Inducing Behavior Change in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by Monitoring their Attention

Margarida Lucas da Silva, Hugo Silva, Daniel Gonçalves

2014

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) generally suffer from disorders which affect multiple behavioral aspects, such as communication, emotional awareness, social interaction, lack of attention, among many others. Modern technologies, are opening up new possibilities for computer-mediated interactions with increased outcomes, enabling both children and tutors to have a more effective work in the development of communicative and cognitive skills. In this article we introduce a module implemented in a platform for human-computer interaction, specifically designed for children with ASD, to control their levels of attention and test inducing behavior change. This allows us to shape new behaviors and learning strategies both in tutors and children.

References

  1. (1992). The Head-Neck Sensory Motor System. Oxford University Press, USA, 1 edition.
  2. Ames, C. and Fletcher-Watson, S. (2010). A review of methods in the study of attention in autism. Developmental Review, 30(1):52-73.
  3. Boyd, B. A., Conroy, M. A., Mancil, G. R., Nakao, T., and Alter, P. J. (2007). Effects of circumscribed interests on the social behaviors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(8):1550-1561.
  4. Calais-Germain, B. (2007). Anatomy of Movement (Revised Edition). Eastland Press, revised edition.
  5. Dalton, K. M., Nacewicz, B. M., Johnstone, T., Schaefer, H. S., Gernsbacher, M. A., Goldsmith, H. H., Alexander, A. L., and Davidson, R. J. (2005). Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism. Nature Neuroscience, 8(4):519-526.
  6. Jones, W., Carr, K., and Klin, A. (2008). Absence of preferential looking to the eyes of approaching adults predicts level of social disability in 2-year-old toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. Archives of general psychiatry, 65(8):946-954.
  7. Kinnealey, M., Pfeiffer, B., Miller, J., Roan, C., Shoener, R., and Ellner, M. L. (2012). Effect of classroom modification on attention and engagement of students with autism or dyspraxia. The American journal of occupational therapy, 66(5):511-519.
  8. Leekam, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Perrett, D., Milders, M., and Brown, S. (1997). Eye-direction detection: A dissociation between geometric and joint attention skills in autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15(1):77-95.
  9. Lucas da Silva, M., Gonc¸alves, D., Guerreiro, T., and Silva, H. (2012). A Web-based Application to Address Individual Interests of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Procedia Computer Science, 14:20-27.
  10. Lucas da Silva, M., Simo˜es, C., Gonc¸alves, D., Guerreiro, T., Silva, H., and Botelho, F. (2011). TROCAS: Communication Skills Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders via ICT Human-Computer Interaction INTERACT 2011. volume 6949 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, chapter 103, pages 644-647. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg.
  11. Pelphrey, K. A., Sasson, N. J., Reznick, J. S., Paul, G., Goldman, B. D., and Piven, J. (2002). Visual scanning of faces in autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 32(4):249-261.
  12. Posner, M. I., Walker, J. A., Friedrich, F. J., and Rafal, R. D. (1984). Effects of parietal injury on covert orienting of attention. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 4(7):1863- 1874.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Lucas da Silva M., Silva H. and Gonçalves D. (2014). Inducing Behavior Change in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by Monitoring their Attention . In Proceedings of the International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems - Volume 1: PhyCS, ISBN 978-989-758-006-2, pages 131-136. DOI: 10.5220/0004698401310136


in Bibtex Style

@conference{phycs14,
author={Margarida Lucas da Silva and Hugo Silva and Daniel Gonçalves},
title={Inducing Behavior Change in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by Monitoring their Attention},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems - Volume 1: PhyCS,},
year={2014},
pages={131-136},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004698401310136},
isbn={978-989-758-006-2},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Conference on Physiological Computing Systems - Volume 1: PhyCS,
TI - Inducing Behavior Change in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by Monitoring their Attention
SN - 978-989-758-006-2
AU - Lucas da Silva M.
AU - Silva H.
AU - Gonçalves D.
PY - 2014
SP - 131
EP - 136
DO - 10.5220/0004698401310136