Students Hack Autism in Two Computer Science Classes
From: University of Michigan EECS News - 2012 - page 32

Dr. David Chesney teaches programming, but also uses his classes to raise
awareness of how engineering can be used for societal good. This year, the
theme in both his ENG 100 and EECS 481 classes was "Gaming for the Greater
Good," as students developed video games designed for use by individuals on
the autistic spectrum.

ENG 100 is a freshman engineering course, and in Dr. Chesney's class students
were introduced to programming fundamentals and organized into teams to use
tools that allowed them to construct working PC-based video games. The extra
twist to the class was that Dr. Chesney's students were able to visit Mott
Children's Hospital and learn about the needs and challenges for individuals
with autistic spectrum disorder. Dr. Chesney challenged his students to think
of this audience when creating their projects. In the end, students produced
15 new games designed with the needs of autistic persons in mind.

Senior students in Dr. Chesney’s Software Engineering class faced a similar
challenge, but went through a more rigorous process of pitching project ideas
to a panel of autism experts from Autism Speaks and Mott Hospital, and then
creating a new class of games with a clear therapeutic focus using Microsoft
Kinect hands-free technology. The final games have been installed at Mott for
children to use. Sharif Moosa, a student in the class, said, "It was
incredibly rewarding to see the children playing our games. It changed my
perspective; I realized what I’m doing here could actually help people."

Source:
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/about/EECSNews/EECSNews12.pdf

Links:
David Chesney
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/etc/fac/facsearchform.cgi?chesneyd+

Hacking Autism and University of Michigan
http://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2012/05/01/hacking-autism-and-university-michigan

Hacking Autism
http://www.hackingautism.org/

Video games help autistic students in classrooms (with video 2:41)
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-31/video-games-autism-students/55319452/1

ENG100 Students Design, Develop, and Show Games Designed for Individuals with Autism
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/about/articles/2012/2012-12_ENG100_games_showcase/games_showcase.html