Broadening accessibility through special interests: a new approach for software customization

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often fixate on narrow, restricted interests. These interests can be highly motivating, but they can also create attentional myopia, preventing individuals from pursuing a broad range of activities. Interestingly, researchers have found that preferred interests can be used to help individuals with ASD branch out and participate in educational, therapeutic, or social situations they might otherwise shun. When interventions are modified, such that an individual's interest is properly represented, task adherence and performance can increase. While this strategy has seen success in the research literature, it is difficult to implement on a large scale and therefore has not been widely adopted. This paper describes a software approach designed to solve this problem. The approach facilitates customization, allowing users to easily embed images of almost any special interest into computer-based interventions. Specifically, we des...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: ASSETS
• Authors: Robert R. Morris, Connor R. Kirschbaum, Rosalind W. Picard
• Keywords: ASSETS 2010, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Emerging Technology, Interests, Software Programs