ABCD SW: Autistic Behavior &
Computer-based Didactic Software
Maria Claudia Buzzi - CNR/IIT
Marina Buzzi - CNR/IIT
Davide Gazzè - CNR/IIT
Caterina Senette - CNR/IIT
Maurizio Tesconi - CNR/IIT
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Pervasive development disturbance
• Difficulty/inability to communicate
• Impaired social integration
ASD includes: Autism, Asperger syndrome, Pervasive
Developmental Disorder, etc.
alarming trend:
from 1/2.000 in 1980
to 1/150 in 2007
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

Conventional educational techniques are often not
effective:
• difficulty understanding spoken language
• different sensorial perception (noise, contact, etc….)
• difficulty concentrating
• inability to communicate needs
• difficulty/inability to accomplish tasks
=> (provoking frustration and “problem behaviors”)
These numerous problems and needs require a
personalized educational approach to best exploit the
child’s abilities
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

 Early and intensive intervention (beginning in
preschool for at least 6 hours a day) produce
significant improvement in knowledge and
skills
 high-functioning children with development
corresponding to the normotype
ABCD SW is specifically developed for kindergarten and
primary school children
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

Didactic software for low-functioning autistic children
based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
The application has been split into 2 independent parts that
may run on different devices:
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

Distributed Web architecture: anytime, anyplace, any pace
ABCD SW is a Web
application coded in
PHP and AJAX
HTML5 Client
The SW relies on the Drupal Content Management System (CMS)
Advantages :
 data organization
 scalability
 db population
 native support for Multilanguage
…
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

• Accessible and Adaptive (perceivable, operable,
comprehensible)
– AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
– DTT (Discrete Trial Training )
– Changes according to child’s abilities: non-receptive
and/or non-verbal
• Simple/natural
– A dedicated touch-screen device for the child
– Similar to face-to-face sessions
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

• Flexible (as required by psychologists and ABA tutors)
– The SW guides ABA tutors in configuring the best
intervention following the ABA principles
– BUT it allows to make other configurations
– if the Tutor wants to follow a different order in
the Programs/Levels proposed
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

• Simple to configure
– The system randomly select distractors discarding
elements similar in color and form
– The R key allows to change distractors if not suitable
• Fast
– The tutor evaluates each trial pressing one key
– 1-5: levels of prompt (0-100%)
– C: child error
– N: no collaboration
– S: self stimulation
– The tutor activates the reinforcement (0 key) and writes
comments
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

• Fast
– No time required to realize teaching materials
– Easy trial’s set up
Further Advantages
– The Sw records all the data related to the child’s
interaction
– Fastly exchange of sessions’ information
– Better monitoring of child’s progress
– Possibility to realize epidemiology studies (anonymized data)
W4A 2012 Microsoft Accessibility Challenge – Lyon 16 April 2012

• Open Source
Join us!
Together we are stronger…

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqa-enVAfjg

Demo
http://abcdsw.iit.cnr.it

http://abcd.iit.cnr.it/