Autism Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically characterized by impaired social and communication skills combined with repetitive movements.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically characterized by impaired social and communication skills combined with repetitive movements.
‘Google glass is an eye-wearable device can empower millions of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) worldwide, including in India. Children and adults with autism enjoy using wearable devices and embedded software for socio-emotional learning.’
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According to Dr. Ned Sahin, Founder and CEO of Brain Power, a US-based science-driven company, Augmented Reality (AR)-powered wearable computers can help those with ASD gain confidence, clarity, understanding, social integration, and self-sufficiency. There is no cure for autism, but early diagnosis and intervention with therapies does improve the long-term outcome.
"We need help. We need families and schools to support the first wave of technology for autism and special school communities.
Google Glass App Helps Children With Autism to Communicate
Technology-based intervention can help children with autism. Google Glass app can be used in everyday settings to reinforce techniques learned in therapeutic settings.
Technology-based intervention can help children with autism. Google Glass app can be used in everyday settings to reinforce techniques learned in therapeutic settings.
Brain Power is currently working with several schools in the US. The "Empower Me" wearable system has been used by hundreds of children and adults on the autism spectrum.
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Google Glass is Helping Scientists to Study Certain Brain Diseases
Using Google Glass, Siberian scientists are developing a prototype of a model to study an individual's proneness to certain brain diseases at an early stage.
Using Google Glass, Siberian scientists are developing a prototype of a model to study an individual's proneness to certain brain diseases at an early stage.
"The apps also encourage them to make eye contact and control repetitive behaviors -- both of which are big challenges related to autism," said Dr. Sahin, a famed neuroscientist who studied at Harvard and MIT.
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Google Glass Used as a Tool to Help Kids With Autism
The Empower Me system is a digital coach that runs on smartglasses, to empower children and adults with autism to teach themselves social and cognitive skills.
The Empower Me system is a digital coach that runs on smartglasses, to empower children and adults with autism to teach themselves social and cognitive skills.
"We have discovered scientifically that people with autism enjoy using wearable devices and embedded software for socio-emotional learning," Dr. Sahin told IANS.
Each software module connects to Brain Power's Cloud-hosted portal where Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms produce insights and predictions in real time.
The game-like apps collect numerical behavioral data -- scientifically and rigorously -- and present the child, family, school or clinic with insights and answers they can readily understand.
At AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington DC last month, Dr. Sahin announced a couple of new products.
"We now have a package for schools consisting of multiple AR devices. The devices and the software add more functionalities than we had before. It generates very good data about how kids are learning, their progress and whether young adults have the right skill-sets to get a job," Dr. Sahin explained.
Another new product is called "Learning Eye."
In this technology, a camera is placed in the classroom which is connected to a computer that runs Machine Learning (ML) algorithms.
"AWS gave us access to its new product called DeepLens months before releasing it to the public. 'Learning Eye' uses DeepLens' capabilities to run ML in the classroom in order to assist teachers as well as kids," noted Dr. Sahin.
The technology can detect if a student is paying attention or not. It can also detect if a student is writing a message on his smartphone in the classroom, giving a warning to the student while alerting the teacher.
"The teacher can also assess when the student is bored and initiate immediate feedback to improve the student's mood. She can get entire data about what is happening in the classroom," Dr. Sahin informed.
AWS DeepLens helps the Brain Power team run deep learning models locally on the camera to analyze and take action on what it sees.
DeepLens is easy to customize and is programmable using AWS Lambda -- a serverless compute service that makes it easy to build applications that respond quickly to new information.
"We are very serious about maintaining privacy. Video footage stays in the classroom and is never sent to Cloud. Video processing is done at the edge of the Cloud to maintain complete privacy," Dr. Sahin told IANS.
The company has also developed a method known as "Fidgetology" which rapidly quantifies body language to assess mental health or to estimate enjoyment of ads or other media.
"Fidgetology" was developed in collaboration with AWS, using the company's Cloud-based AI, ML and computer visions tools.
Dr. Sahin is positive that Indian schools and organizations working in the field of autism will come forward to a life-changing experience.
"We would like to expand our capabilities to India. It all depends on the desire of the people to have the new technology and empower children and adults all along the autism spectrum to teach them practical life skills," the neurotechnology entrepreneur hoped.
Source-IANS
