Autism Caught on Tap

Reported November 2007

ATLANTA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Autism affects one in every 165 children. For the parents and teachers of those boys and girls … knowing what works and what doesn’t can be key to their development. Now, new technology is helping them help these kids.

From riding on dads back … to bouncing around the kitchen. There’s little down time in the Abawd home. Both of Gregory Abawd's sons have autism.

"With Aiden you have to work really hard to get him to say anything. With Blaise you have to stop him from what he wants to say, to get him to actually communicate with you," Abawd told Ivanhoe.

It’s his boys who gave this human computer interaction professor his next project at Georgia Tech.

"It was very disappointing for me to see how much people were relying on their memory to figure out what was going on," Abawd said.

Care Log allows parents and teachers to catch moments on tape.

"So what happens here there is a camera in the living room actually pointing down … if something interesting happens … I just press a button. When that behavior occurs … sometime before and sometime after the incident is now saved to go over and take a look at," Abawd explained. This takes the memory out of the picture.

"Someone can take a look at what happens before and after and determine what the reason behind the behavior." Gregory Abawd, PhD

For example, often times when a child is trying to get the attention of his teacher it can get frustrating. When she doesn’t see him … he may begin hitting himself. Now the teacher knows why.

"Someone can observe it and describe it to you, or you can see it," Abawd said.

Another tool called the Abaris also catches moments on tape. A teacher can compare video to her notes, taken down with a special pen and paper that automatically charts a child's progress on a computer. She may then realize a student is distracted. The teacher then can get more on his level to help him focus.

"They’d see themselves doing therapy and say oh my gosh, I didn’t even realize I was doing that," Julie Kientz, computing expert at Georgia Tech, told Ivanhoe.

Two ways technology is helping at home and in the classroom.

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Gregory Abowd, PhD, Co-Director
Aware Home
(404) 894-7512
abowd@cc.gatech.edu

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(310) 394-1811
http://www.hfes.org

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