Ambiente digital de aprendizagem promotor do desenvolvimento do raciocínio matemático em alunos com perturbações do espetro do Autismo

A utilização das tecnologias é considerada um meio eficaz para trabalhar conteúdos académicos com alunos com Perturbações do Espetro do Autismo (PEA) possibilitando a criação de ambientes criativos e construtivos onde se podem desenvolver atividades diferenciadas, significativas e de qualidade. Contudo, o desenvolvimento de aplicações tecnológicas para crianças e jovens com PEA continua a merecer pouca atenção, nomeadamente no que respeita à promoção do raciocínio dedutivo, apesar desta ser uma área de grande interesse para indivíduos com esta perturbação. Para os alunos com PEA, o desenvolvimento do raciocínio matemático torna-se crucial, considerando a importância destas competências para o sucesso de uma vida autónoma. Estas evidências revelam o contributo inovador que o ambiente de aprendizagem descrito nesta comunicação poderá dar nesta área. O desenvolvimento deste ambiente começou por uma etapa de criação e validação de um modelo que permitiu especificar e prototipar a solução desenvolvida que oferece modalidades de adaptação dinâmica das atividades propostas ao perfil do utilizador, procurando promover o desenvolvimento do raciocínio matemático (indutivo e dedutivo). Considerando a heterogeneidade das PEA, o ambiente desenvolvido baseia-se em modalidades de adaptação dinâmica e em atividades ajustadas ao perfil dos utilizadores. Nesta comunicação procurámos dar a conhecer o trabalho de investigação já desenvolvido, bem como perspetivar a continuidade do trabalho a desenvolver.The use of technology is considered an effective way to work academic content with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) enabling the creation of creative and constructive environments where it can be developped diferentiated, meaningful and quality activities. However, the development of technological applications for children and youth with ASD continues to attract little attention, namely the ones regarding the promotion of deductive reasoning, although this is an area of great interest for individuals with this disorder. For students with ASD, the development of mathematical reasoning becomes crucial, considering the importance of these skills for a successful independent living. These evidences show the innovative contribution that the learning environment described in this communication may give in this area. The development of this environment started by a step of creation and validation of a model that allowed the specifying and the prototyping of a solution providing dynamic adaptation modalities of the proposed activities to the user's profile and seeks to promote the development of mathematical reasoning (inductive and deductive). Given the heterogeneity of ASD, the developed environment is based on modalities of dynamic adaptation and in activities adjusted to the user’s profile. In this communication we present the research work done till now and give a perspective of the continuity of the work to be done

The design principles of edutainment system for autistic children with communication difficulties

The number of children with autism is increasing worldwide. Children with autism face three major problems; socializing, communicating, and behaviour. Approximately 50% of all individuals with autism have difficulties in developing functional language owing to communication deterioration. Mobile devices with installed educational games help these individuals feel more comfortable and relaxed doing such activities. Although numerous mobile applications are available for individuals with autism, they are difficult to use; particularly in terms of user-interface design. This study analysed the existing apps in order to determine the design principles applicable to the Edutainment App being studied. Five applications were involved in this analysis. As outlined in the objectives of this study, identifying these design principles is important in designing the app. The analysis identified fifteen suggestions for the design principles. These suggestions addressed, simple interfaces; image size; number of pictures; home page icon; colour; having images identical to real life objects; the use of caregivers; navigation; password-protection; audio appropriate to the images; the app language used; evaluating parameters to measure the child’s growth; option for photo loading; PECS-based communication; and sentence pronunciation function. These recommendations are offered by this study towards designing and developing a prototype app for autistic children. This study introduces an edutainment-system design principle formulated to help develop the communication skills of children with autism-spectrum disorders. This study also describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the ICanTalk app-a mobile edutainment app that can be used to improve users’ understanding and communication skills and help them to connect with society and the surrounding environment particularly for autistic children with communication difficulties. This app allows caregivers to create personalized content using pictures and audio on their mobile devices (tablets). The evaluation of the app by teachers suggests that it is useful and easy-to-use. In conclusion, based on the evaluation results, it is found that the ICanTalk app is effective in helping autistic children with communication difficultie

Avances en el conocimiento y modelado computacional del cerebro autista: Una revisión de literatura

The study of the functioning of the brain allows, not only the discovery of its principles, but also in the construction of machines that emulate getting smarter. In that sense, neurosciences are providing important insights into how different elements of the brain interact in information processing to give rise to high-level cognitive functions (learning, awareness, quality, etc.) that characterize human behavior. On the other hand, there are brains that come with distinct neuronal machinery characterized by their extraordinary cognitive abilities, commonly known as autistic. From these two facts the following question arises. How much is known about autism and how it has advanced in its modeling at the computational level?. This article gives a particular answer as a theoretical synthesis of the autistic phenomenon and advances that at computational level have been achieved in relation to simulation, emulation and development of support tools related to this complex phenomenon. The above based on more than 50 studies taken from scientific databases, such as: Nature, Scopus, ACM, IEEE, Google Scholar, among others.Keywords: Computational neuroscience, autism, brain scanning technologies, savant, computational models of TEA, support tools TEA, anatomy of the autistic brain.El estudio del funcionamiento del cerebro permite, no sólo el descubrimiento de sus principios, sino también en la construcción de máquinas que lo emulen cada vez más inteligentes. En ese sentido, las neurociencias están aportando importantes conocimientos sobre cómo los diferentes elementos del cerebro interactúan en el procesamiento de información, para dar origen a funciones cognitivas de alto nivel (aprendizaje, conciencia, qualía, etc.), que caracterizan la conducta humana. Por otra parte, existen cerebros que viene con una maquinaria neuronal distinta caracterizados por sus capacidades cognitivas extraordinarias, comúnmente conocidos como autistas. A partir de estos dos hechos se planteó el siguiente interrogante. ¿Qué tanto se sabe sobre el autismo y como se ha avanzado en su modelado a nivel computacional?. Este artículo da una respuesta particular a modo de síntesis teórica del fenómeno autista y avances que a nivel computacional se han logrado en cuanto a simulación, emulación y desarrollo de herramientas de apoyo relacionados con este complejo fenómeno. Lo anterior con base en más de 50 estudios tomados de bases de datos científicas, tales como: Nature, Scopus, ACM, IEEE, Google scholar, entre otras.Palabras clave: Neurociencia computacional, autismo, tecnologías de exploración cerebral, savant, modelos computacionales TEA, herramientas de apoyo TEA, anatomía del cerebro autista