A support system for autistic children using Internet of Things technology

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) usually have difficulties expressing or controlling emotions, and they suffer from impaired eye contact and communication with others. The number of ASD patients is increasing worldwide, so there is a need for systems and means to help this group of patients.This paper introduces a prototype system of an IoT-based support system for ASD children. The system guides and monitors ASD children using a set of sensors linked to a modern Wi-Fi development kit called Particle Photon. The designed system also uses the Blynk platform (A hardware-agnostic IoT platform with mobile applications) to control and monitor the system sensors from the mobile device and communicate with parents or supervisors of the ASD child to alert them of any excessive and abnormal behavior by sending a notification or e-mail.In addition, the system contains a GPS unit to track the child’s location and to transmit the sensor data across the cloud to specialists and supervisors for analysis and study of the health status of ASD children. A calming unit (Arduino Uno, SD card, mini speaker) is added to the system to be used in the event of hypersensitivity or tension by emitting musical notes to calm the child until the parents arrive. All system units have been tested and validated.