Fraser Child & Family Center in Minneapolis, MN is developing a way to use an iPod or iPhone to help people with Aspergers Syndrome.Sue Pederson the director of the treatment program at Fraser said her staff came up with the idea of programming iPods to act as an electronic voice to tell them what is appropriate behavior in certain situations – something people with Aspergers Syndrome struggle with. In special education this type of therapy is known as “social stories”.
With the help of students staff created videos on different social situations such as how to carry on a conversation, how to respect the boundaries of others and thinking before you speak.
As someone who owned an iPhone 3G before it broke, and the fiance of someone who has an iPod Touch I know how portable and useful these devices are. There are times when her and I would be upset, and all we could do to calm down is listen to music, or use music to express our emotions. I feel creating applications to help with pragmatic skills would be a great addition to any smart phone and I look forward to trying it myself.
How do you feel about applications like this?
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Found your page by searching for iphone+asperger’s. I have problems remembering and seeing the whole picture when it comes to weekly planning and such and I think an iphone could be a great tool for helping me out in many situations.