Abstract:

Special educational needs can stem from a broad range of disabilities and disorders, including sensory impairments, cognition and learning difficulties, and difficulties interacting and socializing. Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) fall into the latter category. As with any students with special educational needs, students with ASD require special attention and an individual approach during the process of their education.

Information and communication technology solutions have already been applied for a while with students who have special educational needs. However, a majority of these tools are primarily assistive, with a select few focusing on the student’s development. Since students with ASD often have trouble socializing and interacting with other people, ICT tools can be used to aid with overcoming the barrier in social interaction. Interactive solutions can be used by students and the specialists working with them to aid with social integration, speech therapy and other issues that such students might have. Recent developments in software and multimedia frameworks, personal and mobile computing devices, artificial intelligence and robotics have enabled the creation of highly interactive and engaging solutions, which can be of use to students with ASD, as they might be less likely to have trouble interacting with technology compared to interacting with other people.

This paper explores the design and development of concepts and prototypes of hardware, software and robotic solutions geared towards students with ASD and helping them overcome the barriers and restrictions that often arise from their difficulties.

Keywords:

Information and communication technology, special education, autistic spectrum disorders, interactive, social.