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Open Autism Software
Where social skills and interest in computers meet
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Why open autism software?
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People diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have impaired social interaction and communication, needing special instruction
from parents and teachers. As more and more children are diagnosed, the need for effective interventions grows. Yet, when we searched
for resources to aid in the development of social skills, much of what we found was expensive and copywritten.
To fill this gap, we propose a set of activities developed for software on a multitouch computer. Many with autism have a natural
interest in computers, yet computers are usually used by one person at a time. The activities we designed for a multitouch tablet
are social and involve face-to-face interactions. Because we want parents and teachers to be able to use this technology widely,
we are making it free and open source. The software can be downloaded for free, and experienced programmers may modify the
code we have posted online. In addition, the software runs on commoditized, commercially available hardware.
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Questions? Contact Prof. Juan Pablo Hourcade at juanpablo-hourcade@uiowa.edu.
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