Easy independence for autistic people

SC@UT

About one in 150 eight-year-old children in Europe have an ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorder, variable neurodevelopmental disorders which affect information processing in the brain and impair social interaction and communication. Nevertheless, educational and scientific progresses find new ways of fighting these handicaps and improve people with autism's quality of life


By ISABEL BENITEZ (isabel.benitez@wavemagazine.net)
from Seville, SPAIN


Common obstacles people with autism find in their daily life are speaking disabilities; difficulties using language effectively; problems with the meaning and rhythm of words and sentences; complications to communicate non-verbally, through hand gestures, eye contact and facial expressions. Although some autistic children and adults may have rich vocabularies and no problems pronouncing words, most of them come up against physical and mental barriers that prevent them from interacting with their social milieu.

The Spanish project "SC@UT" tries to provide this group of population with an easy and useful tool to increase their quality of life. Thanks to this application, people with autism can communicate with each other through a computer, a PDA or a video game console. It is known as an Augmentative Communication System and it is of benefit to people with autism, but also to their families and teachers.

Created by a team of researchers of the University of Granada, it offers autistic children a way to express themselves touching a screen with their fingers or pushing a button. About a third of individuals with autism don't develop enough natural speech to meet their daily interactional needs. When they can't talk, pronounce a word or speak properly, they can make a choice in the screen. María José Fortiz, researcher and project coordinator, explains:

- Sc@ut shows a picture on the screen. When somebody chooses it, you can hear a sound or see other images. This way user can make sentences. For instance, think of a first screen with two messages: YOU and ME. Imagine, then, that the user chooses ME. After that, he finds a second screen, with WANT or DON'T WANT. He decides WANT. And so on... TO EAT or NOT TO EAT, a SANDWICH or a PIECE OR FRUIT... and users create a sentence.

Of course, there are lots of possible designs: each program adjusts to each person with disability, with pictures, draws, onomatopoeias, and different resources. It is not the same to treat a child with autism or an adult with cerebral palsy.

Aurelia Carrillo, teacher and speech therapist, adds: "If a user can't select a photo with its fingers, he can hear some sounds - for example, a glass of water, a piece of bread - and press a button when he hears the correct word".

This is what experts have studied and proved.

A practical example

Although it is a scientific project, social associations and educational centers are using SC@UT since 2002 in Spain and Europe.

Seven years ago, the Association for the People with Mental Disability of Granada, ASPROGRADES, started employing it in the Special Educational Center "Santa Teresa de Jesús". It is the first place where researchers started to see their advances and progresses. Aurelia Carrillo remembers the program was changing according to infants needs. At the beginning, SC@UT was just for autistic children, but then - after she applied it to people with cerebral palsy - the Spanish research evolved and increased its possibilities. Now, it is used by 20 young people who helped to improve it, to detect its advantages and disadvantages.

What it means for its users

Aurelia Carrillo notes that all the human beings have the capacity to communicate: "With this system, we open the door to communication and learning. But it also lessens their stress and anxiety, because they feel understood, they feel they can interact with their environment. In short, it increases their happiness".

She emphasizes its positive effects on people with mental disability. The speech therapist assures it helps people with autism and cerebral palsy, but also children with Down syndrome and other developmental disorders. It tries to guarantee sick's functional independence.

María José Fortiz explains that Sc@ut improve their communicative intention. "Nobody understood them before, so why were they going to talk? Now, they are starting the conversation".

On the other hand, this computer application supports infancy with cognitive disease to build sentences or to structure daily routines. At the same time, as it makes them feel understood, it stops distress and disruptive behavior: tantrums, violence or self-harm. Project coordinator assures: "It makes easier their life and their families".

- I always remember a case. A mum told me her child went all over the house every day. They knew he was looking for something, but they didn't know what and he couldn't explain. Since they have Sc@ut, if the child looks for his teddy, he chooses its image in the computer and his parents can help him to find it.

How to find Sc@ut

In order to help as many people as possible, Sc@ut is on the Net. Relatives, teachers, speech therapists and psychologists can download it for free. It makes the application accessible. People can find it on the web http://scaut.ugr.es/. There are two kinds of files: software that users can install in a PDA or a game console, and application they can employ to create their own software for computer. In this last case, the software is in Spanish but families and teachers can download some pictures and voices in different languages (like English) to adapt it to users.

Nevertheless, children need a period of time to get used to Sc@ut; a process that usually demands special incentives and stimulus. Patience and love from social environment make the rest.

Advances in autism treatment

Researchers of the University of Granada are now working on new projects to improve people with autism' quality of life. On the one hand, they try to support interaction with material environment through biosensors; that is, it helps to open a window or close a door moving an arm or a finger.

On the other hand, they develop PICAA. It is a learning system. It also uses mobile phones and portable devices. Teachers design individual activities, puzzles and tests, to increase vocabulary of children with mental disability, and also their memory and reflexes.



(Published: 10.04.2010.)