Can Autism and Technology Work Together to Help Solve on Upward Epidemic

It seems like technology is everywhere so why not for those who need it most. While the iPad is getting more readily assessable even to infants (yes I saw the Fischer-price case), why not for those with other challenges. There is a site just for blogging ideas about what apps would help your children. It is called Hacking Autism (although perhaps there are more similar communities out there) and the point is to share about what your son/daughter needs from technology so that a programmer might now what is best for your child. The idea is a community win-win for parents, children, and programmers.

Here are some of the best ideas I saw, but let me know your favorites:

1. Time Sequencing: A simple schedule based primarily on graphics. Clear, concise, and uncluttered. It would be great with an optional timer built in.
2. An app for therapy data. Pen and paper do seem to be a thing of the past.
3. A sentence building app for non-verbal children. There are already things in place, but they are also sadly out of date.
4. Life skills sequencing cards. Simple tasks broken down even smaller so that they can easily see next steps while doing the process and work on memorizing it to do it eventually without the visual.
5. It would be really helpful to have an app that would enhance a persons ability for keeping track of and remembering their own belongings. The app could have a generic list of items (coat, bag, hat, etc) and allow for creation of new items. All the person or caregiver would need to do is open the app, touch the items they have and an automatic reminder could be set.
6. Create a puzzle interactive game where children have to use a character to move and travel to different environments and settings (school, home, etc.) and solve simple social problems such as get someone to play with you, ask for help or play a game.
7. I would love to see an app that provides different facial cues and prompts the “player” to identify how they think the person is feeling.

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