Autism - A Serious Global Issue

One of my biggest interests is finding ways to improve healthcare with technology. If I wasn’t the founder of a high end branded personal computer company, I would be doing something in medicine. Maybe not becoming a doctor, but something around actually bridging technology together with medicine in an effort to further medical research and collaboration.

I’m deeply concerned with raising awareness about autism, a developmental disorder that currently affects millions of families worldwide.

We’ve all been in the mall and witnessed a child in the middle of a supreme temper tantrum, that usually involves throwing themselves on the ground and yelling, kicking, and sometimes hitting. And many of us are guilty of giving the parents of these kids a nasty glare. It’s unfortunate that parents of children living with autism have to go through “the stare down” from people around them, most of whom have no idea what it must be like to be in that situation. The bottom line is, there is no explanation as to how autism is caused, and unless you know what to look for, most of the time you’d never guess that these children live with it.

As a neurological disorder that manifests itself in early childhood, autism today affects an increasing number of children. Autism most frequently impairs the child’s ability to communicate with others and to respond to the environment. Autism also affects children differently. Some may have difficulty eating, drinking or sleeping, while others may experience odd responses to sensory input. As far as the lack of communication goes, imagine being the mother who may never hear her kid say “mommy”. Imagine being a mother who may never know what’s bothering her child, or what they are thinking at any given time of the day.

As a result, having an autistic child can have a huge impact on family relationships. I have some very close friends who are currently coping with the effects of autism and I know all about the stress and communication issues it can cause. That’s why I’m extremely proud to be part of a company that has the ability to make a difference.

I was in New York about a year ago riding in a taxi cab, and I was watching the advertising on the screen in front of me. There was a human interest story on ArticuLab, a Northwestern University research unit that looks at how society can improve communication, notably with those living with autism, and social interaction using technology. Their research was so amazing, and unique compared to anything that I've seen related to autism that I immediately took down the number, contacted my boss Phil, and said “we need to do something fast…”

At last check, autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disabilities in North America -- with a new case diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes. Currently, autism gets under five percent of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases. The least understood part of autism is the fact that there are an alarming number of people who are now affected, and thus will be growing up with this disorder. In other words, we are experiencing a huge bubble of people currently living with autism at a young age, but what happens when they’re older? Who is going to take care of them if something happens to their primary caregivers? This is the part that people need to think long and hard about – parents don’t live forever.

Upon returning home I contacted Justine at Northwestern and we spoke at length about her research. If you have ever watched a child living with autism you’d know that they tend to fixate on specific things. Some children like books, others like coloring, but most of them like to watch videos and play on the computer. Northwestern is developing a cool piece of software called “Sam the Virtual Peer” which allows children with autism to walk into a room where there’s a large screen with “virtual peers” inviting the child in to play games. Anyone who has a child living with autism will tell you that videos are a great way to communicate with your kid. This is the next step, and Justine was mentioning that they were looking for devices that had touch screens on them. We hooked her up with a few HP TouchSmart PCs, and this is only the beginning. I plan to fly out there in a few months to follow up on the research and see what other roles we might play in their research.

With the donation of new HP TouchSmart PCs, along with the time and expertise of the dedicated technology experts in HP’s Personal Systems Group, we’re playing a small part in learning more about autism and developing innovative ways to improve the lives and social experience of those living with it.

Check out more about this fantastic effort over here.

Autism Research at ArticuLab Gets a Boost from HP

EVANSTON, Illinois -– The ArticuLab, a Northwestern University research group that studies how humans communicate with and through technology, announced today its autism research received a pledge of support from HP. The support will come in the form of a donation of three of the award-winning HP TouchSmart PCs and consultation with technology experts in HP's Personal Systems Group.

The ArticuLab uses virtual peers to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improve social interaction. Social experiences between the child and the virtual peer are controlled using a video game-like interface and an interactive surface. The HP TouchSmart PC has a touch-enabled screen that recognizes natural touch gestures such as taps or sweeps, making it ideal hardware for the program.

"Working with HP will give us access to valuable new resources in the form of both innovative hardware and creative thinkers," said Justine Cassell, director of the Center for Technology and Social Behavior and the AT&T Research Professor and professor of communication studies and electrical engineering and computer science. "HP’s contribution will not only help speed the discovery of groundbreaking techniques to help autistic children improve social interaction skills, we hope that it will ultimately improve the lives of some very special young people."

In addition to the TouchSmart PCs, contributions from HP include access to specialized expertise in the areas of gaming and human-computer interfaces.

"We are excited about the positive impact we can have on the lives of children living with autism by applying our expertise in gaming, touch technology and the development of innovative hardware," said Rahul Sood, chief technology officer, Voodoo Business Unit, HP. "Watching children with autism interact with technology is a fascinating experience, and we believe that working with the ArticuLab is also a great opportunity for HP to explore the critical intersection between technology and medical research."

Autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disabilities in the United States, with a new case diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes. Other facts about the disability include:

• One in every 150 children born in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism.
• There are 24,000 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. per year.
• Autism receives less than 5 percent of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases.
• There is no medical detection treatment or cure for autism.

ArticuLab research helps autistic children rehearse and experiment with important skills for social reciprocity, ranging from fundamental behaviors such as participating in conversations and turn-taking, to understanding the perspectives of other people and additional complex interactions. Studying the effects of using virtual peers may contribute important information about the underlying mechanisms of communication and social reciprocity in ASD while providing an innovative intervention for building skills vital to peer interaction.

About the ArticuLab
The ArticuLab is part of Northwestern University's School of Communication and McCormick School of Engineering. At the ArticuLab, researchers study how people communicate with and through technology. Researchers use technology as a way of better understanding human-human communication, and use the study of human-human communication to design better technology. This interest leads to questions concerning the intersection of language, learning, the body, and computational systems through a range of interdisciplinary methods and tools. Benefiting from the synergy of rigorous experimental methods and extensive computational modeling, the ArticuLab’s work contributes to theoretical research in cognitive science, communication studies, learning sciences, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and many other related disciplines.

For more information please visit the Articulab Website.

Great work guys, I hope eventually we can make a difference in the lives of those living with autism.