Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s

This research study aims to analyze the support applications available for Autistic children and their effectiveness. It explores the impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on children and discusses the advantages and limitations of existing technological tools. The study also proposes a mobile system for supporting children with verbal disorders.

Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
Literature review – Study of support applications for the Autistics
Children’s
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Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
Abstract
Human life is very challenging in terms of physical health as well in terms of Mental health
both and in this fast life as we humans are adversely effected especially children’s through this.
Disorder is generally associated with the mental health but there are many physical problems
that are associated with this. In this series one of the major problems which are faced is Autism
Spectrum Disorder (ASM); it refers to a life- long affecting development disorder that puts
problems in the communication and social interaction. This problem is rising at troll among the
children’s that is very serious issue of concern. The vast number of kids affected through this
problem is observed in many countries through their respective medical research department
and lot of extensive research is going on worldwide to develop medications for these patients.
The patients suffering from the Autism are characterized through their impairment in the
communication, social reciprocal interaction and serious explicit expression of their affected
state in this problem. In conventional techniques the therapist prepares its medication by
adjusting his/her medical paradigm by observing the level of anxiety in such patients but now in
modern medical system there are many modern techniques and approaches are applied to
provide the medication to these patients. There are various technological systems and methods
are used to analyze the problem among these patients , these tools and techniques provides the
facility of having quantitative , individualized rehabilitation platform for these patients. In this
research thesis the detailed analysis of this problem, its impact, the modern methods and
techniques and their advantages as well limitation will be explored.
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Table of Contents
Chapter1 -Introduction 1
1.1 Background 2
1.2 Research Aim 3
1.3 Research Objective 4
1.4 Research Questions 5
1.5 Problem Statement…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
Chapter -2 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7
Chapter -3 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
3.1Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
3.2 Research Philosophy 10
3.3 Research Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11
3.4 Software model-Iterative Model…………………………………………………………………………………………….12
Chapter-4 –Research and Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………13
4.1 List of interview and observations……………………………………………………….14
4.2 Interview sample………………………………………………………………………….15
4.3 Meeting Detail…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16
4.4 Case study…...17
4.5 Proposed Design………………………………………………………………………..18
Chapter -5 Conclusion and Recommendation………………………………………………19
5.1 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………20
5.2 Linking with objective………………………………………………………………….......22
5.3 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………..23
5.4 Future Scope……………………………………………………………………………….24
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Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
Chapter -1 Introduction
1.1 Background
The Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a specific kind of disorder that affects the patients
in their communication and behavior. According to its impact the ASD can be diagnosed at any
age and most importantly it is termed as a disorder as its symptoms are generally appeared in the
first two years of life mainly in young children’s. ASD is a serious clinical and health issue that
is rising in alarming way. The ASD defines the varied range of psychological problem among the
patients that range from the common symptoms of persistent, repetitive and restricted pattern of
difficulties in performing the communication and social interaction. This led many problems in
leading life independently without any help. According to various research conducted by
medical research departments of various countries there are almost 1% of total population
worldwide that is affected with this type of disorder and most emerging disability among young
children’s worldwide. Autism is considered as a disorder because there is varied type of
symptoms and severity that people experience in their processing.
The recent years have seen the prevalence of Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) increase at unprecedented rate. So far, the development
condition is listed among the major cases of mental disorders in various
parts of the worlds including the UK, US, and India. Note that the incidence
rate in the mentioned regions are 1 in 64, 1 in 68, and 1 in 150 respectively
(Kuriakose&Lahiri 2017). Such realization is quite devastating considering
the detrimental impact of the condition on the autistic child social life. The
implications are felt by not only the autistic individual but also their direct
guardians (mainly parents). At this point, the readers are urged to consider
the established facts regarding autism. The lifelong condition is usually
evidenced in the children under the age of 3, and it curtails their ability to
communicate normally, from social relationship, and engage in normal
behavior. While this disorder is barely understood from a casual perspective,
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most researcher and practitioner argue that the results from defects in the
brain regions dealing with memory retention, motor skills, and empathy.
Here in this report our main consideration will be analyzing the support
facility available for the verbal disorder among these types of patients.
There are various tools are made available to these children’s based on
the concept of the voice communication output for the children’s.
These tools are made available through the PDA, Tablets and Laptops with
touch screen facility to provide the support to these kinds of patients.
Along with this the technique of Content Based Image Retrieval
(CBIR) for supporting the interactive information seeking for the
people with intellectual disability also is used. These tools provide the
support in assisting these patients in leading their life smoothly. There are
specific software tools and technologies are also used for supporting
these tools for performing their tasks in well versed form. Mobile devices
has got popularity with the patients suffering from various disorders due
to their convenience in use and by using the specific technologies in these
devices the special requirements of these children’s can be provided. The
speech devices help these patients to a higher extent.
Fortunately, the escalation in the prevalence rate is concurrent with
the digital revolution. The modern world is characterized by sophisticated
level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) advancement
that appear instrumental in the alleviation of most of the communication
and socialization challenges faced by autistic children. As far as autism
concerned, major process has been made in the fields of Information
Technology and robotics (Tee van, Dumais, & Horvitz 2017). A range of
computer, Smartphone, and artificial intelligence (merged with robotics)
software have been developed to help this population cope with their
communication and socialization needs (Goleta, Suleiman, &Mirada 2017).
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The applications have been tailored to meet the special communication
capabilities of autistic children. Nevertheless, there is too much
fragmentation in the emergent intervention on the same. For this reason,
we have been always curious about nonverbal children with autism, how
they express their feelings, needs and thoughts with others surrounding
them. We find it a quite interesting idea to give them a communication
medium and see what they will offer to us. Therefore, this dissertation
project proposes we inspire to develop a platform which includes an
android mobile application and a web admin panel, together this platform
will help the non-verbal autistic children to communication and give them
a way to express themselves.
1.2 Research Aim
The main aim of this research study is to study the detail of the
Autism spectrum Disorder (ASD) especially about the children’s affected
through this problem. Here the analysis of the available methods and
techniques for supporting the patients and most importantly the available
technical tools will be presented. Here the effectiveness of these available
tools and their benefits will be studied. Here the main concentration will be
given on studying the available voice integration tools for supporting these
patients with verbal problems. Autism is neural disorder condition which
creates several problems for the affected patients. There are various tools
and techniques available in this concern the analysis these tools along with
the proposal for a mobile system for supporting these kinds of patients will
be presented.
1.3 Research objective
The key objectives of the following research study are as follows:
 To provide the detailed study of the current researches available in the ASD.
 To present the systematic detail of the current literature available in this research area.
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 To analyze the advantages and limitation of the available technological tools for
supporting these children’s.
 To present the statistical data of the results obtained through various studies.
 To propose the technique to support for specially suffering children from verbal disorder.
 To apply the CBIR technology on autistic children.
 To provide a conducive environment for attractive and enjoyable communication, and
personalization.
 Provide a platform where autistic children can interact with the therapist.
 Providing performance measurement indicator and track record for follow
 Understanding logical influence in children during communication.
1.4Research Questions
This research work would try to find out the answers of following questions-
 What is deep impact of the ASD on the patients suffering from this disease?
 What are the current methods and technological tools available for supporting these
patients?
 What are the advantages and limitation of these tools available for supporting these
patients?
 How can be better methods and tools be provided for these patients?
1.5 Problem Statement
By now, it is apparent that different interventions have emerged in attempt
to improve the lives of people spectrum from autism. Some of the common
applications include Pocket PC Picture Exchange Communication System
(PECS), Let’s Talk Voice Output Communications Aid (VOCA), data, and
AUTHIC. It is required to note that the first two focus on developing the
children’s communication skills (Shminan, Sharif, Adzani, & Lee 2017).
dmTEA is a diagnosis tool while AUTHIC improves the autistic child emotional
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capabilities. From the above discussion it can be stated that the mentioned
applications are among the various interventions implemented for autistic
individuals. Such a trend demonstrates the problematic state of the current
progress with respect to the disorder. Logically speaking, it is almost
impossible for a single autistic child to benefit from such a fragmented
approach. Such a bold sentiment follows the fact that one cannot access all
of the applications regardless of the fact that they focus on different aspects
of ASD. Since here in Oman the unavailability or scarcity of using application
tools in the centers to communicate with the nonverbal and verbal autistic
children.
Perhaps, communication platform of digital content based image retrieval
for Autistic children can solve this problem by enhancing the accessibility of
the distinct functions – includes digital library on a single platform(s). Here in
this research report the different approaches to provide the solution of these
mentioned problems will be attempted.
1.6 Summary
This chapter has provided a detailed overwhelm about the concept of the Autism Spectrum
Disorder and its impact along with other detail in the brief manner. Here the precise and
comprehensive information has been incorporated to provide an in depth understanding about the
background of the study. In the following chapters, the detailed discussion to the concepts
studied and theoretical ideas employed in the study will be presented. This chapter has also
highlighted the research aim and objectives of the research study of the topic allotted to me as
research work. Besides this the research report has discussed the problem statement related to
the existing topic. In later sections of the research report the more detailed analysis of this topic
will be presented in structured manner with every chapter giving detail on specific element of the
research
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Chapter -2 Literature Review
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At the moment, there is a conventional agreement among researchers,
academicians, and practitioners regarding the need to invent large-scope
solutions for the growing autistic populace. (Leroy, Chuang, Huang, &Char
lop-Christy 2005) demonstrate their agreement by acknowledging the fact
that ASD is the third most prevalent neurological disorder in the United
States. Similar sentiments are held by (Kuriakose&Lahiri 2017) as they
believe that its prevalence expands beyond the U.S. borders. According to
them UK and India are also recording high incidence rates. Such perspectives
are vital in understanding the global status attained by autism. It is
important to know this fact since it supports the idea that the interventions
should be geared towards the attainment of broad needs.
It appears wise to assert that the preceding paragraph does not intend
to disregard the current progress made in the field. For instance, a Ph D.
candidate Zhen Bai planned an augmented reality (AR) framework that she
trusts that is will have the capacity to poke kids with autism toward
increasing creative play. Her framework gives kids a chance to see
themselves on PC screen as they would in a mirror. She at the point gives
the youngster basic physical article foam blocks, for instance that shown on
the screen as a vehicle, train, or plane. The framework’s computer vision
program recognizes where and how the child moves the square and
emulates the action in the picture on the screen. Basically, the Augmented
Reality (AR) framework depends on a web camera with a wide field of view, a
PC and a 60-centimeter screen, and those basic foam blocks. The PC
distinguishes the imprints on the blocks in each ceasing caught by the web
camera, and figures their position and orientation (Hu, Tian, Li Huang and
Feng, 2018). The program that point superimposes a 3-D model of the toy.
The kids then see themselves playing with a vehicle on the PC screen and
not the forth square, expanding the kid’s genuine movement.
When placed into perspective, a huge operating system can be created
where both GUI and AR functions can be accessed by the autistic children.
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For the sake of this argument, the search engine concept described by
(Zamir, Korn, Fikes, & Lawrence 2010) is quite illustrious: such a system
utilizes a user profile to extract relevant information based on the user’s
query. With the help of the guardian/practitioner, an autistic child can utilize
this system to access various functions including the learning medium (AR or
tablet mode), the learning concepts (communication, basic mathematics, or
socialization), and level (based on progress). Of course, such a platform must
adhere to the improvements suggested by (Kodgiwar 2016). According to
her, content based image retrieval (CBIR) allows the system to access data
based on graphical searches. This function is quite beneficial for children
spectrum from autism since they are more efficient with visuals than words
(Kamaruzaman&Azahari 2014). In their research, (Agarwal, Sharma, and
Dubey 2016) noted that CBIR can be improved to facilitate sketch image
queries. Such an operating system can only be efficient if it is full of visuals
and colorful feature.
( Goldsmith , 2004) had performed the review on the practical usefulness
of the technology based devices for supporting the Autistic patients , in his
study he focused on the mainly five types of technology – (a) Tactile and
auditory prompting devices, (b) Video based instructions and feedback , (c)
Computer aided instruction (d) virtual reality and (e) robotics. In case of
tactile and auditory prompting devices the touch screen devices are taking
major role in supporting the children’s. Here the effectiveness of iPods for
the first grade autism affected children’s was investigated for studying their
behavior in different social environments along with studying the support to
the children’s having verbal problem. In case of video based technology for
these patients, they are quite popular for educating the Autistic children’s.
He recommended developing effective video modeling system for supporting
these children’s in effective manner. These video modeling techniques help
in effectively teaching vocabulary to these children’s and other complex
verbal skills to these kids. In case of Computer Aided Instructions the
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interactive and child –initiated microcomputer program has been used to
support these children’s. With the help of customized designed software the
help in supporting the behavioral program for acquisition of the vocabulary
among children affected through this problem can be provided... The devices
based on the virtual reality and robotics is the emerging and most advanced
technology available and is providing great support but still these
technologies due to high cost are available at limited centers
(Hailing Liu , Feng Dong , Chariklia Tziraki , 2018) presented an
advance approach in Content based Image Retrieval (CBIR) system to
support these non –verbal children. CBIR is an image based search
engine that is mainly based on the keyword annotation or the
information extracted through the image context (the detail stored
about the image). The previous versions had mainly three limitations.
The first limitation is that the manual annotation requires a significant
amount of effort and techniques and this becomes complex for large
collection of the images, secondly as number of images increases then it
becomes difficult to search an image based only on the text alone and finally
it depends upon the capability of the user to enter the details of the image in
proper text vocabulary. To overcome this paper has presented its own
proposal of design. They propose their method mainly for the ID based users.
The first step in this process will be building an image library that contains
the images that are specifically used in learning and teaching of these ID
users. Then in next step the ID users are encouraged to enter new images in
their dataset. Further the system will automatically support in grouping the
images in the meaningful way so that personalized learning, communication
as well decision making activities further paper proposes to combine the
CBIR with the voice communication technologies and text based interaction
system to enable the multi-model and multimedia seeking information.
After analyzing and going through these works of researchers, this
research will continue to analyze the efficiency of available technological
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tools and techniques for supporting these patients. Our methodology and
analysis will be based on this principle only. Later sections will present the
methodology
Chapter -3 Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of the Research methodology is to understand the scope, rationale and the basic
research approach as well also giving detail of the well researched and practised techniques for
conducting this particular research. This chapter will highlight all of the above detailed
discussed features in more detailed form. There are number of subsections used for illustrating
this chapter in this research report. The main aspect of research report is the detail description of
the detail how the research is conducted. It is required to illustrate the description of the data
analysis, data collection and finding in the precise form. Here in this chapter the same concept
has been followed.
This chapter will first describe the detail of the research philosophy then it will describe
the research approach, the research strategy and methods applied for conducting the research will
be presented. Along with this the detail of the tools used for performing the research will also be
discussed. The methods selected for performing the research will also be presented with
complete justification of selection this method. Here in this research the methods have been
selected according to the requirement of the research and the efficiency of the method applied.
3.2 Research Philosophy
The main purpose of the research philosophy is to give the detail of the basic concept of
the faith in research system. It will describe the detail of the elements required for performing the
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research in this domain. It also describes the manner in which the research has been conducted
and it should be performed according to the standard manner. Here in this section the main
concept of the research philosophy has been followed by the principle of using the contrasting
terms, epistemology and doxology in this research study. Hence in summary it can be stated the
main purpose of the research philosophy is to logically outline the truth of the concepts of related
topic with taking the approach of positivity and interpretation.
The flip side of the research philosophy is that it is based on the logic exists on the other end
of the spectrum of the found result. According to the main policy of the research the main
objective of the research is to gain the knowledge about the subjective elements of the concerned
topic.
3.3 Research Methodology
The purpose of research methodology is to perform proper analysis and evaluate the research
problems. In other words, the purpose of the section is to identify the basic procedures and
process by which the research is able to perform appropriate prediction and describe the process
of the research work. In this chapter, the researcher has selected important techniques such as
positivism, qualitative methods of data collection as well as different types of lab testing
procedures in order to identify the impacts of autism on children and how does the technology
can help it.
Here in order to perform the research various books and journals related to the concerned topics
has been studied to develop the formation for the extensive research in this subject area of Study
of support applications for the Autistics Children’s.
3.4Methdology used for developing Mobile application-Iterative Methodology
Iterative Methodology: the system development life cycle to be used
is the iterative prototyping methodology. This was arrived after consideration
of the requirements specification, which are understood and predicted to
evolve with time. The process allows the developer to start with a limited
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part of requirements and the iteration design gives room to return and add
to the requirements to expand the abilities repeatedly until the system is
fully developed, and can be implemented and later deployed (Anon, nod).
Initial Planning- we will design a mobile application using content based
image retrieval (CBIR)
Planning- Considering the nature of the investigation, as shown in (Table 1),
researcher will utilize information collected from professionals in the fields of
the age of autistic children will be between 4 to 11 years the status of their
situation nonverbal. Case study method of selection institutions that contain
English Speech Language Therapists (SLT), special education Teachers, child
psychologist and autistic children. Number of cases will be between 3 to 5
therapists who use English language in therapy will be in a groups depend on
the number of the institutions. Number of cases will be between 3 to 5
institutions depending on the availability of those children and therapists.
According to the final statistics gathered with the help of the Ministry of
Social Development the total number of autistic children in Oman is around
1242, (Figure 1). These statistics does not show which institution uses
English language in their therapy. Case studies will be taken from the capital
area/Muscat governorate because of the density of the institutions and
number of children.
We prefer 3 to 5therapists from each institution due to the scope of the
proposed project: Each group of the therapists with their assigned autistic
children will be having a research designed using semi structure interview
questions from the researcher who will be collecting the response garnered
from the posed research questions will been both Arabic and the English
language. Once we collect the data in Arabic form will be translated into the
English language.
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Group
Type of
Sector Institution Language
Therapis
t Participant age (4 to 11) Observation
1 Private 1 English Male Female Non-verbal
A 3 1 yes
B 4 0 Yes
C 4 1 Yes
2 Private 2 English D 2 0 Yes
E 2 1 Yes
F 4 1 Yes
3 Private 3 English G 3 0 yes
H 2 1 Yes
K 4 0 Yes
Table 1. Planning methodology of gathering data from the institutions
Requirement –
The requirements provide an understanding of the proposed system. This
established the main essential requirements, at the best level of knowledge
for a start, that is expected to increase or/ and evolve with the time. Case
modeling can be used to identify the products beforehand like the system
specification (Table 2). The requirements will then be classified and
prioritization allocated. They can then be enlisted in vision document or a
system charter for easier reference.
Analysis-
After collection (Appendance 3 Questionnaires Analysis), the information will
be collated then assessed to enhance the researcher’s gaps of the potential
merits and demerits of the proposed project. It is through this process that
applicability of the proposed solution can be tested before the design and
development process begins. The Measurement of the social development is
done through conducting paper impact of the electronic impact image.
Design
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As mentioned earlier, the integrated effectiveness of digital content-based
image retrieval application for ASD children will utilize the structure of a
typical search engine. The indicators are used for observation schedule, and
testing emotional expression in the autistic children. The only difference is
that it will be highly graphical due to the content/sketch-based image
retrieval algorithms. While designing the application we will sketch a new
image using character 2D sketch for different ages such as mother, father,
grandmother, grandfather…etc. we will be adding some character with
traditional Omani and casual clothes it will be familiar for them.
Testing
The software will be tested during the prototype stage. Further,
enhancements can be done only after the prototype proves functionality.
Along with this the testing of the functionality of emotional expression in the
participants is conducted.
Implementation
The system iteration developed inclusive of the evolved and additional requirements. We will
review the code using the therapist’s user feedback received from the testing and implements the
changes and extra functionalities to suit the therapist’s requirements. Each module will be tested
and modified or updated accordingly.
Evaluation
The process will be based on the number of ASD users and therapists in the
system.
Maintenance
Once the approved modules will be tested to satisfaction, and the incomplete modules are redone
to full functionality.
Development
It is the last stage of development. The successful of mobile application will
be deployed into a fully operational system version. It will necessitate
various procedures including licenses acquisition, prototype development,
and network expansion. Each stage demands huge amounts of financial and
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human resources. Not to mention the fact that such a project can be taken
up to a six month before completion.
Details Software& Hardware SW.Versi
on
HW.Versi
on
IDE IDE: Android Studio 3.2
Programming Language Java 1.8 and XML 1.8
Web admin Firebase Cloud Firestore
and SDK
17.1.3
Android API 17.1.3
Server Database Firebase Cloud Database 17.1.3
IDE(Integrated development
environment)
Android Studio 3.2
Android device Support android media
framework
Table 2. Software & Hardware Requirements
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Chapter 4: Research & Analysis
4.1 List of interview and observations:
Started gathering data for different resources such as:
1. Meeting with one of Therapist:
We will be having a meeting with the therapist xzy (Special Education5years experience).
To discuss about the Autistic children, I need to understand the behavior of Autistic children and
the way of their communication, learning, social life interaction with them, and decision making.
List of data to be collected-
 How she can communicate with them? What kind of tools she's using?
 What is the part of each people who are involved with autistic children such as the parents,
therapist, and the autistic child himself/ herself?
 What are the materials she's using to communicate with the autistic children?
 What types of autistic children difficulties she's handling?
 Is there a specific application used for a specific age group?
 What is the requirement of tools to be helpful to be used by autistic children?
 Is there a specifics application used which have an improvement for the autistic children?
4.2 Interview sample
1. Question -Every kid has a special case will be treated individually there is no
similarity between the kids. The similarity could be the same academic level but as a
behavioral, as the response will be different from one kid to another. The educational
program will be the same from one kid to another but the behavioral and age will not
be the same. for example; some cases the age of the kids will be between 3 to 9 years
will be using the same educational program it will not give the right to say those are
equal to each other. Each case will be totally different from the other. The learning
cases will be depending on the parents either they required their kid to learn Arabic or
English from the beginning. I have asked her a question in a case that you teach the
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kid Arabic language once he completed the Arabic can you start to teach him the
English language?
Response
Xyz was saying it’s difficult for the autistic kid to adopt another language only they can
adopt one language. I had asked her about my sister kid 'Omar' she was adapted English
language but he started to learn the Arabic language to communicate with other family
members. Xyz was saying in some cases, they can adopt two languages once they decide
they want to learn it.
2. Question- The decision will be from their side to start learning a new language.
Is there any next step to teach them another language? How do you choose the language for
autistic communication language?
Response
Xyz: we will choose a language based on their home environment. If the parent asked to teach
the kid English they will start to teach him only English language. The kid will be isolated from
the others who are speaking Arabic at home or with their relatives and they will not understand
anything because of the decision from the parents. One case, for example, Mother from
Egypt requested to teach her autistic kid English and the father is Omani. They communicate
with each other Arabic and the kid will be isolated from them because he doesn't understand the
Arabic language. This makes a gap between the kid and their parents lack communication.
Autistics kid what is the first steps will be taken from the institution:
3. Question
Is there a test from them? What is the process?
Response
Xyz: first I will take from the parent's information about their kid based on the assessment form.
For example, what the kid like, attached to, what he loves, what is the motivation he likes? Are
there any types of anger attempt? Does he hear sounds? Does he have a sensory or something,
light or darkness, and heights? Is there any medical medicine the kids take? When did he
diagnose, and where? Is there a report on the diagnosis of these children’s available? Did they
take him to another institution or not? Does he get treatment from another therapist? What type
of treatment did he get? Does the kid ask about something he wants in a different way? Does he
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insist to have what he wants? Can the kid do everything for himself or not? After she collects this
information from the parent then she will start to have another assessment with the autistic kid to
evaluate is the parent's information was correct or not. Based on the information obtained from
the parents we set our further analysis- for example, Omar case my sister told her to teach him
English because he was tough in Canada and she wants to continue teaching him the same way.
My sister told her some information about him and she finds out it’s the same. Then she
continues to teach him the things in which he is weak in.
Then she decided to give him advance level improves. He finishes the beginning to be like the
same as normal kids. There will be a report (progress report) every three months this will be
linked with the parents and they can read about their kid. This report has to be signed by the
parents and the therapist and will be sent to the ministry in case the parent didn't sign the report
they will send it. The parent should practice with their kids. In case the therapist gives some
practice to be complete from the parents but most of the cases their few that are given attention
to their kid.
5. Question
In that case, you will use the application?
Response
Some kids will be using application and the other will not be able to use.
4.3 Meeting Detail
I had a meeting with the Specialist Ms. ABC. Before I start recording the interview I asked her
for permission to record she agrees to record it after she knows the reason why I'm recording the
session. She told me about her experiences and how she becomes a specialist.
I had asked her about the four aspects that we had already discussed it in our last meeting with
my supervisor. She was saying the major problem with those four are two aspects only
communication and social interaction.
She was explaining which areas that needs to be more focus on and why. The main focus will be
with Autistic kids who are having nonverbal and she disagreed to use it with verbal Autistic kids
because they will be depending on it a lot. She was very helpful and offers me to visit the school
and attend the classes and she will be introducing me with other schools during the field visit.
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In her school, they are using both languages English and Arabic language to teach the student.
They also have application to be connected with the student and the parent (class Dojo) this
application having all the activities the kid has in the school. Each kid will be having an
individual profile with his image and video. In this application, they are having a limitation of
the video length and the layout of the application only using English language but they can write
their comment in Arabic.
She said If we had a new software the ICT will inform them and they will be holding a workshop
to teach every member of the teaching facilities once they are capable to use it then they will
start giving a workshop to the parent to show them how this software is working.
The material she's using from the UK such as software, iPod, and tools. She was facing issue
with the behavior of some autistic student will be damaging the iPod. Even she was putting a
protector for the iPod so it will not get damaged but they got broken. Now she is requesting the
autistic student to use the iPod within the school property.
She was having an issue with assessment program this software having only English language
then she had a request for a help from Arabic teachers who know the English language very well.
They translate the assessment but the issue she was unable to link it immediately to the school
system. For example, every day the teacher or specialist they need to write an assessment report
end of the day but they will be writing it in the system then they have to write it again in the
school system because it's not linked to the school database. She was saying if this system is
working very well than the ministry of higher education can use it will all the schools around
Oman.
Our meeting we only for an hour and a half because she was having her sister daughter 2year old
Sara and we couldn't continue more than that time.
We had agreed to meet next Wednesday and she will bring her laptop to explain the tools and
software they are using in their school
During this week, I have been working with the therapist and the system design requirements.
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I have visited three institutions in Muscat. They are Gars international school, Horizon autism,
and Raw. I have spent a full day with the therapist and the autistic child during their
classes (sessions).
Each please has his own procedures to handle autism child and their behavior. In Horizon, I have
met with a speech therapist from Egypt Ms. DEF having a Diploma from medical college from
Eon shams experience in this field from 10 years ago. She has explained how they assess the
autistic child? How they communicate with them? What is the first step to start with non-verbal
autism? What are the different languages they used to communicate with them? What they have
in each session? What type of assessment they do? How do they understand non-verbal autism
needs? What is the material they used? Was that material available with the parents? How
parents communicate with them?
She was explaining there are three types of language for autism in general (Internal language, a
receptive language a, Expression Language).
For example, internal language likes a car and he played with it and he knows it’s a car. A
receptive language like give me the car. Expression language what is this? (Referring to the car)
In a receptive language, there are more than one word and changes in the word. Like a single
word [name/verb] past, present, and future.
In each session, she will be teaching the autism child more than one word and keep repeating
them in a different way. For example, she will use apple as a word in one session. She will be
bringing a red apple and she will show it to the autism child explaining to him/her apple. It’s a
red apple. We will wash the red apple. We will cut the red apple. We will eat a red apple. So the
autistic child will understand the object is a red apple. She was saying that the autistic child will
know if he/she hungry they will come to her asks her for a red apple so they can eat it.
I have asked her about motivation what you will do for them.
She was saying that I will draw a flower or a butterfly in their hand, sometimes the autistic child
will choose what he/she wants her to draw for him/her. Also, she will put a star for him/her they
Will have a board with a happy face or a sad face if an autistic child gets five happy faces they
will give him a gift. If he gets five sad faces that mean he has to do good or correct things so the
sad face will turn into a happy face. In the end, he will get a gift.
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If an autistic child makes a mistake or a bad behavior she will not talk to him at least two
minutes and she will keep telling him/her about her mistake because she was saying an autistic
child doesn't understand why he/she was having a timeout and what mistake he has done?
The will be handling kids from 3 year and above. She was explaining that they need to start with
them with meanings of abstract for example, Body part, food, furniture, and school.
In body part, she will start with only two things the eyes and mouth. As she was saying those is
the most important part for a non-verbal autistic child to understand for communication. Since
the eyes will be used to look and the mouth for pronouncing of the word. After that, they will
continue with food using fruit or vegetables so he/she can understand the meaning. Her main
objectives to let the autistic child say a sentence with 3 words using the PESC. For
example, apple, eye, and mouth.
She also, explained that an autistic child some of them are very sensitive to be touch, for
example, touching the table and the table is soft he/she will not touch it. Some of them like to
touch a rough staff and some of them like to touch a soft staff. They will start to let them like
both ways not one by practices.
I have asked her in case they allow me to take pictures of the classroom and the materials she
was replying that we can't allow you to take pictures only you will be allowed to take 3 things
only.
About the parents, if they are following up with their autistic child performance. She was telling
that one case happened recently, that she was working with one autistic non-verbal girl and she
put all the materials in her bag so the parents can continue with their daughter but she found the
materials in the bag once they started the new semester. She was saying that the girl was
performing from top to zero, so she has to start with her from the beginning.
In Rawa, I had met with 4 speech therapists. From them the three were from Algeria and one
from Tunisia. I started with a speech therapist from Algeria, Mr. GHI having a Master degree of
cognitive specialize nursing experience of 10 years. Dr. JKL having a Ph.D. in her experience for
more than 20 years. She has joined the school only for 6 months.
In Rawa, they were very helpful and allow me to take pictures of the materials that they are
using. Also, they allow me to attend a session with them. I have been observing how they try to
communicate with an autistic child and it takes time from them. Some autistic they start to shout
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loudly and the therapist starts to ask him what do you want to tell me don't shout. Then the child
will start to keep quiet and pick a picture in front of him and give it to the therapist. One autistic
was crying the first time I had been in the session then he couldn't stop from crying the therapist
Mr. GHI keep hugging him and ask him what do you won't tell me? Don’t cry? Then the child
will start to look at the picture he was trying to find a picture of the bathroom. He was trying to
tell him that he wants to go to the bathroom. Then Mr. GHI took him to the bathroom once he
finishes from the bathroom and comes into the class he put his hand up for a high-five and Mr.
GHI give him a high-five also. The autistic child was so happy. Then I have asked Mr. GHI what
was that? He was saying it’s a part of motivation from him because he told me what he wants
exactly. He was saying every time I will be either giving them a high-five or a hug for the good
job there has done. If they have done something wrong, I will set in front of them and I will keep
quiet until he raises his hand up or comes and give me a hag. I will start to tell them he has done
something wrong because of that we have sat here.
They used a real object to teach the child as in the attachment below. Mr. GHI was keep saying
that I have started to learn Omani accent so I can communicate with the children more and they
can interact with me because this is the language they are hearing from home and here. If the
parent asked to start with their kid English language, then we will start and if it is the
Arabic language we will start. It depends on the parents more. He was saying he also, started to
learn Iraqi accent because he is having an autistic child non-verbal so it will be easier for the
child to understand and hear the same accent. It will not be difficult for him.
4.4 Case study
Interviews- Real user facing problems
Each therapist likes to take individual sessions.
While having market research with the user we found out there is issues while communicating
with ASD non-verbal children. They are communicating with the ASD children using a Picture
exchange communication (PECS) which are a symbols of images represent an object that the
child need to understand and learn what that object represent or meant.
They are not using any technical tool to help them communicate with ASD non-verbal.
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They only use a picture exchange communication (PECS) which represent a picture with
symbols. Each image will be expressive an object. It will take more time from the therapist to
attract the attention of the ASD non-verbal before they start the session. The therapist needs to
choose an image that he need to start with during session with non-verbal ASD. He is required to
show the image to the child and explain it to him several times so the child will understand what
the image is all about.
Case 1: for the case A we had examined autistic male non-verbal child age of 7 during the first
session with the therapist. The therapist called him several time to come and sit in front of him.
But the child was playing around and not given the therapist the attention. The therapist opened
his mobile and plays a song from YouTube. Immediately the child come and pick up the mobile.
Once the song finished then the therapist starts the session with him. The therapist spends 15
minutes trying to grab his attention. The therapist was having a problem with the time because
each session he has to spend an hour with the child. The therapist was saying that he has to get
something to attract their attention like mobile. He was trying to teach him an expression of
happy face. The ASD non-verbal was having a difficulty to express the emotion and he was
given a sad face instead of that. The therapist asks the child if he was sad by expressing the sad
expression in his face and he was holding a card of an expression of sad face. Then the child
expresses the sad emotions in his face then he started to cry with load voice and screaming. The
therapist was trying to hug him to make cooling him down. Then the session was ended in each
session they are having a limited time to be with the non-verbal child.
Case 2: an autistic non-verbal male child age of 10 years. In the sessions the therapist supposes
to start with him. The therapist having a real image of real objects. We had asked the therapist
why did he use a real image he was replying back if I want the child to learn the object first I
need to show him a real image once he is back home he can link the image I had provide it to
him at his home. The therapist asks the non-verbal autistic child to give him an image of a
tomato. The child was not having any eye contact with the therapist and he was moving around
with uncontrollable movement. Then the therapist asks him to stop moving and look at his eye
the therapist was trying to communicate with him by looking directly to his eye and he put his
hand in the child chin left it up so the child could have an eye contact while he is talking to him.
The child response back to the therapist and again the therapist asked him I want tomato. Then
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the child identifies the tomato image but he was unable to control his movement to give it to the
therapist. It’s took time for him to hand in the image because of the unable to control his
movement. The session ended, we had asked the therapist what is the better way to hand the
images. The difficulties of an uncontrollable movement with the autistic non-verbal child were
observed there. That provides only slow progress to communicate with them. We need to
control their movement by forcing to have attention by eye contact and touching their hand or
chin. So we can have communication with them. It depends on the situation of uncontrollable
movement some of them will slow their movement and focus with us. In the other side, some of
them will not stop their movement they will continue to have uncontrollable movement in the
session. That will no help us to provide the correct therapy with them.
Case 3 (difficult speech): an autistic non-verbal female child 11-year-old. In the session
therapist was communicating with the child using a two image symbols they are red and apple.
The therapist was trying to let her understand the red color using image and color pen. Once the
child understands and trying to say the word red it was difficulties to get clear understanding of
the word from her. Then therapist was trying to add another word which was apple and links it
to the red color using real object such as apple and the image of apple. The child was trying so
hard to say the word for several times. She was able to say apple after several sessions. During
those sessions one time we had face an issue with the child she was crying loudly and we
couldn’t understand what the reason make her crying. Then the therapist trying to let her cool
down and keep asking her why you are crying? Do you feel sick? Then the child was moving her
head as she was saying no. Then she pointed her hand and took the red color as she was trying to
say I want a drowning in my hand. Then the therapist understands her and brought her coloring
box and started to draw a butterfly for her. The therapist started to tell us that she used to draw
for her every time she was saying the correct word as a motivation for the child. The therapist
was telling us that this child having difficult speech which might some people to getting to
understand them when they talk. The therapist was explaining to us that if there is a way that we
could have an application that will help those children it will be better for us, their parents and
for them.
Case 4(difficulties in language): an autistic non-verbal female child 5 years old. The therapist
was concentrating with the child and trying to communicate with her. But the child was focusing
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with the therapist for few second then she will start to move around. The therapist tries to ask her
give me a picture of bird. The child will be looking around but not giving any pictures. The
therapist tries several times after she was saying the bird word in English first time then she had
saying the word in Arabic. Then the child gives her picture of bird. The therapist was explaining
to us that some autistic child non-verbal will be having issue with the language because of their
parent’s mother language is Arabic and they want the child to be communicated in English.
Case 5: (Early distracted): The therapist was telling us about the child will be having
difficulties to early distract. During one session we are having an autistic male child 9-year-old.
Before we enter the room the child was playing and laughing with the therapist. Once we enter
the room the child mood has been change to silence and anger. Suddenly, the child started to cry
loudly and we couldn’t have been able to understand what happen to him. The therapist
immediate holds the child and keep asking him do you feel ok. Does your head heart you? Does
your stomach heart you? Then the therapist notices that the child looking at us and he doesn’t
want us to be around him. The therapist calls another assistant to help him to take the child to the
playground so he will be more comfortable. Then the assistant took him to playground. The
therapist was telling us that the child will be early distracted in case of the child is not feeling
well. They called his parent and asked them about the child they inform later the therapist that
the child having a fever and cold. One of the parents came and took their child to the clinic.
Case 6 (depending on PCES): An autistic nonverbal male child 10-year-old. We had attended a
session with the therapist she was using PCES to teach and communicate with the child. The
child was using images and putting them in order. For example, I want to drink water, the child
was looking around in the book of symbols of images once he can identify the image he will pull
it and put it in front of the therapist who’s having a ruler that the child can stick the image in it.
The child arranges all the images in correct order. As the therapist was saying that this child was
learning first of all one word, after weeks she start to teach him a second word, up to one month
but using different images not specific images for a hole month. Every day the therapist will
teaching the child the word and communicates with him until he understands and communicates
with them. She was telling it will be easier for child to use an electronic tool since he is
interesting in it.
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Case 7: screaming during the therapy: we attended a session with a non-verbal male child age
of 6 years old. The therapist was trying to start the session and he brought an image of a hand
picture. Then she was trying the child to communicate with her but the child started to scream
loudly during the sessions and she was keeping asking him don’t shout but the child continue
screaming. The therapist starts to show the child other images so he can stop screaming but still
he was screaming. Finally, the therapist changes the setting of the sessions and she ask him to sit
in her place and she sit in his place. The child keeps quiet and comedown.
Case 8: understandable echolalia: we had attended a session with non-verbal male child age of
7 years. The therapist was telling him about a chair and the table. The therapist introduces the
child to us. Then the child starts to repeat the word “sit” several times. The therapist asking him
to say another word but the child still repeating the same word even when the therapist explain to
us what he will do during the session with the child. The therapist tells us about echolalia with
autism children that they need to stop the child from repeating the word by cutting the stream
drag his attention to something else he like using reinforce. Then, therapist brought a biscuit that
the child likes then the child start eating and stopped saying the word.
Case 9: flapping hands: we had a session with another non-verbal male child age of 11 years.
First of all, we have noticed that the child having a movement in his hands. The therapist tells us
this movement called flapping hands- Like he was to clap his hand or flaying. Even the session
still not started. The therapist brings cards of house images. Then he started asking the child
show me bedroom, the child start to flapping his hands without pointing to the image. Then the
therapist went to other room to bring a color book and colors. The child was happy and started to
color image from the book. After that he started with him again show me where the bedroom is.
Then he asked him say bedroom once the child say it then the therapist will raise his hand up to
have a high five with the child. The therapist was saying that we need to attract his attention to
something he likes. In case of this child he likes to color images but for another child will be
different situation. We had asked the parent of what does your child like? Then we will keep the
things that they like in different place. Like this situation will bring it up.
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Case 10: running a way: we had a session with an autistic non-verbal male child age of 4 years.
We had the session with the therapist and the child but we notice that the therapist was locking
the door of the room. The therapist brings a plastic fruits with him and him start with the child
say banana. The child was quite in the first time the he moved from his chair and starting to
running in the room in circle. Then the therapist moved from his place and brings the child. The
therapist gives the child the plastic fruit and squeezes it. While squeezing the fruit it will give a
sound that drags the child attention to the plastic fruit. The therapist was saying that we need to
drag his attention with a voice or with something making his attention to like something moving
or something he likes.
Case 11: staring at nothing: we attend another session with autism non-verbal male child age
of 5 years. The therapist session was about the numbers. The therapist brings a bag of plastic
colored numbers and he chooses number 5 to teach the child about his age. The child was staring
at the wall and there is nothing in the wall to be stared at. The therapist was calling the child by
his name but still the child not making any attention to the therapist. The therapist stands up to
the child place and took him to outside the room. To the playground the child started to play he
gives him 15 minute. Once the time is complete we return back to the session room and the
therapist brought number 5 again in front of the child say 5. Then the child trying to say it but the
word was difficult to him to say but the therapist still trying with him. The therapist tells us about
the other symptom of the autistic child of staring at nothing in this case we need to shift his
attention to something else by reinforce something he likes or making his attention attract.
4.5 Proposed Design-
The meetings conducted by these therapists helped me to get the real data of the application.
With the help of above collected data and the format of CIPD concept along with the image
based research using the ID of the users will be a mobile application will be developed according
to the specifications given in the previous chapter. This will be a mobile app and can be easily
used in the android application system.
The user can easily search the required images with the help of touch screen system and can use
voice based indicators also to work on it. Along with this the system will be highly user-friendly
and will provide support to the Autistic patients especially having communication problem .The
system will also used voice based communication system also in this application.
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Key Findings
 Still the technological tools available are not completely used by the Therapists.
 It is required to develop more effective technological tools for supporting these patients.
 The more detailed study is required to develop efficient systems for these patients.
 There are various advance tools available but scope of improvement in functionalities
cannot be ruled out.
 The ICT devices are becoming popular in supporting these children but more effective
software through advance CAD, Virtual reality and robotics should be developed.
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Chapter -5 Conclusion and Recommendation
The ASD defines the varied range of psychological problem among the patients that
range from the common symptoms of persistent, repetitive and restricted pattern of difficulties in
performing the communication and social interaction. This led many problems in leading life
independently without any help. According to various research conducted by medical research
departments of various countries there are almost 1% of total population worldwide that is
affected with this type of disorder and most emerging disability among young children’s
worldwide. Autism is considered as a disorder because there is varied type of symptoms and
severity that people experience in their processing of life.
There are new possibilities that are offered through these advance mobile application
systems. These advance tools help the trainers to model the real world support to the problems
for this patient these mobile devices with advance software system provide the facility of bigger
touch screens with high resolution and more multimedia features to support these children’s. The
software’s used in these mobile application enable a more precise adaption to the new ways to
develop the innovative ways to support these patients, the advance GUI systems has enabled to
work on these mobile application. The advance features of the IOS and Android systems have
provided the groundbreaking achievement in this concern.
But still as discussed in above sections still the biggest problem is that therapist does not use
the complete specifications of these mobile applications. Most importantly the pattern of dealing
with these patients especially children’s is required to be more innovative and concerning. The
more detailed research in this area is required to find the root level solution through these
advance mobile systems should be provided to the patients. It is required to develop more
effective technological tools for supporting these patients. The more detailed study is required to
develop efficient systems for these patients
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5.2 Linking with the objectives
The key objectives of the following research study were as follows:
 To provide the detailed study of the current researches available in the ASD-
Through the various chapters the attempt to provide the detailed detail and
through the discussion in Introduction has been given.
 To present the systematic detail of the current literature available in this
research area- In the Literature review section this objective is tried to achieve.
 To analyze the advantages and limitation of the available technological tools
for supporting these children – In analysis and research section this objective
has been tried to obtain.
 To present the statistical data of the results obtained through various studies
– In whole thesis various diagrams and results has been presented.
 To propose the technique in mobile application for supporting these kinds of
children’s especially suffering from verbal disorder- At the end of Analysis
and Research chapter the proposed method has been presented.
 To propose the technique to support for specially suffering children from
verbal disorder- The proposed design has been given on these criteria.
 To apply the CBIR technology on autistic children- This technology has been
proposed for design.
 To provide a good environment for attractive and enjoyable communication,
and personalization- the detail of the meeting provides this detail.
 Provide a platform where autistic children can interact with the therapist-
The detail of the case study provides this facility.
 Providing performance measurement indicator and track record for follow-
This has described in the Literature review.
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 Understanding logical influence in children during communication- The
meeting conducted with therapists help to understand this. s
5.3Recommendations
According to the results observed through Literature review and Experimental Analysis the
various challenges that are usually observed while performing the Facial recognition at a
distance and its possible solutions are as follows-
The advance mobile application system should provide following features –
 Touch Screen activities-
It is recommended to develop the elements that have facilities to press different elements such as
requested picture, any instruction, mood description etc easily in the system.
 Drag &Drop activities-
It should provide the facility for easily drag and drop the elements available on the touch screen
through fingers even by kids affected through this disease.
 Voice recognition activities-
It is highly recommended to provide the facility in the mobile system that it can recognize the
words spoken by these children’s.
 Video Modeling System
The proposed system should provide facility to model the videos to teach these children’s
various activities easily and system should have enough memory to hold the data in it.
 Image based search Engine
The proposed system should use advance software technologies to develop strong search engine
based on images.
5.4 Future Scope
This is wide research area and this thesis is just a brief part of it. In future continuing the
research study for supporting the Autistic children’s, the detailed study of the current
technologies and devices will be done. Along with this the various methods should be developed
to convenience the therapist to use these technologies completely. With this a thorough research
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is required to study the various problems of the Autistic children’s so that the effective support
system can be developed to provide the support to these systems.
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ids=1383084#&ids=1383084&user=&custom=&company=&hide_com
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Appendices
1. Project Proposal
MSc Project Proposal Form and Ethics Form
MSc Project Proposal Form
Student Number
Student Name
Degree Course MSc Management Information System and
Security.
Supervisor Name
Title of Project
Communication Platform for Non-verbal
Autistic children in Oman using Android
mobile
Description of your artifact
The context:
This project is an extension to the research
conducted by H. Liu, F. Dong, C. Tziraki in
the area of supporting people with
Intellectual Disability (ID) to use Content -
Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) technology
for information seeking in order to assist
them to improve their communication (H.
Liu, et.al).
Autistic children are viewed as ID people
whom are in need for a technological tool
to ease their access and interaction with
CBIR to improve their social interaction
and communication (Zhou, Z., 2006). They
are the subject of this project in Oman.
Aim & objectives of the project
The Aim:
The aim of this project is to tackle
communication dependency of nonverbal
of special needs by providing
a substitution to verbal communication
with visual communication. We have been
always curious about nonverbal children
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with autism, how they express their
feelings, needs and thoughts with others
surrounding them. We find it a quite
interesting idea to give them a
communication medium and see what they
will offer to us. Therefore, we are inspired
to develop a platform which includes an
android mobile application and web admin
panel, together this platform will help non-
verbal autistic children to communicate
and give them a way to express
themselves.
The objectives:
1. To extend the CBIR technology to be
applied on autistics children.
2. Most non-verbal autistic children hardly
express their mood or how they feel
since they lack the natural way of self-
expression.
3. Identified that autistic children can and
will express themselves better through
Image based communication and text-
to- speech application.
4. Understanding by learning what images
represent will help them choose the
images that represent what they want
to communicate.
5. To offer an environment of enjoyable
and attractive communication and
personalization platform.
6. Provide a platform of interaction to the
autistics children, therapists, and
supervisors.
7. Provide performance track record and
measurement indicators for follow up.
8. Children with neurological influenced
communication.
9. Economic accessible
10. Social integrated
11. Home accessible
12. Cultural recognizer using character with
traditional Omani and casual cloth
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List of features that the artifact will
include:
1. A database will be created for this
purpose including the following:
a. Autistic profile
b. Therapist profile.
c. Admin profile.
2. An application will be created with
relevant layout for each of the three
users: Autistics, therapists, and admin.
3. CBIR interactive library software will be
integrated with the application for the
three users.
4. Use of identity referencing for each
autistic child (given by the ministry of
social development).
5. Ability to support image formats (jpeg
and png)
6. Ability to support YouTube video
through video URL
7. Ability to share and send data (with the
therapist)
8. Ability to log important data for admin
only.
9. Ability to log important data for admin
user only.
10. Ability to assign different privileges to
different user (such as Therapist)
11. Ability to present report and
performance in an easy to understand.
The added value:
1. There is scarcity of technological tools
of information seeking for ID in general
and for autistics in specific. This project
becomes contributing to solve this
problem.
2. This project will bridge the gap in
communication of autistics children to
information seeking and improve their
social interactions.
3. This project will be a good tool to
examine the impact of using CBIR on
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Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
autistic skills.
4. The early intervention is very crucial in
detecting autism. This project will assist
therapists to identify and overcome
communication and socialization
difficulties before becoming severe.
The intellectual challenges involved:
1. The first intellectual challenge is that
this area of autism is a very specialized
area which requires reading a lot of
theories and practice materials. The
design of a proper suitable and
consisted system to assist autistics will
depend on my exposure to these
martial’s.
2. It’s difficult to track the progress in
communicating (Paul, R.et.al, 2005),
because these are qualitative issues
and if this system will focus on tracking
the improvement of using CBIR by
autistic it will depend to a certain extent
on the subjective judgment of the
therapists.
3. The major issue the data which
provided has been requested and
collected in the Arabic language which I
need to translate to the English
language.
4. Questionnaire written in both
languages the English and the Arabic.
Which will take more time to translate
the Arabic form result into the English
form result? Gathering and analyzing
that result will take more time to have
accurate result.
5. The data which provided from the
Ministry of Social Development was in
the Arabic language, also need to be
translated into English language.
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Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
6. We have to call each institution to ask if
they are providing a speech therapy for
non-verbal autistic children
communicating with the in English
language. Which will take time to call
around 41 institutions? In this case
depending on the person if he/she
answer our call during the working
hours.
What methodology (structured
process) will you be following
to realize your artifact?
Methodology:
1. For the methodology will be
using iterative methodology:
2. Initial Planning: design a mobile
application using content based
image retrieval (CBIR).
3. Planning: group of 3 to 5
institutions and therapist of 3 to
5.
4. Requirement: based on the
therapist result in the question.
5. Analysis: collecting the
requirement and the data from
the questionnaire.
6. Design: including relationship,
forms, quires and reports.
7. Testing: Test and
experimentation.
8. Implementation: A plan of
implementation including time
and deliverables of each stage
will be presented to the
institution and signed off before
moving to the next stage.
9. Evaluation: A trial run of the
project will be conducted to solve
any problem affecting the project.
10. Maintain ace: to update and fix
the issue in the mobile
application.
11. Deployment: Final run of the
project.
How does your project relate to
your degree course and build
This implementation of the application for
autistic children is closely related to my
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Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
upon the units/knowledge you
have studied/acquired
MSc course and is very helpful in
understanding the skills that are required
for the purpose of understanding the basic
needs of the application along with
understanding the application in a proper
way.
The course related to Data Maudling,
Emerging technology, PPM
Resources
Develop my artifact and establish new
knowledge
I. Read the literature “Peer reviewed
sources – academic journals
II. Attended conferences i.e. attended
the 2nd ISA Oman Section event 28
Feb -1st March 2018 and read
conference paper on the study area
III. Support Information Seeking for
Users with Intellectual Disability
Using Content-Based Image
Retrieval* H. Liu, F. Dong, C. Tziraki.
IV. Zhou, Z.H., 2006, August. Learning
with unlabeled data and its
application to image retrieval.
In Pacific Rim International
Conference on Artificial
Intelligence (pp. 5-10). Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg.
V. Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R. and
Lord, C., 2005. Language and
communication in autism. Handbook
of autism and pervasive
developmental disorders, 1, pp.335-
364.
VI. The Library Catalogues / conference
Catalogues
VII. Academic articles IEEE, Google
scholar
VIII. Learn the various website
developing process
IX. Visit organization focal points and
discussed face to face research
questions
X. Grid 3 updated version 3.0.32, CBIR
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Google image search (license
Google Custom Search API access)
XI. Software details:
XII. Web admin will be created in
Firebase Cloud Fire store and SDK
version 17.1.3.
XIII. Firebase Storage stores all media
files (image, sound, and PDF).
XIV. Firebase Authentication. Used for
user authentication and data access
XV. Firebase Rules used for access
control and data security.
XVI. Server: Firebase cloud
infrastructure.
XVII. IDE: Android Studio version 3.2
XVIII. Language: Java version 1.8 and XML
XIX. Android API version 17.1.3.
XX. Client Database: SQLite
XXI. Application will support Android
version 14 and above.
Note: this form must be accompanied by Ethics Form
Supervisor’s Signature Date:
Course Co-coordinator’s
Signature Date
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