The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Computerized instruction for ASD is becoming increasingly popular and more programs are becoming available. A growing body of research has been conducted in this area and will be summarized and presented. Several computer programs will also be presented along with the research that has been done to date. Limitations of computer instruction will also be discussed along with suggestions for maximizing success by conducting off-computer generalization activities. The future of computer instruction and the necessary research will also be discussed. With recent advances in computer technology, it is no surprise that more and more people are beginning to show interest in taking advantage of the latest technology to provide more sophisticated treatment options for children with autism.  Many researchers have looked at computers as a possible clinical tool and although much more research is needed, computers look to be a promising possibility for teaching children with autism.  As children with autism tend to attend well to things that interest them, and because children with autism often respond well to treatments that use visual supports, computers are a logical choice for intervention.  Research in this area has been encouraging.  For instance, in one study, social problem solving was taught to children with autism using computerized social stories.  Other researchers have use computers to teach language to children with autism.  The exciting aspect of these and other studies is not only that skills can be taught using the computer, but in many of these studies, skills were shown to generalize to the natural environment.  Also, several studies have demonstrated that children with autism may actually learn faster using a computer than using traditional direct instruction.  It also seems that in many cases, children with autism are more motivated and attend better to the computer than to direct instruction.  These and other studies will be summarized and presented to provide a framework for understanding the future directions of computer instruction for this population. 

Several existing computer programs will be discussed along with the research that has been done to date.  TeachTown is a computer assisted program that includes a computerized ABA program, off-computer generalization activities, and a sophisticated data tracking and communication system allowing the program to be used in any environment (i.e. home, school, clinic, etc.).  Timo is an animated tutor using revolutionary technology to show the child how to produce speech sounds to learn vocabulary, narrative language, and unlimited other skills in the customizable tools.  Social Skill Builder is a series of video social stories to teach children various social skills.  Laureate Learning has a series of language software programs that use evidence-based speech-language teaching strategies.  Discrete Trial Trainer is a program that teaches various skills using Discrete Trial Training.  These and other programs will be briefly described along with an overview of the published research on these programs.

Despite the promise of computers in treatment programs for children with autism, there are some who may have concerns about using computers to teach these children.  Most of this concern comes from the fact that children with autism are known to have language and social deficits and some people believe that putting a child in front of the computer may block language and social opportunities.  However, there is little research to support this theory.  In fact, most research, even for typically developing children, shows that computers do not negatively affect language or socialization.  In fact, some studies have shown increased language and socialization among children when using the computer.  In addition, several research studies have shown that young children who use the computer demonstrate improved cognitive skills and are more likely to do well in school. Most of the negative findings on computers and young children relate to video games with violence, not educational or appropriate entertainment software.  computers are now an important part of education programs for children.  Children are now required by their teachers to use the computer for research, writing, math, and other activities.  Computer learning is introduced at a very young age and it is not at all uncommon to see computers being used even in preschool classrooms.  However, children are also taught with their peers in the classroom and in other types of environments and few would dispute that balance of these activities is important for quality education.  Children with autism may benefit even more from computer-assisted instruction than typically developing children but more research is needed in this area.  Regardless of the benefits of computer-assisted learning, it is important that children with autism also have balance in their learning opportunities.  Teaching the child in the natural environment and giving the child opportunities to interact with peers cannot be replaced by a computer.  Strategies for maximizing the success of computer instruction by working on skills in the natural environment will be discussed in detail, along with several suggestions from experts in the field of autism treatment on generalization (e.g. Laura Schreibman, Andy Bondy, Carol Gray, Ilene Schwartz, etc.) (authors from upcoming book on generalization from Brooke’s Publishing titled Real World, Real Progress).

The use of computers for intervention for ASD may have other benefits not yet addressed in the research.  For instance, computers allow for fast, accurate, and detailed data collection and analysis which can assist schools in meeting mandated requirements for data collection.  And, similar to how computers have made communication easier for much of our society through e-mail, the internet, and instant messaging, computers may help address the much-needed solution for helping people working with children with ASD to communicate with one another.  Often times, teachers, parents, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, developmental pediatricians, behavioral therapists, etc. have difficulty communicating with one another about the child’s intervention program.  Even with recent advances in computer technology, most of these “teams” still rely on binders full of session notes and data that is rarely looked at by the majority of the team, or e-mails are sent out that are often lost or forgotten in the sea of other e-mails.  This lack of communication among team members often leads to confusing or conflicting approaches which may cause more harm for the child than good.  This can also lead to very intense and confusing meetings around the child’s education program as everyone seems to be doing something different with the child.  Other possible benefits of using computers for children with autism include increasing independence for older, higher-functioning children through the use of calendars, task lists, and other visual supports for helping these children (and adults) to better manage their days.  Computers may also help to increase communication opportunities for people with autism.  Using e-mail, structured chat rooms, and internet messaging, people with ASD may feel more confident to interact with their peers and this may give them an opportunity to be successful.  The possibilities for research and treatment for computers and ASD are many and hopefully, this new trend will allow more people to have accessible and affordable treatment tools.  These possibilities for the future of computer instruction will be discussed along with the presentation of data from a recent survey with over 400 parents, teachers, and clinicians about what consumers need and expect in the future development of computer programs for their children who are in the 6-12 year developmental functioning range (there are currently few if any programs yet available for ASD children in this developmental age range).  Participants will be asked to participate in the future directions part of the presentation to facilitate a more thorough understanding of the future needs of the autism community for computerized instruction.

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