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The study evaluates the progress of eight children aged 3-5 years with autism attending a specialist teaching unit in their development of reading skills in two conditions: computer instructed learning and book based learning. The authors developed a direct observation schedule to monitor autistic behaviours using computerized techniques. The children were matched by age, severity of autistic symptomatology and number of spoken words. They were initially randomly allocated to the computer or book condition and crossed over at 10 weeks. All of the children spent more time on task in the computer condition than in the book condition. By the end of the study after computer assisted learning, five of the eight children could reliably identify at least three words. It was found that children with autism spent more time on reading material when they accessed it through a computer and were less resistant to its use.

The choice of activities and exercises, adapted to the level of acquisition and emerging abilities, will depend on the assessment. It is these exercises which will have to be integrated into a computer programme. A great many exercises, which are well adapted to the specificities of the autist's learning difficulties, already exist. Computerization of some of these exercises could be quite easily undertaken. One could also look at existing educational computer programmes for exercises, which although not specifically developed for autistic people, could very well be of an appropriate level and which do not, above all, present any disconcerting characteristics for autistic people. It is, moreover, in this category that the highest number of computer experiments may be found. Finally, teachers could also invent new exercises which make specific use of the progressive animation and integration capacities of several of the new tool's sensorial modes.

I created a music based teaching system called Sounds into Syllables® which is designed to assist these children with their communication and social development difficulties by teaching them how to spell, read, classify words and correctly identify the facial expressions for six universal emotions. Part 1 of the system applies the musical component of ‘pitch’ or ‘tone’ to the process of learning letters and words. The child learns to listen to the letters as musical sounds as well as spoken sounds. With the mastery of the alphabet, the child begins to learn 26 different nouns (animal names). The senses of touch, sight and hearing are further integrated with the introduction of textured words, drawings and sound effects. There is an accompanying teaching book entitled A to Z Animal Book as well as a companion CD and A to Z Animal Workbook. In Part 2 of the system, the 26 animal nouns are matched to 26 related verbs such as dog/bark and lion/roar. There is a second book entitled Animals in Action with the textured words and drawings of the animals in their passive and active states. The child learns the related verbs in the same way he/she learned the nouns. To establish the conceptual relationship between the animal and its action, an animated computer program has been designed specifically for the teaching system. Part 3 of the system addresses the difficulties of social interaction, by emphasizing face perception and emotion recognition. Musical harmony is introduced with the creation of six three-part harmonies each linked to the six universal emotions of happy, sad, afraid, angry, surprised and disgusted. In addition, three two-part harmonies have been created and linked to nouns, verbs and adjectives to further expand word classification for the purpose of sentence creation. These three and two-part harmonies as well as the musical alphabet have been integrated into a forty page book called The Story of Little Bear. Textured letters and color coding are used throughout the book which has also been formatted as a computer book with a number of additional features, such as rollover images and animations. In October, 2006 I implemented a research study with a group of 20 children ranging in age from 6 to 17 who were diagnosed with various forms of autism. The criteria for participation in the study were demonstrated interest in music or musical stimuli and limited or no letter/word recognition. This longitudinal study in ongoing however preliminary results are encouraging. In addition, the system is benefiting a group of children who are diagnosed with learning disabilities other than autism.

Children with autism seem to learn best when the instructional material is presented in visual form. In this case it might be worthwhile to try different educational programs via a computer. Using a computer is a fun way to learn. The majority of educational programs are highly visual. Many of the games available involve storylines, plots, and realistic human behaviors. Some of the skills autistic children can learn from carefully selected video games are language skills, reading and math skills, and social skills. Visual learning devices are highly effective and can be accompanied by various rewards to reinforce what is being learned. For instance, food and extended leisure activities can be used as rewards that will encourage the child to want to learn. In addition, the use of positive reinforcement will help develop a bond between student and teacher, and create a sense of trust that will help strengthen the learning environment. Social stories are another way to make learning fun for children with autism. Since one of the aspects of autism is the inability to interact normally in a social situation, social stories can be utilized in a variety of different ways in order to model appropriate behavior.

Equipment and Software For general availability to the largest audience, the computer implementation was done for a low end PC using web standard JAVA Script. The lessons work on all versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer 4.0 and later and do not require any plug-in software, graphics hardware or special set-up by the users before playing. The exception is that the user may choose to reset his screen to display 600 by 800 pixels. Lessons also play on MAC systems, although at a slightly increased rate. All programs were coded with time lines and customized functions to incorporate specialized screen actions and responses. In-house software was designed to create play arrangements to teach effectively while avoiding a known pattern recognition by the students. Live images of people using the items or doing the actions were processed as minimum sized animated GIFs, with a standard sequence of three flowing images, to simulate live action within the computer-generated images.

Other programs for children already offer that "walled garden" approach to the Web. But LeSieur's browser aims to go further: It essentially takes over the computer and reduces the controls available for children like Zackary, who finds too many choices overwhelming. For example, the Zac Browser disables extraneous keyboard buttons like "Print Screen" and turns off the right button on the mouse. That eliminates commands most children don't need anyway, and it reduces the chance an autistic child will lose confidence after making a counterproductive click. Children using the Zac Browser select activities by clicking on bigger-than-normal icons, like a soccer ball for games and a stack of books for "stories." The Zac Browser also configures the view so no advertisements or other flashing distractions appear.

The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration. more stories like this

Children with autism are often visual learners. They often have poor fine motor skills, and writing is often a chore. Their math and language arts skills are often at different levels. They often learn routine social interaction behavior from observing others or through explicit instruction. Children with ASD need a highly structured education plan.  

Emerging technologies hold great promise for teaching and learning

For young children, programs that focus on sounds are successfully used for many autistic children. These programs teach phonics through songs and games. Some of the most highly acclaimed software programs include the following: • Sound Beginnings (1 and 2) – can be made voice-specific for every child and includes a headset so the child can “talk back” to the computer • Speaking for Myself – includes many graphics with words and sounds and also has options teaching Rebus and Makaton signs with videos • Musical Leaps and Bounds – teaches language nonverbally with the use of music Other programs for this pre-school age range help children begin to learn skills such as the alphabet, counting and simple math, and spatial relationships. Check out titles such as Kidspiration, Jemima, Touch It, and Thinkin' Things 1.

Technology Breakthrough in Communicating with Autistic ChildrenAuthor: mom_to_one, 05 16th, 2008 CALIFORNIA – New technologies are helping autistic children communicate like never before. At the Pacific Autism Center for Education in Santa Clara, each morning begins with a Power Point presentation, launching a day filled with technology and a new type of autism therapy. Two out of every three students at the center are non-verbal, but thanks to a voice output device 12-year-old Alex is able to get the snacks he craves. Malique also uses the device to “talk” for him. “The largest benefit is the ability to give them a voice, gives them a voice that offers a breadth of options and the third benefit is the social interactions that come from having the ability to speak,” explained the center’s Kurt Ohlfs. Technology also makes communicating less cumbersome. Imagine trying to carry around a book with pictures of everything you wanted to convey in a day. Now the students have all that information at their fingertips; 21-year-old Daniel is using a more advanced, hand held device that offers him a menu with hundreds of icon options. He selects the ones he wants and the computer talks in sentences, conveying his thoughts. “It’s amazing when we’ve given some of this technology to our students and it’s opened up that door and now the students are surprisingly prolific when it comes to expressing their thoughts,” said Ohlfs.

A novel educational environment for kids with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), namely NOESIS, is presented in this paper. NOESIS takes into account ASD kids’ individual characteristics (level of autism, source sensitivity, reaction target, etc), their emotional state (stress level, hyper-/hypo-tension) during their educational procedure, and creativity during guided- and self-activity (e.g., gaming). It adapts to each kid’s specific characteristics through system adaptation and self-regulation procedures. Moreover, it provides assistance to the educator for preparation, customization and optimization of the educational material for each kid and provision of enhanced evaluation procedures (scores/tools) via well-managed Web Services. Parents’ updating is also provided via reporting material with learning curve descriptions. Overall, NOESIS contributes to the provision of opportunities to all ASD children to be educated by facilitating access and tuning innovative technology to social needs.

Improvements in users have included greater levels of engagement with other people, for example, improved communication with their peers. Teachers and parents have also noted that the children develop a better relationship with their school routine and improve their performance in mixed ability classes.