Many people have had their awareness of autism raised by the media, a family member, or a member in their community. As more and more people become familiar with autism, it is important that we all be educated. On this blog post we are going to take a look at some new advances in the education of autistic students, and then we will provide some websites for further information about the disorder.
People on the spectrum of autism disorders have trouble with social interaction and communication, which can be a liability when it comes to education. Of course, there are special education classes for such students, and there is a variety of help a family can get outside of school, but now, thanks to the wonders of the iPhone and other smart phones, there are special education apps as well.
Check out this article in the Scranton Times-Tribune. In it, the writer talks about various apps for Apple-related smart devices that can be helpful when dealing with autistic youth.
One of them shows sign language signs so that the family can learn to better communicate with a non-verbal child who uses sign language. Another shows pictures of commonly desired objects or activities. It allows the user to pair one of those objects with the image of a person. Then the image can be made to say the words “I want.” This app would be used as a way of helping an autistic child learn to ask for what he or she needs.
There are, no doubt, many other apps out there. So, if you are looking for a little extra help with special education, the App Store of your smart phone may be a good place to go.
In other news on the technology front, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington recently purchased six robots for its Watson School of Education to study whether autistic students might better learn from and interact with them.
According to this article from StarNewsOnline.com, there is evidence that autistic children are able to develop good bonds with computers, something that it is difficult for them to do with other people. The hope is that using these robots, educators will be able to teach sign language, words, social interaction and more to autistic children.
If you want to learn more about autism, we also have five sites that may be helpful. They were taken from this article from healthnews.com.
Autism is a disorder that is becoming better recognized, and it is rare for anybody nowadays to not know somebody who has it or is affected by it in some way. Technology is offering new ways of dealing with autism, but it is also incumbent upon all of us to have a better understanding of what autism is and how to deal with it. You never know when it might be your turn to lend a helping hand.