ADS+and+Skype

Autism is a mental condition characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts (Google, 2016). Imagine these social barriers up against the world of social media- sites that demand participation in dialogue, building a database of contacts, acquaintances in an effort to remain as up-to-date or 'live' as possible. You may not foresee educators jumping out-of-their-seats to suggest that students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) dive into the use of social media as a learning tool, however, based on the outcomes of some recent studies- maybe we //should//.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have been tinkering with the idea of using 'video modeling and prompting' VIA Skype to supplement Applied Behavior Analysis(ABA) - one of the best methods of treating people on with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This entails asking children with autism personal identification questions, such as, //Where do you live? How old are you? or Do you have any pets?// Evidence suggest a marked improvement in student's ability to answer these questions with the integration of desktop video conferencing in ABA therapy ( Stoeklen, 2010).

Additionally, parents of children with ASD are provided video coaching through Skype where ABA therapists model therapy techniques for parents to use at home.

This poses the question: What are the characteristics of this social media that make it an effective conduit of communication for children with ASD? The answer may reside in Hardware. Inanimate AV equipment provides a sense of space and security that face-to-face communication may leave up for interpretation. It offers users control of events. "join", "Hang up", commands are just a click away. It may offer students a way to access communication with peers in a way that was difficult or limited, at best, before.



Resources:

Google:  https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what%20is%20autism

Stoeklen, Tanya: https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/68095 