Project

Customized Computer-Mediated Interventions

None

Groups

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have intense, focused interests. These interests, when harnessed properly, can help motivate an individual to persist in a task that might otherwise be too challenging or bothersome. For example, past research has shown that embedding focused interests into educational curricula can increase task adherence and task performance in individuals with ASD. However, providing this degree of customization is often time-consuming and costly and, in the case of computer-mediated interventions, high-level computer-programming skills are often required. We have recently designed new software to solve this problem. Specifically, we have built an algorithm that will: (1) retrieve user-specified images from the Google database; (2) strip them of their background; and (3) embed them seamlessly into Flash-based computer programs.