I really thought I'd never have to go back here again... but lo and behold.. here I am. When I have class no less. Just wonderful... so my mother asked me to drop off my passport and social security card at her house. I thought if I would leave early I could drop it off and be back in no time. But with my luck, it's never that simple. No one is home and I no longer have the key so instead of being where I'm supposed to be, I'm sitting in starbucks waiting for my brother to come home because the babysitter has to be home by then. Of course I don't remember the professor's email and it's not on my phone for some reason so yeah. I'm angry, I don't like wasting my time. Even though I do love starbucks, now is not the time.
I've had an idea floating around for the past week for a grant or "project" but I have to meet with my mother to talk about it. I'd like to do something with autism (and Asperger's), table PCs and art. I have some basic knowledge about things like child study teams and standard procedure but I have to do some more digging. On the day I got this idea an article was released about a child with autism how far he's come because of the work he's been doing with an Ipad. It makes sense, I know they use things like flash cards to help these kids express themselves so it's not such a far stretch to use a tablet PC. For some reason, I really want to do something with art. It's just a thought, I'm getting there. I think it would be a good idea for non verbal children with forms of autism to work with something like that. And I know how tough it is on a parent to hear that their children has this syndrome. I've heard quite a few horror stories about parents going to great and ultimately distructive lengths to "cure" their children. I think working with things like tablet PCs could help their children, it won't cure autism but it could help their children express themselves to a point. My mother said she's seen quite a few kids come in with video games so it appears that they are susceptible to the idea of working with technology. Even getting a few Ipads, because I think they have a pretty easy to work with OS, into doctor's offices where they do child study evaluations could possibly produce a more accurate diagnosis and therefore treatment plan. Using a touch screen and a simple and clean interface could do wonders for these kids. I think using apps that have flashcards and simple words or phrases on an Ipad is a start but especially with the new ipad coming out with a camera. If you were to incorporate the same idea of a kinect camera into an ipad camera... big things can happen.
I'm usually against replacing doctors with technology or computers but if a child with autism can interact with a computer better than a person and therefore get something out of it... why not? I remember seeing a video on youtube last semester in thr 216 about the kinect and a pretty scary "game" that interacted with you like another person. It was like having a conversation with a computer screen... it's a little meh for me but maybe eventually if it's used for something like autism it could produce some good results. It's a start and I think it's the future.
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