A Web-based Application to Address Individual Interests of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a triad of disturbances affecting the areas of communication, social interaction and behavior. In educational contexts, these limitations can be deeply disabling unless appropriate intervention methodologies are promoted. Children with ASDs usually have very strict interests, which may cause a lack of interest in standard ICT tools overtime. Our paper presents a new way to overcome these issues, by enabling children to have the opportunity to enjoy a rich multimedia platform. This approach allows tutors and peers to giving the possibility to fully customize the layout and contents. Special attention was given to the promotion of communicative and social competences of children with ASDs, enabling them to interact with one another through messages, share opinions, and experiences. Preliminary results show that children feel motivated using the tool, and number of interactions between peers increase. In this paper we will describe the platform and how it can be customized, and finally, introduce the evaluation methodology to be used. © 2012 M. Lucas da Silva, D. Gonçalo, T. Guerreiro, H. Silva. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Scientific Programme Committee of the 4th International Conference on Software Development for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (DSAI 2012)