Push-button Politeness
by Colie Hoffman
Smile. Look at people. Say hello. Come on, lighten up — you’re at a party! Easy enough, right? Most people don’t need these reminders. But for folks with autism, who often have trouble negotiating social situations, tips like these can be extremely helpful. And thanks to new, specially programmed gadgets called PDAs, some autistic students have this help available whenever they need it.
“People with autism generally have difficulty organizing themselves, identifying relevant information, and understanding things happening in their environment,” says Gary Mesibov, psychologist and director of Division TEACCH Autism Program at UNC’s School of Medicine. Mesibov teamed up with his friend Ron Calvanio, a Harvard neuropsychologist who developed software for the PDAs, to give the devices to autistic students.
Mesibov and Calvanio started with a group of seven high-functioning autistic teenagers in a Boston school, all of whom had Asperger’s Syndrome. The students learned to use PDAs to help them in social situations and with vocational training. The results were so successful that the team decided to try it with a small group of adults here in North Carolina.
The PDAs are individually programmed — one person might need more help with social cues, while another needs homework tips — and in addition to specific reminders, help students schedule their days. Scheduling can be tough for autistic students, who often don’t deal well with changes in routine.
Many autistic students also have difficulty weeding out irrelevant information, and so they’re better able to complete their homework — and learn — if the teacher does some of the weeding for them. “Rather than telling them to write an essay about tornadoes, you’d say, ‘Write down four things you learned about tornadoes from reading this book,’” Mesibov says. “Subtle things like that can make a big difference in how the students think about something and do it.”
The devices also help teachers, parents, doctors, and the students themselves get more accurate information about how treatment is going, and evaluate the child’s behavior twice a day — rather than once a week with a psychiatrist. This way, everyone can see how the assessments mesh or don’t mesh.
But the main reason the PDAs work: “They’re gadgets. A lot of kids with autism like gadgets,” says Mesibov. “You push a button and it does the same thing every time.”
TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children) is part of UNC’s Division of Psychiatry. The studies were funded by a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
