You all saw today what we presented in class about the Autismate
app, so I’d like to point out one of the revelations that we as a class made
about this app. During class today, we came to the conclusion that the
Autismate app may be applicable beyond just children with Autism. I originally
saw it as a great way to link spatial skills to reading and to communicating
for children with Autism; however, I never drew the conclusion that the
practice with naming could increase RAN (rapid automatized naming) in any child
on the cusp between speaking and reading. Below is a link of an interview with
Dr. Wolf (the same as the author of Proust and the squid regarding her
breakthroughs in the science of reading and RAN and her experiences with
dyslexia.
On the other side of things, I see some flaws to this app.
Although it can be useful for nonverbal kids with Autism, only 30 percent of
kids with Autism are nonverbal. Instead of putting the children in real life
situations they are stuck in the virtual world of the app. This app may
encourage more alone play which part of the problem in the first place. The
children may become too attached to this technology, and their mood may become
dependent on it. Although the app seems to be a “cool” new technology, the
majority of the class agreed we would not use it on our child if he or she had
autism.
Although I believe this app could have amazing benefits for the brain development of kids with Autism, I think it could have harmful long term effects. As Monica mentioned in class, children with Autism can become very attached to certain devices that become apart of their schedule. If a device such as an iPad became a necessity for a child with Autism, it could have lasting impacts for the child socially. In his book iDisorder, Rosen warns against the dependence that technology can create (Chapter 4). The dependence the app creates could serve as a social barrier for the child and in turn cause the child to be worse off than before. I know that Autismate has only great intensions, but the application could potentially aid to the problem that it was designed to fix.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of this in class, but I feel like the device that the autistic child uses this app on would be very important in determining the child's dependence on the application, as well. For instance, if the child were to use a tablet, which has a larger screen than a smartphone, then I feel like this would leave open more opportunities for the child to become fully immersed in the app and thus dependent upon it for real-world navigation. However, if you reduced the screen size to that comparable to a smartphone's screen, then I think you greatly reduce the chance of the child's possible dependence upon the application.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would not use this technology with a child with autism. I feel that the child would become too immersed in the technology and loose touch completely with reality. Turkle makes the point that children very quickly loose touch with the bounds of technology and the separation of humans from the technology. For autistic children, I think that the separation would be accelerated and even worse. These children would literally become bonded to the technology and isolated by it even more so then they already are.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that this application too easily replaces the parent role. I can see that in the development of it, it was supposed to be a tool to aid in parenting and therapy. However, I feel that all the capabilities combined would more likely be used in place of parenting instead of as a tool to aid it.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/select-schools-new-york-city-bought-autismate-app-article-1.1242767
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was interesting because it gives a real-life example of a child who benefited from Autismate.
While Autismate has great potential and presents many possible benefits for a child with Autism, I personally don’t think it should be used as a tool in the home. A quote from Turkle’s “Alone Together” that I recently tried to apply to my own topic seemed to fit well with my opinion of the Autismate app. “We expect more from technology and less from each other.” I think a child with Autism would receive the most benefit from human contact and interaction as well as just being put in real life situations. This app creates a sort of “cyber world” and promotes parents just sticking their children in front of an iPad instead of trying to teach them through pure communication and everyday experiences. I think Autismate would serve as a better tool in a therapy setting, in which a therapist could teach the child how to act in his or her normal environment without actually being there. This would allow the child to benefit from all of the neat aspects of the app without becoming too dependent or attached to the program.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this app, like any technology is highly dependent on how it is used. Autism has such a spectrum that it is very dependent on the individual. In this way, I feel only the parents of each child are able to make this determination. There are many different types of communication boards utilized by therapists, parents, and teachers. As to the arguement of creating social barriers, I believe that it could be a useful tool for a child to use as sometimes there is too much going on, especially in public and the child becomes overwhelmed. If my child experienced this and they could use this tool as a transitory aide, I would definitely allow them to use it. Rosen would probably argue for the dependence on this for autistic children but I would disagree. Autistic children have dependency issues with all kinds of things, like schedules and jackets. Their dependency is not strictly a technology thing but rather a behavioural trait.
ReplyDelete