Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Enhanced Education of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Evdokimos I. Konstantinidis, Andrej Luneski, Christos A. Frantzidis, Maria M. Nikolaidou, Magda Hitoglou-Antoniadou, Panagiotis D. Bamidis

ABSTRACT
Recent developments in the area of information and communication technologies for people with special
needs led to significant changes in the way specialists and educators face the daily impairments posed by
abnormal behaviors. Computer based educative methods have recently been considered as a key element
for educating people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). Latest literature reveals that persons with
autism, especially children, enjoy interacting with computers and consider them as a “safe” environment
due to the lack of expectations and judgments that make social interaction problematic. Virtual
Environments (VEs), usually accompanied by 3D humanoid characters have been proven to play
essential role in special education and social interventions. In addition, emotionally expressive avatars
advance the quality of tutor-learner interaction. Furthermore, unobtrusive wireless sensors often
integrate autistic person’s feedback and reaction. This paper attempts to demonstrate specific artifacts in
a proof of concept fashion with a long term purpose to improve the educational process of people with
ASDs.

KEYWORDS: Computer-aided learning, affective computing, autism, emotions, human-computer
interaction, avatars.