Hello friends:
AutismLink and the Autism Centers of Pittsburgh have been working hand in hand with a Carnegie Mellon University high tech spinoff company to develop a robot geared toward interacting with children with autism — preferably those who are nonverbal or who have emerging verbal skills.
The idea behind the project is that children w/autism are more likely to, and more interested in, interacting with a robot rather than a human. But the more endearing and “human like” and non-threatening the robot is — the more we feel that we can teach certain verbal and emotional skills to children with autism, which will hopefully later be generalized into every day life.
There are many applications for this innovative idea, but we are just scratching the surface. It is my belief that this robot can be used to initially engage a child and eventually result in the acquisition of many skills, including emotion, language, etc. We are currently developing an iPad application to allow therapists and clinicians to work with the robots to teach various skills.
The Autism Centers of Pittsburgh, in conjunction with Community Alternatives, Community Psychiatric Centers and the CMU spinoff group are anxiously awaiting the start of this program.
If you are interested in this for your child, please contact me at cindy@autismlink.com. We would like to conduct several trial settings to gauge the efficacy of the program. If you feel your child would be well-suited to this program, please email me. We are looking for younger children with limited or emerging verbal skills. Dr. John Carosso will assess children interested in participating.
For now, the program is on a trial basis, but it is our belief — and mine in particular — that this medium will be a powerful tool for future therapeutic interventions.
Always working for you….
Cindy Waeltermann
Director, AutismLink/Autism Centers of Pittsburgh
