The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

From morning opening to boarding the bus home, there are many ways to incorporate simple technology into the classroom. Come and see fun ways to add voice output technology to schedules, bulletin boards, center areas, routines, and tasks such as eating and personal hygiene as well as many ways to enhance play. All the ideas promote functional communication, interaction and independence for children with autism. From morning opening to boarding the bus home, there are many ways to incorporate simple technology into the classroom. Come and see fun ways to add voice output technology to schedules, bulletin boards, center areas, routines and tasks such as eating and personal hygiene as well as many ways to enhance play. All the ideas promote functional communication, interaction and independence for children with autism.

Experts in the area of autism seem to agree that children benefit from early multi-modal intervention that centers on functional communication skills. They also agree that for most children with autism, these skills are best taught in their naturally occurring environment due to difficulty with generalization. The learning environment must provide structure, routine and multiple opportunities to practice communication and interaction skills. Technology can be used in the environments to promote all the components necessary for successful learning. This presentation will not focus on any one approach for teaching children with autism. It will introduce the attendee to ideas that can be easily incorporated into any approach or combination of approaches currently utilized.

Research has shown that children with autism benefit from visual supports to enhance the communication process. These visual supports can range from body language to computer use. The technology demonstrated throughout this presentation can accommodate a variety of visual cues including objects, photos, line drawings and text. Adding technology, such as a voice output device to currently used visual cueing, can aid in further clarifying communication intent for the user and/or the message receiver. Technology can also be used as a motivational tool that encourages participation in a given activity. In addition, technology is yet another way to further individualize activities and to meet specific communication needs of the user.

Children with autism have greater difficulty processing auditory information than visual information. Visual information is less transient and continues to be available throughout the time needed to process where as auditory information is presented and then gone. Does this mean we ignore the auditory mode? Of course, not. What it does mean is that great care and planning should be taken to control and monitor information presented via the auditory mode and carefully select the visual cue paired with this auditory information.

Throughout this presentation, a variety of common classroom activities with technology enhancements will be demonstrated. These include schedules, bulletin boards, center areas and play activities. Routine activities such as dressing, eating and personal hygiene will also be addressed. Ideas for including technology in motor activities will be shown. We will also discuss important considerations in choosing what to record into voice output technology including considerations in choosing appropriate vocabulary, appropriate length of utterances, and recording sound effects and music as alternatives to voice. Attendees will leave with many new and creative ideas that are easily implemented in multiple environments.

Learning Objectives: