Technology Use in the Classroom Helps Autistic Children Communicate
From: Economic & Social Research Council - 11/29/2012
By: Sarah Nichols 

Topcliffe Primary School is using technology to help students with autism
communicate more effectively. The school is one of four in the United Kingdom
that participated in the ECHOES research project, jointly funded by the
Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Science
Research Council, which is exploring how technology can make a difference in
the classroom. The researchers used the Technology Enhanced Learning program
ECHOES, which enables children to engage with virtual characters and
interactive technologies. As part of the ECHOES program, autistic children
interact through a large multi-touch screen. "Through the screen they can
manipulate objects, explore the environment, and they can also interact with
the semi-autonomous agent called Andy," says Institute of Education
researcher Kaska Porayska-Pomsta. Topcliffe teachers say the ECHOES program
has greatly helped the children improve their social and communication
skills. "We watched children with autism playing with the images on the
screen in ways in which none of the typically developing children had done,"
says Topcliffe teacher Sarah Quickendon. The ECHOES software also can be used
as a tool for researchers, teachers, parents, and practitioners to better
understand a child's strengths and difficulties. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/24287/technology-use-in-the-classroom-helps-autistic-children-communicate.aspx

Links:
ECHOES Research Project
http://echoes2.org/

Researching autistic children's social skills (video 6:13)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku2dIif7hWA