Gerardo Herrera

Development of symbolic play through the use of virtual reality tools in children with autistic spectrum disorders: two case studies.

Difficulties in understanding symbolism have been documented as characteristic of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). In general, virtual reality (VR) environments offer a set of potential advantages for educational intervention in ASD. In particular, VR offers the advantage, for teaching pretend play and for understanding imagination, of it being possible to show these imaginary transformations explicitly. This article reports two case studies of children with autism (aged 8:6 and 15:7, both male), examining the effectiveness of using a VR tool specifically designed to work on teaching understanding of pretend play. The results, confirmed by independent observers, showed a significant advance in pretend play abilities after the intervention period in both participants, and a high degree of generalization of the acquired teaching in one of them.

Web accessibility for individuals with cognitive deficits: A comparative study between an existing commercial Web and its cognitively accessible equivalent

Tim Berners-Lee claimed in 2001 that “the power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect”. A considerable amount of work has been done to make the web accessible to those with sensory or motor disability, with an increasing number of government and enterprise intranet webs being “accessible”, and also with some consortiums and groups seriously approaching this commitment. Some authors, such as Harrysson, have already highlighted the need for a cognitively accessible web. However, in spite of good intentions, there has been little work to date that has tackled this task. At least until now, the existing WAI and NI4 recommendations about cognitive disability are extremely difficult (if not impossible) to test, as they are only general recommendations. This article explains an alternative Web that has been constructed and tested on a sample of participants with cognitive disabilities (N = 20) with positive results encouraging us to dedicate more effort to fine tune their requirements regarding specific cognitive deficits and automating the process of creating and testing cognitively accessible web content. This alternative web implies the use of a simplified web browser and an adequate web design. Discussion of the need to have several levels of cognitive accessibility, equivalent (although not identical) content for this collective and the need for testable protocols of accessibility that support these peoples needs is also included. This article finishes with conclusions about the potential impact of accessible pages in the daily life of people suffering from cognitive deficits, outlining the features to be considered within a user profile specification that support cognitive difficulties and with reflections about the suitability of Semantic Web Technologies for future developments in this field.

Agency and presence: a common dependence on subjectivity?

This paper argues that presence, as shown in virtual environments, can usefully be seen as comprising various subtypes and that these in turn may have common conceptual and ontological features with a sense of agency as defined by Russell (1996, Agency: Its Role in Mental Development, Erlbaum.). Furthermore, an analysis of Russells characterization of the concept of agency may be useful for acquiring insight into the sense of presence itself and the variables affecting it. Empirical evidence from cognitive developmental research and the positive results of attempts to develop symbolic understanding in people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in virtual environments suggest that presence may be more about experiencing agency than either pretending to be there or constructing and reconstructing mental models in real time. This analysis is used to shed some light on the current issues of presence research and to open up new philosophical and psychological aspects, in relation to both presence and ASD.

Virtual reality school for children with learning difficulties

This paper describes the process starting from the identification of educational needs of children with learning difficulties to the design of a fully interactive virtual school, where it is possible to learn about the physical and social world. The fundamentals of this design are the exclusive advantages that Real Time Graphics offer for developing tools in which children can learn while playing. This development has been done in the framework of a strongly-funded project by the Spanish Government. This ongoing project is in its final stage of development and will produce tools which are valid both for special and mainstream education, ready to be used and tested over final users.

Computer graphics applications in the education process of people with learning difficulties

This paper describes the use of Real Time graphic applications as educational tools, specifically oriented to working with people who have certain learning difficulties. We first focus on identifying the most relevant traits (from a psychological point of view) of those disorders, then we continue by analysing the advantages of graphics in Real Time in this context, and how they can be used to complement the conventional teaching methods. Finally, we review the main characteristics of two applications belonging to this category, which serve as a practical example of this encounter between education and technology.

Assessing Virtual Reality as a Tool for Support Imagination

One of the major developments of the second year of human life is the emergence of the ability to pretend (Leslie, 1987). Many children with autism use no pretend play or are impoverished in the quality of their play (Baron-Cohen, 1989). The key factor of our Virtual Reality Software in relation to Pretend Play is the possibility to really show the object transformations we propose when pretending. We hope those technics to drive people with autism to a better understanding of pretense and to enable them to develop a play with more quality.

Using Tic-Tac software to reduce anxiety-related behaviour in adults with autism and learning difficulties during waiting periods: A pilot study

Deficits in the perception of time and processing of changes across time are commonly observed in individuals with autism. This pilot study evaluated the efficacy of the use of the software tool Tic-Tac, designed to make time visual, in three adults with autism and learning difficulties. This research focused on applying the tool in waiting situations where the participants exhibited anxiety-related behaviour. The intervention followed a baseline and intervention (AB) design, and a partial interval recording procedure was used to code the presence of stereotypes, nervous utterances, wandering or other examples of nervousness during the selected waiting situations. The results showed that the use of Tic-Tac resulted in lower levels of anxiety-related behaviour in all three participants, compared to the baseline, suggesting that this software may be an effective technology for helping people with autism with organisation and predictability during waiting periods. The results are discussed in terms of limitations and implications for further study.

Using 'ambient intelligence' for compensating intellectual difficulties of people with severe learning difficulties and/or autistic spectrum disorders

This paper describes a set of services and software created so that what is called ‘ambient intelligence’ would compensate for the ‘intellectual difficulties’ that people from this collective have. Existing concepts and standards of ambient intelligence are strongly reinforced through the use of the exact current user’s position as a key factor to calculate how the ‘digital home’ or any ‘digital environment’ behaves at every moment. This will be obtained using both Wi-Fi personal locators (embedded in necklaces or bracelets) and Wi-Fi communication from the PDA. This mix, together with individual capabilities and preferences, makes the development of a wide range of services possible when combined with the multimedia capabilities of new technology devices.

Assessing B.A.Bar Device as a Tool for Supporting Labour Integration of a Severely Affected Person with Autism Who Carries Out Classifying Tasks

This paper describes the case research carried out to demonstrate the utility of a specific technical aid (adapted bar code reader) to train an adult with severe autism in the performance of a work task of classifying products in a shop. The individual with autism who participated in this research has a combination of difficulties (degree of 76 percent of disability and unable to learn to read and write) and abilities (being able to follow single verbal instructions). Positive results are expounded together with considerations about the desirable features of future products that would overcome the mere training process and also be useful for the final and real task in any working environment where bar codes are present. This paper also provides a preview of what work this group will face in the future in order to progress in the development of this more general and standard aid.