Easter Seals’ national Director of Autism Services, Patricia Wright, has published a number of posts here about assistive technology available free-of-cost to people with autism. Just last month she wrote about SketchUp, a free software program offered by Google that people with autism have found helpful.

In a post called Making the Internet work for people with autism, Patricia linked to an Associated Press article about a creative grandfather who wanted his grandson to have access to the web. His grandson has autism and needed some accommodations.

LeSieur tried to find online tools that could guide autistic children around the Web, but he couldn’t find anything satisfactory. So he had one built, named it the Zac Browser for Autistic Children in honor of his grandson, and is making it available to anyone for free.

The browser is available at www.zacbrowser.com.

In another post Patricia touted a symbol-based browser called Webwide and explained how to use it for free on a 30-day trial basis.

I have tried Webwide myself and know individuals with autism who are able to interpret and understand information more successfully using the symbol supports and added visual cues Webwide provides. It’s a fantastic tool.

Please help us spread the word about these products that are available free of charge. Maybe at least some of the frustrations of autism could be solved if the technology got into the right hands.

Google had a booth at the Autism Society of America conference last month so they could show off their free software program SketchUp. SketchUp was originally developed for users to create, modify and share 3D models. Turns out SketchUp helps folks with autism develop some skills, too. Check out this youtube video to see some of the autism SketchUp success stories.

On Tuesday I visited the Google Chicago office to brainstorm possibilities of how to reach out to people with autism and let more of them know about SketchUp. Google has heard the success stories from people with autism and is interested in spreading the word so others may benefit.

The Google office was exactly what I expected: incredibly hip surroundings, staff in flip-flops, even lava lamps in the reception area! What came shining through all this grooviness while speaking with the staff at Google during my visit is their desire to contribute back to their community. What a bonus to have such a well-known company take an interest in the world of autism.

So I am on the bandwagon, reaching out about SketchUp. Download the SketchUp program for free and let us know what you think.

When Gus was little, his elementary school sent him home with a picture-communication-board-type thing for us to use on a trial basis. If Gus touched a picture of a cookie on the board, for example, the board would say “I’d like a snack.” The machine was about the size of a cafeteria tray and was a bit unwieldy. Once we found out how expensive a machine like this can be — a few go for $8,000 to $10,000 — we decided to stick with Gus’ grunting and lip-smacking methods.

So I was interested to hear about a new application that people with autism and other disabilities are using to communicate — Proloquo2Go is an application you can download from Apple’s iTunes onto an iPhone or iPod Touch. The total cost of the app: $149.99.

A story in USA Today describes how a 7-year-old boy with autism uses the iPhone his mother, Leslie Clark, bought for him at a local store.

A month later, JW goes everywhere with the slick touch-screen mp3 player strapped to his arm. It lets him touch icons that voice basic comments or questions, such as, “I want Grandma’s cookies,” or “I’m angry — here’s why.” He uses his “talker” to communicate with everyone …

Penn State doctoral student Samuel Sennott is a co-developer of the app. In the article, Sennott points out that using an iPhone to talk to friends provides a hip, cool way to communicate — especially important to children with autism, who can find it so difficult to try and fit in with their peers.

Using the iPhone and Touch allows developers to democratize a system that has relied on devices that were too expensive or difficult to customize, Sennott says. “I love people being able to get it at Best Buy,” he says. “That’s just a dream.”

Machines that are almost, but not quite, like a person are worse than those that are either completely humanlike or a bit further away,” Simmons says. 

That’s particularly true of robots designed to work with children with autism, who want something decidedly machinelike. Kaspar, for example, a diminutive robot being tested with children with autism in the United Kingdom, has a minimally expressive face and wires sticking out of its neck and wrists to make it clear to the kids that they’re playing with a robot. “We tested another robot that looked like a doll with eyelashes and color on its lips, and the children didn’t like that one as much at first,” says Dautenhahn, who headed the team that created Kaspar. 

Certainly no one would mistake CosmoBot, a 16-inch-tall robot designed by AnthroTronix, an engineering company in Silver Spring, for a person. And that seems to suit Libby, a 6-year-old with autism, just fine. Before being introduced to CosmoBot, Libby couldn’t imitate even the most basic actions. But after several weeks of playing with the robot, she was mirroring its motions as it led her through a Simon-says game of raising her arms, patting her head and clapping. 

“Her mother and the professionals who saw this were in tears,” says Carole Samango-Sprouse, director of the Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Center for Young Children at George Washington University. “It was incredibly encouraging that the robot, through repetition and predictable behavior, was successful in getting her to perform the motions she had seen adults doing for years.”

The story ends with a conclusion we hear again and again about opportunities (health insurance, education, funding) for people with autism. Children and the elderly get attention, but what about  working-age adults?

“Older children who are autistic or in wheelchairs grow up to be adults with those disabilities. I’m waiting for others to identify those needs so we can analyze how robots can help.”

The details of how states are going to allocate the economic recovery funds are just now coming out. That means that now is a perfect time for parents to identify the needs of their children and find out if these needs can be met with these funds.

For example, states are getting a significant amount of funds to support special education. School districts will be the recipient of the bulk of these funds. So if your child could benefit from a piece of assistive technology — or a teacher needs additional training to meetyour child’s needs — now is the time to push these ideas.

You can start by talking with your child’s teachers and principal. These new funding increases are a response to long-time demands — by teachers unions, school boards and others — to have Washington fully finance the mandates laid out in the federal law regulating special education.

I first found out about Convio when I participated in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Opportunities Program (TOP). Easter Seals used a TOP grant to work with Convio to create web content management tools for people who are visually-impaired.

Interns who were blind or visually impaired were recruited from all over the country to work with the software and learn web content management skills. I was one of those interns, and after my internship, Easter Seals Headquarters hired me to moderate the Easter Seals and Autism blog. That’s why I’m here — the Convio Summit brings together non-profit organizations from all over North America to exchange ideas.

Already this morning, I ran into (not literally — my guide dog Hanni is doing a great job!) Margi Colston from the Autism Society of America — we sat together during the keynote address.

At lunch I sat with a woman named Shana, who works with Amplify Public Affairs. Shana told me about LDpodcast — a blog about learning disabilities. “I think she’s coverring autism topics now, too,” Shana said. “Is that something you’d be interested in?”

It was. And now, out here in the sunshine, I’m taking a moment to share that info with you. Time’s up, though — gotta get back for the next session!

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) reports that nearly 20 million people with disabilities are expected to vote in this election.

“A 20 million strong voting block can easily decide a presidential election, and in this great country, elected officials respond to those who vote,” Dickson {Jim Dickson, Vice President for Government Affairs at AAPD} said. “We look forward to working with the newly elected president, Congress and state and local officials to improve employment and living conditions for the nation’s largest minority.”

Dickson says the expected increase in numbers of voters with disabilities is due in part to the $850 million in federal funds allotted from Congress to improve voting accessibility.

I can’t wait to put those headphones on, crank up that talking voting machine and make my choice independently and privately — just like my fellow American citizens do.

The essay features sound bites of my talking computer and focuses on the internship that got me started here at Easter Seals in 2006. I became involved with Easter Seals when I participated in the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grant Easter Seals received from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Interactive Marketing Group at Easter Seals Headquarters used the grant to work with Convio, a software company, to create web content management tools for people who are blind.

Easter Seals recruited blind and visually impaired interns from all over the country to work with the software and learn web content management skills.

I was one of those interns. Once my 10-month TOP internship was completed, Easter Seals Headquarters hired me as the “Interactive Community Coordinator.” What that fancy title means is that I’m the one moderating the Easter Seals and Autism blog — I read through blog comments on a daily basis and forward your comments to Easter Seals blog authors and information and referral staff.

I use assistive technology to do my work — a computer program called JAWS reads the text on my screen out loud. That’s how I’m able to read your comments. I tell people I’m the only blind woman in America being paid to moderate a blog. I’m not sure if that’s true, but so far no one has challenged me on that statement.

Tomorrow I’m presenting a “Blogging by Ear” session at the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) International Convention here in Chicago. So now I’m adding another unsubstantiated claim to my resume: I am the only blind woman in America leading sessions encouraging others to blog!

If any readers are interested, you can try Webwide for free for 30 days by sending an email to trialwebwide@widgit.com.

Please include your name, address, phone number, email address, and organization.

I have tried Webwide myself and know individuals with autism who are able to interpret and understand information more successfully using the symbol supports and added visual cues Webwide provides. It’s a fantastic tool — check it out!

I also happen to be blind.

A computer program called JAWS reads the text on my screen out loud to me. That’s how I’m able to read your comments to the Easter Seals autism blog. People I meet are fascinated with my talking computer -– I suppose anyone can close their eyes and imagine what it is like to be blind, so they take a special interest.

Imagining what it is like to have autism –- and how computers can help people with autism — is not as easy. So I appreciated this blog post explaining how communicating online can help people with autism develop skills they need for everyday interaction.

You see, for people with Autism, it is difficult (if not impossible) to read our society’s unwritten social rules. How do I know when someone is angry? When they are happy? When they are frightened? Most of us, from time to time, and in a given social setting, intentionally or unintentionally, give off mixed signals to the world around us. And most of us, from an early age, learn to decode and understand these signals. People with Autism misinterpret or lack understanding of these signals … The online environment simplifies those emotional states (a smiling face for “happy,” a frown for “unhappy,” etc). For people with Autism, it is a safe way to develop skills they need for everyday interaction without leaving the security of their own computer.

You know, until someone told me what emoticons were, I could not figure out why the heck my talking computer kept shouting out the words “colon right paren” after every funny line in an email message. I’m glad I found this blog post — I mean, who knew those silly smiley faces could be so helpful?