Using Technology To Help Children With Autism: An Interview with Professor Juan Pablo Hourcade

“It’s not what technology you have, it’s how you use it,” says University of Iowa Computer Science Professor Juan Pablo Hourcade. It has long been known that autistic children love computers, yet only a few software developers have figured out how to help these children use computers in a way that makes them more social instead of isolating them further (and they charge a high price for it!). That is why Professor Hourcade and two of his students, Natasha Bullock-Rest and Thomas Hansen, decided to apply their knowledge of multi-touch displays with psychology to create Open Autism Software.

The Open Autism Software is free and includes several social games children could play on a Dell or HP tablet, which will only become cheaper with the iPad on the market (which wasn’t even announced when Professor Hourcade started working on this project). This software will also be able to work on MacOS once Apple integrates multi-touch display into their products. The code for this software is free and easy-to-use, so parents and anyone who is interested in developing and customizing the software is able to do so. The software includes the following games:

Collaborative Storytelling

The kids take turns telling a story through drawing as seen below to develop their creativity, storytelling, fine motor skills, turn taking, sharing and collaborating, and compromising one’s interests with the interests of others:

Collaborative Music Composition

The kids take turns composing music as seen below to develop their creativity, fine motor skills, turn taking, sharing and collaborating:

Untangle

The kids work together to solve a puzzle as seen below to practice verbal communication, coordination, cooperation, motor skills, and turn-taking.

Emotion Modeling with Photogoo

The kids manipulate the face of a cartoon character or a face to understand others’ emotions, fine motor skills, detect and predict others’ facial emotions.

Parents of autistic children tend to be very engaged in their kids lives and really want to do whatever they can to help their child become more social and capable of communicating with others. So when Professor Hourcade decided to test his software in an Iowa City elementary school and an after-school program in Cedar Rapids, all parents were excited to have their children participate. Professor Hourcade played with the kids every two weeks during the Spring semester.

When asked what they liked or didn’t like at the end of the semester, Professor Hourcade got great responses from the kids. He was surprised at how many kids enjoyed working with others, an unusual thing to say for an autistic child.

Professor Hourcade also noticed how much better the children felt when playing with others through these games. He recalls one girl in particular, who always complained and was very unhappy. However, she was good at drawing. And when she drew through the collaborative storytelling tool, she was really enjoying herself and laughing.

Next semester, Professor Hourcade will try to measure the long-term effect of the software. He already knows how beneficial it is while the kids are playing it. He will use standard social questionnaires to see if the kids actually become more social after using the games.

If you are interested in helping Professor Hourcade or in trying out the software, you can find more information on the Open Autism Software website.