ODU Researchers Give Children with Autism a Smartphone-Image
Communication System Many children with autism communicate very
little, even with the family members and teachers who are around
them the most. But researchers at Old Dominion University have
shown that a novel approach using smartphones and the World Wide
Web can help these children express their thoughts and desires.
To Gianluca De Leo, an assistant professor who specializes in
bioinformatics and virtual reality at ODU's College of Health
Sciences, the project is yet another example of how information
technology (IT) can improve human health and wellbeing. He
previously has adapted smartphones to help diabetics manage
their health and employed virtual reality to promote treadmill
training for children with cerebral palsy. The autism project,
which was funded by Microsoft's External Research Group, allows
children to communicate by calling up images on Windows mobile
devices. A child who wants chicken for dinner, for example, can
call up one image