universal Access in the Information Society, 4(2):105--120, December 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- R. C. Schaaf and L. J. Miller. Occupational therapy using a sensory integrative approach for children with developmental disabilities. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 11(2):143--148, April 2005.Google ScholarCross Ref
- R. Shipley-Benamou, J. Lutzker, and M. Taubman. Teaching daily living skills to children with autism through instructional video modeling. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 4(3):166--177, July 2002.Google ScholarCross Ref
- C. Sicile-Kira. Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Other ASDs. The Berkley Publishing Group, New York, New York, 2004.Google Scholar
- A. Tartaro and J. Cassell. Authorable virtual peers for autism spectrum disorders. In Combined Workshop on Language-Enabled Educational Technology and Development and Evaluation of Robust Spoken Dialogue Systems at the 17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, ECAI'06, Riva del Garda, Italy, 2006.Google Scholar
- C. Whalen, L. Liden, B. Ingersoll, E. Dallaire, and S. Liden. Behavioral improvements associated with computer-assisted instruction for children with developmental disabilities. The Journal of Speech and Language Pathology - Applied Behavior Analysis, 1(1):11--26, Winter 2006.Google Scholar
- C. Williams, B. Wright, G. Callaghan, and B. Coughlan. Do children with autism learn to read more readily by computer assisted instruction or traditional book methods? a pilot study. Autism, 6(1):71--91, March 2002.Google ScholarCross Ref
Index Terms
- Software and technologies designed for people with autism: what do users want?
Recommendations
Assistive technology for children with autism - lessons for interaction design
APCHI '13: Proceedings of the 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Computer Human InteractionThis paper describes our experiences from developing assistive tools for children with autism. We describe two applications - AutVisComm, an assistive communication system developed on ubiquitous tablets, and Autinect, a set of activities to teach ...
The Need for Smart Parenting Module for Parenting Self-Efficacy of Parents with Autism Children During Covid-19 Pandemic
ICLIQE '21: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Learning Innovation and Quality EducationDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of parents in assisting and educating children with autism is limited to their ability and knowledge of how to educate children with autism, parents with low parenting self-efficacy should work hard to meet the ...
Interactive Technologies Designed for Children with Autism: Reports of Use and Desires from Parents, Teachers, and Therapists
Special Issue on ASSETS 2017 (Part 2)Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects many people; the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 59 children are currently identified with ASD in the United States. Although it is difficult to generalize about people with ASD due to ...
Comments