Analysis of Support Applications for Autistic Children's Literature

This report provides a detailed study of support applications designed for autistic children, focusing on the challenges posed by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the technological solutions available. The study explores the rising prevalence of ASD, its impact on communication and social interaction, and the need for effective interventions. It examines various support applications, including those utilizing mobile technology, speech devices, and content-based image retrieval. The report outlines the research aim to analyze the effectiveness and benefits of these tools, particularly voice integration tools, and proposes a mobile system to support children with verbal disorders. The research objectives include a review of current ASD research, analysis of technological tools, and statistical data presentation. The report also discusses research questions related to the impact of ASD and the advantages and limitations of existing tools, concluding with a problem statement highlighting the need for accessible communication platforms. The literature review provides context, discussing the increasing prevalence of ASD and the role of information technology in aiding communication and socialization challenges. The report aims to contribute to the development of more effective support systems for autistic children.

Study of support applications for the Autistics Children’s
Literature review – Study of support applications for the Autistics
Children’s
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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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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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