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Youth identified with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have deficits in social competence that can lead to problematic social behavior and social isolation. This can lead to a lower quality of life, as well as deficits in other developmental areas such as language and cognition. The iSocial project undertakes research and development to test and advance a set of principles and methods to enable and enhance social interaction for individuals with ASD. The long term aims of the project are to implement a virtual world that supports positive social interaction, enables learning of social competence with transfer to other settings, enables learning of other academic and workforce preparation subjects for youth with social deficits, and supports a community of educators, parents and youth as they address the needs of youth with ASD.

Nell Noddings, Stanford.What do advocates of national standards expect to accomplish? Unless the ends sought are both significantly important and feasible, we should turn our attention to problems that are truly pressing, such as reducing the number of high school dropouts and curbing youth violence. It is unlikely that national standards will have a substantial effect on academic achievement.