SBIR Phase II: Multi-Sensory Therapy To Improve Lives of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

这个SBIR二期项目将开发一个多感官社会技能项目，以改善被诊断患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童的生活。目前，ASD是美国增长最快的发育性残疾，每59名儿童中就有1名受到影响。众所周知，患有自闭症谱系障碍的儿童在社交技能方面存在困难，这对孩子交朋友、融入社会、创造美好生活的能力产生了负面影响。目前的干预措施既昂贵又耗时，家长、老师和治疗师都在寻求更好的解决方案。该项目将通过开发价格合理、时间高效的应用程序来解决这些问题。该应用程序将极大地提高社交技能，同时也解决了感觉整合、焦虑和自尊。随着研究的继续和产品的完善，它将扩展到所有年龄段，针对美国约500万自闭症患者，全球约7400万。此外，这个项目可以用来帮助那些在社交技能上挣扎或有发育障碍的非自闭症儿童。在家庭和学校使用该计划，创造了强大的商业影响，导致一个自我维持的业务。这个项目的技术创新是一个为智能移动设备开发的教育应用程序，可以提高自闭症儿童的社交技能。这种新颖的技术结合了专有的源代码、可定制的特性、集成了原创音乐、视频、面部识别技术和跟踪工具，从而创建了一个强大的建模、学习和练习环境。该技术是唯一一门旨在让学生独立学习和练习社交技能的社交课程，也可以与其他人类互动；包括让多个设备同步在一起的能力，允许参与者之间实时进行练习。研究目标是开发和测试一个应用程序，教自闭症谱系障碍儿童提高和推广社交技能，以熟悉和不熟悉的人。这将通过软件开发来完成，其中包括视频和音乐的集成，程序故障的测试，与各种设备的兼容性，以及可以在一对一或小组设置中实现的技术。一项试点研究将包括干预与控制设计，以评估该项目对不同程度自闭症的K-6年级学生的有效性和使用能力，从而验证该项目的必要性和有效性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase II project will develop a multi-sensory social skill program to improve the lives of children who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, ASD is the fastest growing developmental disability in the US, with 1 in 59 children being affected. It is well established that children with ASD struggle with their social skills, which negatively affects the child's ability to make friends and integrate into the community and create their best life. Current interventions are expensive, time consuming, and parents, teachers, and therapists are seeking better solutions. This project will address these issues through the development of an affordable, time efficient application. The application will greatly improve social skills while also addressing sensory integration, anxiety, and self-esteem. As research continues and the product is refined, it will be broadened to all ages, targeting the ~5 million individuals with ASD in the US, and the ~74 million worldwide. Additionally, this project can be adapted to help non-ASD children who struggle with social skills or have developmental disabilities. Using the program in both homes and schools, creates a strong commercial impact, leading to a self-sustaining business. The technical innovation of this project is an educational application developed for smart mobile devices, improving social skills for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum. This novel technology incorporates and combines proprietary source code, customizable features, integration of original music, video, facial recognition technology, and tracking tools to create a powerful modeling, learning, and practicing environment. The technology is the only social curriculum designed to allow students to learn and practice the social skill independently, or with other human interaction; including the ability to have multiple devices sync together, allowing practice to take place between participants in real time. The research goal is to develop and test an application, which teaches children with autism spectrum disorder to improve and generalize social skills to familiar and unfamiliar people. This will be accomplished through software development, which will include integration of video and music, testing for program glitches, compatibility with various devices, and technology that can be implemented in a one-to-one or group setting. A pilot study will include an intervention vs. control design to assess the effectiveness and user ability of the program with students in grades K-6 with varying degrees of autism, thus validating the need and effectiveness of the program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.