Children and adults with ASD have shown to display high levels of comfort with Artificial Intelligence and work is ongoing using social technologies to design therapies for children with autism .
People with ASD show a high level of comfort with computers, as computer programmes are predictable and logical and can provide an intellectual outlet for ASD people who have specialised interests.
Perhaps more important to some people with ASD is that robots and AI don’t pass any judgement, Alexa will never insult the user.
Using an assistant like Alexa or Siri makes communicating very straightforward for someone with autism. They don’t need to understand nuanced body language, facial expressions etc.
The creation of ambient systems like Alexia,Siri and Google Home and Apple Home Pod are providing amazing opportunities to make a huge difference to people with autism.
Artificial Intelligence can help children with autism to reach their full potential.
A recent study has suggested that with the help of AI, people with ASD can improve their communication and social skills by almost 30%.
AI and robots are great tutors for autistic children because they can repeat instruction, stories and answers numerous times, without getting fatigued .
Children in turn are able to improve their social skills and maintain relationships with the AI based device,In fact, children with autism are more open to robots and AI than they are to humans .
Research has shown that it is because robots are not as complex as humans when it comes to emotional communications this makes the interaction more logical.
There are many Apps out there that are helping children and adults with ASD .
Identifor Companion app is helping adults and children find employment .It includes an AI -powered virtual assistant called Abby to have real back-and forth conversations with the users, it learns the routines of users and keeps their schoolwork and social life on track.
Even virtual assistants like Siri,Alexa and Cortana which aren’t designed to cater for people with ASD have proven to have the right skill sets to communicate with them ,Judith Newman ,top journalist with the New York Times also wrote a book about her son’s frequent chats with Siri .
AI is changing how we deliver special education and Technology has also begun to play an interesting role in educating ASD students with the majority of studies available indicating that robot-assisted therapy and teaching is having a marked and positive impact on the every day lives of persons with ASD and their families.
We will follow up this article with more information on social robots and their impact on ASD.