Toward emotional interactive videogames for children with autism spectrum disorder

Technology and videogames have been proven as motivating tools for working attention and complex communication skills, especially in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this work, we present two experiences that used interactive games for promoting communication and attention. The first game considers emotions in order to measure children’s attention, concentration and satisfaction, while the second uses tangible tabletops for fostering cognitive planning. The analysis of the results obtained allows to propose a new study integrating both, in which the tangible interactive game is complemented with the emotional trainer in a way that allows identifying and classifying children’s emotion with ASD when they collaborate to solve cognitively significant and contextualized challenges. The first application proposed is an emotional trainer application in which the child can work out the seven basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise and neutral). Further, a serious videogame is proposed: a 3D maze where the emotions can be captured. The second case study was carried out in a Special Education Center, where a set of activities for working cognitive planning was proposed. In this case, a tangible interactive tabletop was used to analyze, in students with ASD, how the communication processes with these interfaces affect to the attention, memory, successive and simultaneous processing that compose cognitive planning from the PASS model. The results of the first study, suggest that the autistic children did not act with previous planning, but they used their perception to adjust their actions a posteriori (that explains the higher number of collisions). On the second case study, the successive processing was not explored. The inclusion of the mazes of case study 1 to a semantic rich scenario could allow us to measure the prior planning and the emotions involved in the maze game. The new physiological sensors will also help to validate the emotions felt by the children. The first study has as objective the capability to imitate emotions and resolve a maze without semantic context. The second study organized all the actions from a semantic context close to users. The attention results presented by the second study are coherent with the first study and complement it showing that attention can be receptive or selective. In the first study case, the receptive attention was the focus of analysis. In the second case, both contributed to explain and understand how it can be developed from a videogame

Cultura, política, subjetividad. Un estudio de caso

En este trabajo presentamos una apretada síntesis del proyecto de investigación Cultura, política subjetividad. Un estudio de caso. De algún modo también, constituye el punto de llegada en una línea de estudios iniciados en 19941, que va desde los problemas de la configuración del espacio público hasta la producción de subjetividad. En efecto, el proyecto inmediato anterior estuvo dedicado a la conceptualización del espacio público como lugar (comunicacionalmente constituido) de despliegue de las relaciones propiamente políticas de los distintos “actores sociales” con los institutos especializados de gobierno del estado, así como –en el otro caso– en la indagación en las formas de distanciamiento/desconocimiento que los nuevos actores erigen respecto de lo que estos institutos emblematizan. En éste, hemos trabajado sobre la constitución de los sujetos de la política, aventurando algunas conjeturas que intentamos precisar a través de un trabajo de campo, a saber, y de modo central, que la constitución y la intervención política de los sujetos resultan de procesos guiados antes por identificaciones afectivas, imaginarias, que a su vez encuentran su argamasa en el tejido cultural de una presunta comunidad, que por itinerarios de la racionalidad. Dicho en breve, este aspecto es el que nos propusimos rastrear esta vez, mediante entrevistas en profundidad, tomando como referencia algunos procesos recientes como el conflicto de 2008, marcado por el significante “campo”, que fue tema excluyente de la agenda política durante 126 días

OVARIECTOMIA BILATERAL EM ANTA (Tapirus terrestris) PARA TRATAMENTO DE HIPERPLASIA E PROLAPSO VAGINAL - RELATO DE CASO

Este relato tem como objetivo descrever o caso de uma fêmea de anta (Tapirus terrestris), que apresentou episódios de prolapso vaginal, durante 10 ciclos estrais. Tendo em vista que os prolapsos ocorreram em períodos compatíveis com o estro, optou-se pelo tratamento através da ovariectomia bilateral. A laparotomia paralombar esquerda viabilizou acesso adequado para as ovariectomias. O ovário esquerdo foi removido através da técnica de pediculação, enquanto que a exérese do ovário direito foi realizada com auxílio do ovariótomo de Reisinger. Nas avaliações físicas realizadas durante os doze meses após o procedimento cirúrgico, não se verificou recidiva de hiperplasia e prolapso vaginal. Bilateral ovariectomy in Tapirus terrestris for treatment of hyperplasia and prolapsus vaginae a case report Abstract A tapir (Tapirus terrestris) from the Curitiba Zoo, suffered ten successive vaginal prolapses in each one of 10 estrus cycles. Because each prolapsus occurred at the estrus phase, bilateral ovariectomy has been performed. For this purpose, paralumbar laparotomy on the left side was used in order to provide an adequate access to perform ovariectomy. To the left ovariectomy, the three hemostatic clamps technique was used while the right ovary was removed through Reisingers effeminator. Neither hyperplasia nor vaginal prolapsus were detected again during 12 months after the surgery

MyDentist: Making children with autism familiar with dental care

Children with autism perceive sensory experiences differently and have problems accepting unknown social contexts. In a dental care setting, there are many strong sound-visual stimuli, which are usually not found in known environments such as home or school. This usually upsets a child with autism, often forcing dentists to administer an anesthetic even to perform normal dental hygiene. In recent years, technology-enhanced systems and apps have been developed to help people with autism adapt to new contexts and cope with distressing social situations. In this paper, we present a web application (MyDentist) which provides dentists, parents and children with a set of resources to teach children with autism the proper oral procedures at home and correct behavior during dental visits. MyDentist includes multimodal games and activities to lighten children’s tension and to make them familiar with dental procedures. Games and activities can be personalized according to child’s needs and preferences. Professionals may also take and collect photos and videos during dental visits, making them accessible to parents and caregivers in the private profile of each child

Alunos com distúrbios do espectro autístico em interação com professores na educação inclusiva: descrição de habilidades pragmáticas Students with autistic spectrum disorders in the interaction with teachers in inclusive education: description of pragmatic skills

OBJETIVO: Investigar as habilidades pragmáticas de alunos com distúrbios do espectro autístico durante a interação com suas professoras em salas comuns de escolas públicas. MÉTODOS: Participaram 14 alunos com distúrbios do espectro autístico, de ambos os gêneros, com idade entre três e oito anos (média=5,9; DP=1,8). Como parte do procedimento, foram realizadas filmagens em situações de sala de aula e para análise dos aspectos pragmáticos da comunicação dos participantes, foi utilizado o Protocolo de Pragmática. Os resultados foram tratados estatisticamente (p<0,05 e em alguns casos p<0,01; foram utilizados os testes de Wilcoxon, Friedman, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman). RESULTADOS: Em média, o número de atos comunicativos expressos por minuto pelas professoras (3,4 atos/min) foi superior (p<0,05) ao apresentado pelos alunos com distúrbios do espectro autístico (2,7 atos/min). Os alunos demonstraram predomínio de utilização do meio gestual, com média de 36,2 ocorrências, e de funções comunicativas menos interativas, com média de 24,1 ocorrências. Além disso, ocorreu correlação positiva entre os atos/min de alunos e professoras (p=0,01). Observou-se, também, que a idade e a escolaridade dos alunos não apresentaram correlações com o estabelecimento da comunicação nas díades. CONCLUSÃO: Foi possível identificar os déficits e as habilidades dos alunos com distúrbios do espectro autístico em sala de aula comum e confirmar a influência exercida pelo professor no desempenho comunicativo de tais alunos. Estes dados podem contribuir para esclarecimentos de lacunas existentes na literatura e para subsidiar intervenções terapêuticas e educacionais nos distúrbios do espectro autístico.<br>PURPOSE: To investigate the pragmatic skills of students with autistic spectrum disorders during interaction with their teachers, in regular classrooms of public schools. METHODS: Fourteen students with autistic spectrum disorders, both male and female, with ages between three and eight years (mean=5.9; SD=1.8), participated in the study. As part of the procedure, classroom situations were filmed for the analysis of the children's pragmatic aspects of communication, using the Pragmatic Protocol. Data were statistically analyzed using Wilcoxon, Friedman, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman tests, with a significance level of p<0.05 and, in some cases, p<0.01. RESULTS: In average, the number of communicative acts expressed per minute by the teachers (3.4 acts/minute) was superior (p<0.05) to the number presented by the students with autistic spectrum disorders (2.7 acts/minute). The students demonstrated prevalence in the use of the gestural communication mean, with an average of 36.2 occurrences, and of less interactive communicative functions, with an average of 24.1 occurrences. Moreover, there was positive correlation between students' and teachers' acts/minute (p=0.01). It was also observed that age and level of education did not present correlations with communication establishment in the dyads. CONCLUSION: It was possible to identify deficits and abilities of students with autistic spectrum disorders in regular classroom, and to confirm the teacher's influence on the communicative performance of these students. These data may contribute to further explain existing gaps in the literature, and to base therapeutic and educational interventions in the autistic spectrum disorders