Work in progress: Using smart mobile tools to enhance autism therapy for children

Abstract

Autism and related communicative disorders in children are major issues facing parents, school districts, and government institutions. Autism now affects one in eighty-eight children in the United States, and treatment requires significant resources - time, expertise, and financial. This project seeks to enhance the reach of therapeutic efforts through a family of smart mobile tools created to assist therapists working with autism and communicative disorders. The system uses cloud services and a knowledge automation expert (artificial intelligence) engine to track patterns in treatment and visually display those patterns for clinicians, schools, and parents, thereby creating a space for cross-communication between parties that is tailored to the treatment needs of each child.